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WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Nearly 2,000 people infected with the new coronavirus have died in the United States in the last 24 hours, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University as of 8:30 pm Tuesday (0030 GMT Wednesday). The record daily figure of 1,939 brings the total number of deaths in the US to 12,722, which is approaching tolls in the worst-hit countries so far — Italy with 17,127 dead and Spain with 13,798. […]
MOSCOW, United States (AFP) — The head of a top Russian research center told President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday that his lab was ready to start human trials of experimental coronavirus vaccines in June. Rinat Maksyutov, head of the Vektor State Virology and Biotechnology Centre, said his facility proposed first-phase clinical trials of three vaccines from June 29, on 180 volunteers. Maksyutov was speaking during a video-link meeting between Putin and the heads of top […]
QUITO, Ecuador (AFP) — Former Ecuadoran president Rafael Correa was sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison for corruption during his 10-year term in office, the attorney general’s office said Tuesday. Correa — who was president from 2007-17 but now lives in exile in Belgium, where his wife was born — was one of 18 people convicted of bribery, the office said on Twitter. Correa, one of the feistiest characters in Latin American politics, […]
SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Twitter co-founder and chief executive Jack Dorsey said Tuesday he was committing $1 billion of his personal fortune to coronavirus relief through his philanthropic fund. Dorsey said in a series of tweets that he would transfer his equity in his digital payments group Square to his limited liability corporation Start Small, contributing around 28 percent of his overall wealth. “Why now? The needs are increasingly urgent, and I want […]
SUVA, Fiji (AFP) — A deadly Pacific cyclone bore down on Fiji Wednesday after leaving a trail of destruction in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. Tropical Cyclone Harold weakened slightly overnight from a scale-topping category five to a four, but was still lashing Fiji with winds of up to 240 kilometers per hour (150 miles per hour), forecasters said. The official NaDraki weather service said the cyclone was offshore south of Fiji’s main island Viti […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to cut US funding to the World Health Organization, accusing it of bias toward China during the coronavirus pandemic. Trump told reporters he was “going to put a very powerful hold on” funding to WHO, the UN body whose biggest funding source is the United States. “We’re going to put a hold on money spent to the WHO,” said Trump, who pursues an “America […]
by Alice RITCHIE / Phil HAZLEWOOD LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was battling the coronavirus in intensive care on Tuesday, raising deep concerns about his health as the country recorded its highest daily death toll. “The Prime Minister’s condition is stable and he remains in intensive care for close monitoring. He is in good spirits,” his official spokesman said in an update sent around 1800GMT, almost 24 hours since he […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly resigned Tuesday over his mishandling of an outbreak of the coronavirus on the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier, Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced. Modly stepped down five days after removing the Roosevelt’s captain, Brett Crozier, for writing a letter, which was leaked to the media, describing the virus-struck vessel’s dire situation and alleging the Pentagon was not paying adequate attention to it. The removal […]
by Chris Lefkow with Jing Xuan Teng in Wuhan WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — China lifted a travel ban on Tuesday on residents of Wuhan, where the coronavirus pandemic began last year, and reported no new deaths, but the situation remained grim elsewhere as Britain and New York State recorded their highest number of fatalities yet. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson remained in intensive care, meanwhile, after being admitted to a London hospital on Monday […]
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AFP) — Sweden on Tuesday reported another 114 coronavirus deaths, bringing the total to 591 in a country that has adopted a softer approach to containing the outbreak than some of its European neighbors. Sweden’s Public Health Agency said it had recorded a total of 7,693 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country of around 10 million people. It reported 114 new deaths on Tuesday, an uptick from preceding daily tolls, but cautioned […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Two elderly South Korean coronavirus patients recovered from severe pneumonia after being treated with plasma from survivors, researchers said Tuesday, offering hope in the face of the global pandemic. Scientists have pointed to the potential benefits of plasma — a blood fluid — from recovered individuals who have developed antibodies to the virus enabling the body’s defenses to attack it. Since emerging in China in December, the coronavirus has killed […]
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Spain’s daily coronavirus death toll shot up to 743 on Tuesday after falling for four straight days, lifting the total to 13,798, the health ministry said. However, it emphasized that the rise was due to weekend deaths being tallied and that the overall “downward trend” is continuing. The new figure represents a 5.7 percent increase over the 637 deaths recorded on Monday, the lowest number of fatalities since March 24 in […]
