Asia

China sacks six more officials over vaccine scandal

BEIJING, China (AFP) — China said Saturday it has sacked six senior officials over a vaccine scandal that inflamed public fears over the safety of domestically produced drugs. The government has been struggling to shore up public confidence in the pharmaceutical sector following the revelation last month that a major Chinese manufacturer of rabies vaccines was found to have fabricated records and was ordered to cease production. Authorities say the suspect rabies vaccines did not […]

S. Koreans head for family reunions in North after decades apart

by Sunghee Hwang Agence France Presse SOKCHO, South Korea (AFP) — Dozens of elderly and frail South Koreans entered the North Monday to meet relatives for the first time since the peninsula and their families were divided by war nearly seven decades ago. The three-day reunion — the first for three years — will take place at Mount Kumgang, a scenic resort in North Korea, following a rapid diplomatic thaw between the neighbours. Millions of […]

More bodies found in flooded Kerala as toll hits 370

by Bhuvan BAGGA in Thrissur, and Abhaya Srivastava in New Delhi Agence France Presse THRISSUR, India (AFP) — Rescuers searched submerged villages in southwest India on Sunday in a desperate hunt for survivors after floods killed at least 370 people and drove more than 700,000 from their homes. Entire villages in Kerala have been swept away in the state’s worst floods for a century. Rescuers fear the death toll will rise as they reach areas […]

Five dead as multiple quakes rock Indonesia’s Lombok island anew

  MATARAM, Indonesia (AFP) — Multiple earthquakes — including a powerful and shallow 6.9-magnitude tremor — have rocked the Indonesian holiday island of Lombok, killing at least five people and setting off fresh waves of panic. A series of quakes were recorded by seismologists throughout Sunday, the first measuring 6.3 shortly before midday which triggered landslides and sent people fleeing for cover. It was followed nearly twelve hours later by a quake measuring 6.9 and […]

New 6.3 magnitude quake rocks Indonesia’s Lombok island

  LOMBOK, Indonesia (AFP) — A strong 6.3-magnitude earthquake rocked the Indonesian island of Lombok Sunday, sending people fleeing into the streets just two weeks after a tremor killed more than 460 people. The quake, centred in East Lombok, hit at a relatively shallow depth of seven kilometres (four miles) and was felt across the island, officials said. But it was less powerful than the deadly quake earlier this month and there were no immediate […]

More bodies found in flooded Kerala as toll hits 357

  by Bhuvan Bagga Agence France Presse THRISSUR, India (AFP) — Rescuers waded into submerged villages in southern India on Sunday in a desperate search for survivors cut off for days by floods that have already killed more than 350 people. Entire villages in Kerala have been swept away in the state’s worst floods in a century, and emergency responders fear the death toll will rise as they reach areas almost entirely underwater. In Thrissur, […]

18 bodies pulled from SW Pakistan mine after blast

QUETTA, Pakistan (AFP)  — Pakistani authorities said Saturday they have now retrieved 18 bodies after a blast tore through a coal mine in southwest Pakistan earlier this week, including two rescuers who entered after the explosion. The mine caved in after workers used dynamite during an excavation in Sinjidi, some 45 kilometres (28 miles) east of Quetta, the capital of oil and gas rich Balochistan province. Rescue teams had pulled nine workers alive from different tunnels […]

N. Korea urges Trump to be ‘bold’ on denuclearization

  SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korean state media blamed Donald Trump’s political opponents for the “deadlock” over denuclearization on Saturday, urging the US President to act boldly to make progress on the thorny issue. Trump and the North’s leader Kim Jong Un held a groundbreaking summit in Singapore in June, which the US leader touted as a historic breakthrough. At the meeting the pair struck a vague agreement to denuclearize the Korean peninsula, […]

US supplied bomb that killed Yemeni children: report

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The bomb that killed 40 children and 11 others in a Saudi-led coalition air strike on a bus in rebel-held northern Yemen was sold by the United States under a State Department deal with Riyadh, CNN has reported. The numbers on shrapnel, of which images were taken shortly after the attack this month, indicate that it was a laser-guided Mk 82 bomb manufactured by defense contractor Lockheed Martin, CNN […]

India flood toll jumps to 324

KOCHI, India (AFP) — The death toll from major floods in India’s Kerala state jumped to 324 on Friday, the government said. In a tweet Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said his state was “facing the worst flood in 100 years” with “324 lives lost”. The death toll from 10 days of floods in the state, a key tourist draw, has nearly trebled in the last 24 hours.

Flood death toll in India’s Kerala jumps to 164

KOCHI, India (AFP)–The death toll from major floods in India’s tourist hotspot Kerala has jumped to 164, state chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said Friday, issuing a fresh heavy rainfall warning for the battered region. Kerala’s government has described the crisis — one of the worst in decades — as “extremely grave” and rescue operations are underway to help thousands who remain trapped by floodwaters. “The chief minister has confirmed 164 deaths. Around 100 people died […]

China sacks regional officials as vaccine scandal mounts

BEIJING, China (AFP) – China’s Communist Party has sacked a dozen provincial and local officials and vowed to punish a pharmaceutical firm over a vaccine scandal that inflamed public fears over the safety of domestically produced drugs. The government has been struggling to shore up public confidence in the pharmaceutical sector following the revelation last month that a major Chinese manufacturer of rabies vaccines was found to have fabricated records and was ordered to cease […]