International

China approves trials for two more coronavirus vaccines

BEIJING, China (AFP) — China has approved clinical trials for two more experimental vaccines to combat the novel coronavirus, officials said Tuesday, as the world’s scientists race to beat the pandemic. The vaccines use inactivated coronavirus pathogens, and the approvals pave the way for early-stage human trials, Wu Yuanbin, an official from China’s Ministry of Science and Technology told a regular press briefing. China’s state food and drug administration on Monday approved one vaccine developed […]

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Locust invasion creates food crisis for 1 million Ethiopians: UN

ADIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AFP) — Swarms of locusts in Ethiopia have damaged 200,000 hectares (half a million acres) of cropland and driven around a million people to require emergency food aid, the United Nations said Monday. The findings from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which recently concluded a joint assessment with the Ethiopian government, come as the region is bracing for new swarms that could be even more destructive. Billions of desert locusts, […]

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Italy’s virus death toll tops 20,000

ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italy’s death toll from the novel coronavirus topped 20,000 on Monday but its number of critically ill patients dropped for the 10th successive day. The 566 new deaths reported by the civil protection service take Italy’s fatalities total to 20,465 — officially second in the world behind the United States. The drop in patients in intensive care from a peak of 4,068 on April 3 to 3,260 on Monday confirmed a […]

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UK prepares to extend virus lockdown, says peak has not passed

by Alice RITCHIE Agence France Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — The British government warned Monday it would not be lifting a nationwide lockdown anytime soon as the country remains in the grip of a coronavirus outbreak that has claimed more than 11,000 lives. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is deputizing for Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he recovers from his own bout of COVID-19, said there were some “positive” signs of progress. But he […]

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France coronavirus deaths near 15,000

PARIS, France (AFP) — France reported 574 new deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said Monday, bringing the total to 14,967 since the coronavirus outbreak began. A total of 335 of the deaths occurred in hospitals, up from 315 the previous day, while 239 deaths were recorded in nursing homes. For the fifth day in a row, the number of patients in intensive care fell, with 24 fewer people, leaving […]

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Haftar forces pound Libya capital after losing towns

TRIPOLI, Libya (AFP) — The forces of Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar rained rockets on the capital Tripoli early Tuesday after being ousted by government loyalists from a string of towns to its west. Salvo after salvo of rockets caused loud explosions throughout the night, AFP correspondents reported. Several homes were hit around Mitiga airbase in the eastern suburbs, the capital’s sole if intermittently functioning airport. There was no immediate word on any casualties. The […]

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Pacific clean-up after homes ‘blown to smithereens’ by superstorm

SUVA Fiji (AFP) — Tens of thousands of people remain homeless in Vanuatu a week after Tropical Cyclone Harold pummelled the impoverished Pacific nation, smashing houses and destroying crops, aid workers said Tuesday. The cyclone careened through the South Pacific last week, peaking as a Category Five superstorm that gouged a trail of destruction across the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and Tonga. With aid efforts hampered by coronavirus-related travel restrictions, World Vision said up to […]

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Ukraine president offers $1 millon for virus vaccine

KIEV, Ukraine (AFP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has promised a $1 million reward to the country’s scientists if they manage to develop a coronavirus vaccine, his spokeswoman said Monday. The ex-Soviet country with a population of around 42 million has confirmed 3,102 cases of COVID-19 and 93 people have died. The president “believes a million dollars is a good incentive,” his spokeswoman Yuliya Mendel said in a statement sent to AFP, with the aim […]

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North Korea fires multiple suspected cruise missiles: Seoul

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea on Tuesday fired several suspected cruise missiles towards the sea, the South’s military said. The “multiple projectiles” fired from Munchon in the east of the country were believed to be “short-range cruise missiles,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. The test comes a day before the nuclear-armed North marks the 108th anniversary of the birth of its founder Kim Il Sung, grandfather of the current […]

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India nationwide lockdown extended until May 3: Modi

by Abhaya SRIVASTAVA Agence France Presse NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India’s nationwide coronavirus lockdown, the biggest in the world, will be extended until at least May 3, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Tuesday. The current three-week-old lockdown of the nation of 1.3 billion people had been scheduled to end at midnight Tuesday. “From the economic angle, we have paid a big price,” Modi said in a nationwide address. “But the lives of the people […]

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Kiev huge forest fire ‘no threat’ to Chernobyl nuclear zone

by Olga SHYLENKO Agence France Presse KIEV, Ukraine (AFP) — Hundreds of firefighters on Monday battled a forest blaze in Ukraine’s Chernobyl exclusion zone while officials insisted there was no risk to the ruined reactor and nearby storage facilities for nuclear waste. “There is no threat to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the storage facilities,” Volodymyr Demchuk, a senior official from Ukraine’s emergency service, said in a video statement late Monday. The fire broke […]

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Australia, New Zealand flatten virus curve but keep lockdowns intact

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia and New Zealand on Tuesday brushed aside calls for an easing of tough restrictions on travel and public gatherings despite their success in curbing the spread of COVID-19. The number of new coronavirus cases in the neighbouring nations has fallen dramatically in the last two weeks, raising hopes that difficult social distancing measures may be relaxed. But Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the country was still “many weeks away” […]

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