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KABUL, July 4, 2023 (AFP) – Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities have ordered beauty parlours across the country to shut within a month, the vice ministry confirmed Tuesday, the latest curb to squeeze women out of public life. The order will force the closure of thousands of businesses run by women — often the only source of income for households — and outlaw one of the few remaining opportunities for them to socialise away from home. “I […]
GENEVA, July 4, 2023 (AFP) – The United Nations on Tuesday warned the world to prepare for the effects of El Nino, saying the weather phenomenon which triggers higher global temperatures is set to persist throughout 2023. El Nino is a naturally occurring climate pattern typically associated with increased heat worldwide, as well as drought in some parts of the world and heavy rains elsewhere. The phenomenon occurs on average every two to seven years, […]
PARIS, July 4, 2023 (AFP) – The risks of harvest failures in multiple global breadbaskets have been underestimated, according to a study Tuesday that researchers said should be a “wake up call” about the threat climate change poses to our food systems. Food production is both a key source of planet-warming emissions and highly exposed to the effects of climate change, with climate and crop models used to figure out just what the impacts could […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin are set to address the Shanghai Cooperation Organization alliance on Tuesday, with Iran expected to expand the Asian grouping. Putin will be addressing his first summit since a short-lived mutiny last month after the head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, led a failed rebellion against the Kremlin. India is hosting the virtual summit of the eight-member SCO — headquartered in Beijing but […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi arrived in Japan on Tuesday to present a review of Tokyo’s plans to release treated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head will meet Japan’s prime minister and foreign minister in Tokyo on Tuesday before heading to Fukushima on Wednesday to visit the devastated plant. Several of the nuclear facility’s reactors went into meltdown after cooling […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China has accused the UK of giving protection to fugitives after its foreign secretary slammed Hong Kong’s decision to offer bounties for information leading to the capture of prominent democracy activists based overseas. “British politicians have openly offered protection for fugitives,” a spokesperson for Beijing’s embassy in London said in a statement late Monday. “This is crude interference in Hong Kong’s rule of law and China’s internal affairs,” they continued. “China […]
TOKYO, July 3, 2023 (AFP) – Four people were injured in a blast and a blaze in a central Tokyo building, the city’s fire department said, with footage showing flames and smoke emerging from a second-floor business. The fire started in a building in a restaurant area of the bustling Shimbashi district around 3:20 pm (0620 GMT). “The sound of an explosion was also heard. A total of 32 fire trucks are at the scene,” […]
By Beiyi SEOW Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is set to visit Beijing this week, the United States said Sunday, marking the second trip by a cabinet official to China since ties between the world’s top two economies deteriorated earlier this year. Yellen is expected to discuss with her counterparts the importance for both countries “to responsibly manage our relationship, communicate directly about areas of concern, and work together […]
BEIJING, June 29, 2023 (AFP) – China’s top diplomat said Thursday a new foreign relations law would help counter “bullying” from abroad after Beijing approved legislation it said would enhance its powers to counter sanctions. The United States has imposed sanctions on a lengthy list of Chinese companies and individuals, accusing them of complicity in human rights abuses that Beijing has strenuously denied. The sanctions — particularly those restricting access to critical technology needed for […]
TAIPEI, June 29, 2023 (AFP) – Taiwan has rejected applications by Chinese tourism officials to enter the island for an international travel fair next month, authorities said Thursday, citing the current “cross-strait situation” with China. China views self-ruled democratic Taiwan as part of its territory — to be seized one day, by force if necessary — and exchanges between the two sides had tapered off due to political tensions as well as pandemic-driven border closures. […]
HANOI, June 29, 2023 (AFP) – Vietnam’s economic growth slowed in the first half of the year as exports were hit by a slump in demand, authorities said Thursday. The Southeast Asian country, a global manufacturing hub for clothing, shoes and electronics, saw expansion of 3.72 percent in January-June, down from 6.42 percent in the same period of 2022. “The economic growth was not high… in the context of difficulties and challenges from inside and […]
PARIS, June 27, 2023 (AFP) – Earth lost an area of carbon-absorbing rainforest larger than Switzerland or the Netherlands in 2022, most of it destroyed to make way for cattle and commodity crops, an analysis of satellite data released Tuesday revealed. That is nearly a football pitch of mature tropical trees felled or burned every five seconds, night and day, and 10 percent more than the year before, according to the World Resources Institute (WRI). […]
