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TAIPEI, Aug 12, 2023 (AFP) – Taiwan’s Vice President William Lai flies to the United States on Saturday in a sensitive trip that has angered Chinese officials. The democratic island is claimed by China, which has vowed to take the territory one day — by force, if necessary — and has ramped up political and military pressure. It opposes other countries’ official exchanges with Taiwan, and often reacts angrily to Taiwanese leaders’ stopovers in the […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Paraguay’s incoming president Santiago Pena said Wednesday the country would stand by Taiwan’s side for the duration of his five-year term, reaffirming it as Taipei’s lone diplomatic ally in South America. Asuncion is one of the few remaining capitals in the wider Latin American region to still recognize Taiwan, after Beijing — which claims the island as its territory — spent decades convincing Taipei’s allies to switch sides. Pena’s trip to […]
ASUNCION, May 20, 2023 (AFP) – Cases of bird flu have been detected in backyard chickens in Paraguay, authorities said Saturday. The disease was found in the domesticated birds from the towns of Mariscal Estigarribia and Neuland in Mennonite farming areas, the National Animal Health and Quality Service (Senacsa) reported. The potential cause being investigated is chickens having contact with infected migratory birds, the office said. “The birds will be slaughtered to eliminate the source […]
ASUNCION, Paraguay (AFP) – Paraguay’s leftist opposition coalition and long-ruling, conservative Colorado Party held primary elections on Sunday to pick their candidates for the April 2023 vote to replace outgoing President Mario Abdo Benitez. Economist Santiago Pena, 44, was elected to lead the Colorado Party, which has been in power for more than 70 years, except for one term from 2008-2012. The leftist opposition coalition, led by the Liberal Party, chose veteran politician Efrain Alegre, 59. […]
WASHINGTON, D.C., United States (AFP) – The United States has given more than 500 million coronavirus vaccines to other countries since the jabs were developed, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday in a statement obtained by AFP. “The United States has now shared over 500 million safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine doses, free of cost, to more than 110 countries and economies around the world — for the sole purpose of saving lives,” Blinken said. Washington aims […]
(Eagle News) — Miss India Harnaaz Sandhu won the 2021 Miss Universe pageant held in Israel on Sunday, Dec. 12 (Monday, Dec. 13 Philippine time) besting 79 other candidates representing their countries. The 21-year old model and actress won for her answer to the question, “What advice would you give to young women watching on how to deal with the pressures they face today?.” This was the same question asked to the two other Miss […]
by Patrick GALEY Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — More than 43 million hectares of forest — an area bigger than Germany — have been lost in a little over a decade in just a handful of deforestation hotspots, conservation organisation WWF said Wednesday. Swathes of forest continue to be flattened each year — mainly due to industrial-scale agriculture — as biodiversity-rich areas are cleared to create space for livestock and crops. Analysis by WWF […]
by Jordane BERTRAND Agence France Presse MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AFP) — Under stress from a historic drought, large swathes of forest and wetlands in central South America known for their exceptional biodiversity have been ravaged by devastating fires. Experts say the wildfires in a region that spans Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay — especially the region between the Paraguay, Parana and Uruguay rivers — have become critical in 2020. “There has been a dramatic […]
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — The number of forest fires in Brazil’s Amazon increased sharply in September, figures released Thursday show, fueling growing criticism of President Jair Bolsonaro’s environmental policies. The National Institute of Space Research (INPE) said satellite imagery showed an increase of 61 percent in the number of fires in September, compared to the same period last year. Satellites used by the institute detected 32,017 outbreaks last month in the Amazon, compared […]
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — The number of forest fires in the Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetlands, has nearly tripled in 2020 compared to the same period last year, according to satellite data released Thursday. Brazil’s national space agency, INPE, identified 3,506 fires from January 1 to July 22 in the Pantanal, a 192 percent increase from 2019 and the most for the period since records began in 1998. The trend is all the […]
ASUNCION, Paraguay(AFP) — A riot at a prison in Paraguay left 10 inmates dead and 10 wounded, the interior ministry said Sunday. Interior minister Juan Villamayor said that there was a “confrontation” between “two feared criminal organizations” at the prison in San Pedro de Ycuamandiyu, some 400 kilometers (248 miles) northeast of the capital. “All of the dead belong to the narco groups,” Villamayor said. One of the organizations involved is originally from the Brazilian […]
by Hugo OLAZAR NANAWA, Paraguay (AFP) — Like 70,000 people living close to the broken banks of the Paraguay River, where the water level has risen seven meters (23 feet) in some places, Graciela Acosta has had to pack up her belongings and evacuate. Piled up on a canoe are the 39-year-old housewife’s bed, wardrobe, bedside table and her dog Pirulin. Acosta is getting ready to cross the border into Argentina with her daughter to […]
