Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — President Xi Jinping pegged China as the pivot point for global free trade on Thursday, vowing to keep his huge economy open and warning against protectionism. Buoyed by the signing of the world’s largest trade pact over the weekend, Xi said the Asia-Pacific is the “forerunner driving global growth” in a world hit by “multiple challenges” including the pandemic. He vowed “openness” to trade and refuted any possibility of the […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan is on “maximum alert” after logging a record number of daily coronavirus infections, the prime minister said Thursday, though no immediate restrictions are planned. More than 2,000 cases were recorded nationwide on Wednesday, with nearly 500 in the capital Tokyo alone. While small compared to figures seen in some other countries, the numbers represent a sharp rise in cases for Japan, where testing is often less wide-scale than in other […]
by Anuj Chopra RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia hosts the G20 summit Saturday in a first for an Arab nation, but the scaled-down virtual format could limit debate on a resurgent coronavirus pandemic and crippling economic crisis. The two-day meeting of the world’s wealthiest nations follows a bitter US election the results of which remain disputed by President Donald Trump and comes amid criticism of what campaigners call the group’s inadequate response to […]
APIA, Samoa (AFP) — Samoa announced its first case of Covid-19 on Thursday, as the coronavirus pandemic continued to spread to previously untouched Pacific island nations. Prime Minister Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi called for calm in the nation of 200,000 after confirming a man who flew into the country last Friday tested positive while in managed isolation. “We now have one case and will be added to the countries of the world that have […]
BOGOTA, Colombia (AFP) — Floods caused by a particularly intense rainy season have killed at least five people and left six others missing in northwestern Colombia, authorities said Wednesday. A ravine near the city of Cucuta had overflowed and caused flooding “that devastated everything in its path,” the South American country’s disaster risk agency said. More than 200 nearby homes, mostly in poor neighborhoods, were damaged. The flooding brings the death toll from more than […]
by AFP bureaus SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AFP) — Storm Iota killed at least ten people as it smashed homes, uprooted trees and swamped roads during its destructive advance across Central America, authorities said, just two weeks after Hurricane Eta devastated parts of the region. Iota, which made landfall in Nicaragua as a “catastrophic” Category 5 hurricane Monday, left six dead in the country, including two children who were trying to cross a river in […]
by Issam Ahmed WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Pfizer and BioNTech said Wednesday a completed analysis of their experimental Covid-19 vaccine found it protected 95 percent of people against the disease and announced they were applying for US emergency approval “within days.” The news from the US pharmaceutical company and its German partner brought further hope to a world upended by the coronavirus pandemic, and follows an announcement last week in which they said a […]
KINSHASA, DR Congo (AFP) — The Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday declared the end of the country’s latest Ebola epidemic, after the outbreak killed 55 people over the past five months. “I am happy to solemnly declare the end of the 11th epidemic of the Ebola virus in Equateur province” in the vast country’s northwest, Health Minister Eteni Longondo told journalists. The World Health Organization said the latest outbreak had killed 55 people […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taiwan has grounded all of its F16 fighter jets for safety checks as rescuers continue to search for one that went missing during a training exercise, authorities said Wednesday. The decision removes around 150 planes from Taiwan’s skies, leaving the democratic island relying on an even more limited fleet to warn off Chinese jets that have been buzzing it at an unprecedented rate in recent months. The air force said a […]
by Ludovic EHRET ZHANGJIAJIE, China (AFP) — Towering more than 300 meters (1,000 feet) up the cliff face that inspired the landscape for the blockbuster movie “Avatar”, the world’s highest outdoor lift whisks brave tourists to breathtaking views. The three double-decker elevators in central China’s Zhangjiajie Forest Park zip up the cliff in just 88 seconds, a speedy attraction as domestic tourism slowly recovers in China after the coronavirus forced strict travel measures and lockdowns […]
by Paul HANDLEY Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Donald Trump on Tuesday fired the government’s top election security official, who had rejected the president’s unsubstantiated claims of “massive” fraud in the vote he lost to Joe Biden. Trump announced on Twitter the termination “effective immediately” of Chris Krebs, who leads the agency that jointly declared “the November 3rd election was the most secure in American history.” Trump, who refuses to acknowledge […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Pfizer is “very close” to applying for an emergency use approval for its Covid-19 vaccine after collecting safety data to submit to US regulators, the company’s CEO said Tuesday, according to a report. The pharmaceutical giant announced last week preliminary results from a late-stage clinical trial showing the injections it had co-developed with Germany’s BioNTech was more than 90 percent effective after the second dose. “We are very close to […]
