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BEIJING, China (AFP ) — The new coronavirus outbreak that has infected 256 people in Beijing since early June is “under control”, officials in the Chinese capital said Wednesday, but fears still remain over the risk of community transmission. Authorities have raced to contain the outbreak linked to the largest wholesale food market in Beijing after the first case was announced on June 11, leading to a partial lockdown of the city. “The Beijing epidemic […]
WELLINGTON, United States (AFP) — A moderate 5.5-magnitude earthquake rattled New Zealand’s South Island Thursday but police said there were no reports of damage and the offshore tremor did not prompt a tsunami warning. The shallow quake struck at 10:20am (2220 GMT) just off the coast of the remote Milford Sound region at a depth of 14 kilometers (nine miles), the US Geological Survey said. New Zealand’s official GeoNet seismic monitoring service put the strength […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A strong 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck early Thursday off the eastern coast of Japan, the US Geological Survey said, but no tsunami warning was issued. The epicenter of the quake, which struck at a depth of 25.4 kilometers (16 miles), was located offshore about 41 kilometers southeast of Hasaki in Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo. The Japan Meteorological Agency, which put the magnitude at 6.2, said on its website that the quake […]
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — The death toll from a powerful earthquake that struck southern Mexico has risen to seven, the Oaxaca state government said Wednesday. The 7.4-magnitude quake, which was followed by more than 1,500 aftershocks, was felt in Mexico City, some 700 kilometers (430 miles) away from the epicenter in Oaxaca. It sent people fleeing their homes and workplaces, and even forced the closure of an oil refinery. “My condolences — at the […]
by Leila Macor, with Julia Benarrous in Houston MIAMI, United States (AFP) — With coronavirus cases surging across the US South and West, officials are once again imposing tough measures, from stay-at-home advice in worst-hit states to quarantines to protect recovering areas like New York. Nearly four months after the United States reported its first death from COVID-19, the nation faces a deepening health crisis as a wave of infections hits young Americans and experts […]
KIEV, Ukraine (AFP) — Three people have died and hundreds more have fled their homes in western Ukraine following the worst flooding in a decade, authorities said Wednesday. Floods caused by heavy rains that began this week hit 200 villages, damaging 5,000 homes and forcing the evacuation of 800 people, the interior ministry said. The worst-hit region is Ivano-Frankivsk on the Romanian border. Around 70 percent of monthly rainfall in some areas regions fell over […]
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Police in Iran said they have arrested three people accused of trying to sell babies on Instagram, semi-official news agency ISNA reported Wednesday. “Three people who were seeking to sell two babies have been arrested,” Tehran’s police chief Hossein Rahimi was quoted as saying. One of the babies was 20 days old and the other was two months, Rahimi said. Police had been alerted about “ads on Instagram for selling babies”, […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Coronavirus cases are surging across large parts of the United States and in Latin America, according to experts and figures, highlighting how far the world remains from stopping the pandemic as the global death toll neared half a million on Wednesday. Six months into a crisis that has devastated the global economy, the International Monetary Fund was set to issue its latest growth forecasts later Wednesday. The World Trade Organization […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — French authorities have closed two schools in Paris as a precautionary measure after the discovery of coronavirus cases but they have not been classed as potentially dangerous clusters, authorities said Wednesday. France, unlike some other European countries which have taken a much more cautious approach, on Monday resumed obligatory schooling for all pupils after the coronavirus shutdown. Some schools had already been open at least partially for several weeks after the […]
MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — Australia’s military was called in Wednesday to help tackle a coronavirus outbreak in Melbourne — a surge in infections that has rattled the country’s second-most populous city. Victoria has recorded double-digit increases in new daily cases for more than a week — mostly in the state capital Melbourne — representing a sizeable spike in cases in a country that has otherwise successfully curbed COVID-19. Health Minister Greg Hunt said the federal […]
LONDON, United States (AFP) — Medical experts on Wednesday warned the British government to prepare for the “real risk” of a coronavirus second wave just a day after the biggest lifting yet of lockdown restrictions in England. “While the future shape of the pandemic in the UK is hard to predict, the available evidence indicates that local flare-ups are increasingly likely and a second wave a real risk,” said the experts in an open letter […]
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AFP) — A plane crash which killed 97 people in Pakistan last month was because of human error by the pilot and air traffic control, according to an initial report into the disaster released Wednesday. The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane came down among houses on May 22 after both engines failed as it approached Karachi airport, killing all but two people on board. “The pilot as well as the controller didn’t follow […]
