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STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AFP) — Sweden on Thursday said it would provide free testing for anyone showing coronavirus symptoms and conduct contact tracing for those who are infected. The announcement came as the country said it would also allow domestic travel across the country, almost three months after it was discouraged in line with anti-virus measures. The aim of the new testing program is to control infection rates in the country, which did not impose strict […]
AMMAN, Jordan (AFP) — Jordan announced Thursday it will lift most restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, with mosques, restaurants and churches allowed to reopen. There will be “a period of general easing” of the lockdown, Prime Minister Omar al-Razzaz told reporters on Thursday. Information Minister Amjad al-Adayleh said most restrictions imposed over the last two months to rein in the virus would be lifted from Saturday. The announcements come amid […]
OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared on Thursday that Canada is winning the fight against the new coronavirus, with the latest data showing new cases in decline. But he also warned that the battle is not over yet. “The data shows that we are continuing to make progress in the fight against this virus in many communities, the number of new cases is low, and we can trace where they came from,” […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — A 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia’s eastern Maluku islands Thursday, the United States Geological Survey said, but there was no tsunami warning issued or immediate reports of damage. The strong quake hit at a relatively deep 106 kilometers (65 miles), the USGS said. Its epicenter was about 135 kilometers north of Tobelo. Shallow quakes tend to cause more damage than deeper ones. The Southeast Asian archipelago is […]
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil reported a record 1,349 coronavirus deaths in a 24-hour period Wednesday, the health ministry said, as the pandemic continued to take a grim toll on Latin America’s hardest-hit country. The figure brought the total death toll from the new coronavirus in Brazil to 32,548, with 584,016 confirmed infections — the second-highest caseload worldwide, after the United States. Brazil’s death toll, which has doubled in 17 days, is currently […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — A knife-wielding attacker wounded 37 students and two adults at a primary school in southern China on Thursday, officials said, with local media identifying a security guard as the perpetrator. All the victims, including teaching staff, were sent to hospital but were not in a life-threatening condition, authorities in Cangwu County, Guangxi region, said. The incident at the Wangfu Central Primary School happened at 8:30 am when children would normally arrive […]
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Three far-right extremists arrested by an anti-terror unit at Las Vegas protests over the killing of an African American man by police were charged Wednesday with inciting violence, officials said. The men allegedly belong to the “Boogaloo” movement, which has adopted Hawaiian shirts as a uniform and which promotes “a coming civil war and/or collapse of society,” said a Nevada federal prosecutor. The US has been roiled by nationwide […]
by Ammu KANNAMPILLY / Vishal MANVE MUMBAI, India (AFP) — At least three people were reported dead as coronavirus-hit Mumbai appeared to escape the worst of Cyclone Nisarga Wednesday, the first severe storm to threaten India’s financial capital in more than 70 years. The city and its surrounds are usually sheltered from cyclones — the last deadly storm to hit the city was in 1948. Authorities had evacuated at least 100,000 people, including coronavirus patients, […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — A pregnant elephant was killed in India after eating fruit stuffed with explosives, officials said Wednesday, sparking outrage over the use of such traps to protect crops and homes. The wild elephant strayed into a village near Silent Valley National Park in south Kerala state last Wednesday when it ate the rigged fruit — believed to be a pineapple — which exploded and severely injured its mouth, officials said. “We […]
by Joshua Howat Berger with AFP bureaus RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Researchers in hard-hit Brazil on Wednesday said they would begin testing a coronavirus vaccine developed in Britain, while across the Atlantic European nations began reopening borders in a bid to emerge from months of devastation caused by the disease. Authorities in Brazil — the latest frontline of the pandemic, with deaths and infections on the rise — imposed fresh restrictions in the […]
KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait (AFP) — Kuwait wants to slash the migrant proportion of its population from 70 to 30 percent, state media said Wednesday, with the prime minister vowing to “resolve the demographic imbalance”. Like its Gulf Arab neighbors, oil-rich Kuwait has a large foreign population mostly made up of Middle Eastern and Asian workers. Out of 4.8 million inhabitants, some 3.3 million are foreign nationals, said Prime Minister Sabah Al-Khaled al-Hamad al-Sabah. “The ideal […]
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — Torrential rains brought by Cyclone Nisarga have left 13 people dead, dozens injured and washed away numerous homes in eastern Yemen, a government official said Wednesday. The official said that five children were among the provisional death toll in the Hadramout province, which has been lashed by downpours over the past three days. The official, who requested anonymity, added that dozens of houses were also destroyed in the rains, […]
