International

US cities under curfew after fresh anti-race protests, looting

  by Charlotte PLANTIVE and Joy POWELL, with Ines BEL AIBA in Washington Agence France Presse MINNEAPOLIS, United States (AFP) — Authorities imposed curfews in the capital Washington and other major US cities Sunday to prevent fresh rioting after anti-racism protestors again took to the streets to voice their fury at police brutality. As the Trump administration branded instigators of five nights of rioting domestic terrorists, there were more confrontations between protestors and police and […]

Backlash against Trump exiting WHO as world virus cases top 6 mn

  by Celine Le Prioux with Daniel Lawler in Paris and AFP bureaus Agence France Presse US President Donald Trump faced a broad backlash on Saturday over severing ties with the UN’s health agency during a pandemic, as coronavirus cases worldwide topped 6 million and infections surged in Latin America. The EU urged Washington to reconsider its decision to permanently cut funding to the World Health Organization over its handling of the pandemic, which has […]

COVID-19 cases worldwide top 6 million, with over 360,000 deaths as more countries ease lockdown

  (Eagle News) – The total coronavirus cases worldwide topped six million with more than 368,000 deaths as infections continued to spike with no vaccine developed yet. Based on the virus dashboard of Johns Hopkins University (JHU) as of 7:32 a.m.(Philippine time) May 31, 2020, total COVID-19 cases have reached 6,054,187 worldwide. Global deaths due to the virus hit 368,711. The United States is still the country with the most cases and most deaths. The […]

Brazil COVID-19 death toll hits 27,878, surpassing hard-hit Spain

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil on Friday reached 27,878 coronavirus deaths, official figures showed, surpassing the toll of hard-hit Spain and making it the country with the fifth-highest number of fatalities. The epicenter of the South American coronavirus outbreak, Brazil saw 1,124 deaths in 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said. It also had a record number of new cases — 26,928 in one day — bringing the total number of infections to […]

US records 1,225 coronavirus deaths in 24 hours: Johns Hopkins

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States recorded 1,225 coronavirus deaths on Friday, bringing its total to 102,798 since the global pandemic began, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University. The country has officially logged 1,745,606 overall cases of the virus, far more than any other nation, the Baltimore-based university’s tracker showed at 8:30 pm (0030 GMT Saturday). The latest numbers came as President Donald Trump said he was severing US ties […]

Trump cuts ties with WHO mid-pandemic, signals end of US funding for UN agency

by Susan Stumme with AFP bureaus Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump on Friday said he was severing ties with the World Health Organization, signalling the end of hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to the UN agency as the deadly coronavirus pandemic rages on. As Europe speeded along the path to reopening after months of crippling lockdowns, Trump’s move is likely to spark dismay, especially in other […]

South Korea limits school numbers over virus spike

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea on Friday imposed limits on the number of pupils going to schools in and around Seoul as officials scramble to tackle fresh coronavirus cases that threaten the country’s success in containing the epidemic. Only one in three pupils at kindergartens, elementary and middle schools in the Seoul metropolitan area — home to half the population — will be allowed to physically attend school each day, authorities said, with […]

World’s officially oldest man dies in UK aged 112

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — The world’s oldest man, according to the Guinness World Records, has died from cancer in Britain at the age of 112, his family confirmed on Thursday. Bob Weighton, a former teacher and engineer from the central English county Hampshire, died “peacefully” in his sleep at home on Thursday morning, they said. Weighton took up the title of the oldest man in the world in February after the death of the […]

Israel tests 100,000 to prevent pandemic ‘second wave’

JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — Israel has launched a campaign to test 100,000 people for novel coronavirus antibodies as the country prepares for a possible “second wave” of cases, a top official said Thursday. The initiative is one of the world’s largest such schemes and aims to test Israel’s “collective immunity” against the COVID-19 disease. “We have started… It should not be too long before we see some interesting trends,” said Yair Schindel, a senior official […]

Pharma chiefs see coronavirus vaccine by year-end, but challenges ‘daunting’

by Nina LARSON GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Pharmaceutical company executives said Thursday that one or several COVID-19 vaccines could begin rolling out before 2021, but warned the challenges would be “daunting” as it was estimated that 15 billion doses would be needed to halt the pandemic. Well over 100 labs around the world are scrambling to come up with a vaccine against the novel coronavirus, including 10 that have made it to the clinical trial […]

Qatar denies Gulf bloc exit rumors

DOHA, Qatar (AFP) — Qatar denied on Thursday that it plans to quit the Gulf Cooperation Council as it prepares to mark three years of isolation led by the regional bloc’s heavyweight Saudi Arabia. However, the gas-rich state cautioned that the effort by three of the GCC’s six members to isolate Doha economically and politically meant people in the region were “doubting and questioning” the organization. Rumors of Qatar’s imminent departure from the GCC, founded […]

New US jobless claims at 2.12 million as layoffs pass 40 mn

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Another 2.12 million people filed for unemployment in the United States last week, pushing total layoffs since the start of the coronavirus crisis to more than 40 million, a level not seen since the Great Depression, the Labor Department said. The new filings, however, showed that the pace of the layoffs was subsiding as the US economy slowly begins to reopen. © Agence France-Presse