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WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States has revoked visas of more than 1,000 Chinese students and researchers under an order by President Donald Trump that accused some of them of espionage, the State Department said Wednesday. Trump, in a May 29 proclamation as tensions rose with Beijing on multiple fronts, declared that some Chinese nationals officially in the United States for study have stolen intellectual property and helped modernize China’s military. The State […]
by Will VASSILOPOULOS with John HADOULIS in Athens LESBOS, Greece (AFP) — Thousands of asylum-seekers were left homeless on Wednesday after a fire gutted Greece’s largest migrant camp on Lesbos, provoking an outpouring of sympathy from around Europe and calls for reform of the refugee system. A second fire on Wednesday evening aggravated the crisis on the island, where the authorities have declared a state of emergency. The first blaze, which began hours after 35 […]
SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — People in San Francisco and elsewhere in California woke Wednesday to a deep orange sky that triggered apocalyptic visions in a year already rife with disturbing events. Skies so dark at times that it appeared more night than day were accompanied in some places with ash falling like snow, the cause being massive wild fires filling the air with smoke and cinders. “The orange skies this morning are a […]
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AFP) — Clinical trials in Brazil of a Chinese-made vaccine against Covid-19 have shown “extremely positive” results, and a widespread vaccination campaign could begin as early as December, the governor of Sao Paulo state said Wednesday. Sao Paulo, the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in hard-hit Brazil, is one of six states helping to test the so-called CoronaVac vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac Biotech. The vaccine produced an immune response […]
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Hundreds of homes have been lost to massive and unprecedented Oregon wildfires with a potentially historic number of fatalities feared in the northwestern US state, governor Kate Brown said Wednesday. More than 300,000 acres are burning across Oregon including 35 major wildfires, with at least five towns “substantially destroyed” and mass evacuations taking place. “This could be the greatest loss of human lives and property due to wildfire in […]
NIAMEY, Niger (AFP) — Three months of pounding rain in Niger has left 65 people dead and affected nearly 330,000, while several areas of the capital Niamey remain underwater, the government said. The ministry of humanitarian action and disaster management told AFP on Tuesday that as of September 7, 51 people had died when their home collapsed in the floods, and 14 had drowned. The worst-affected regions are Maradi in the central south of the […]
by Emal HAIDARY KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — Afghanistan’s vice president Amrullah Saleh sustained minor injuries Wednesday when an explosion targeted his convoy and killed at least 10 people, as government-backed negotiators and the Taliban prepared to meet in Doha for long-delayed peace talks. The attack in the capital Kabul was quickly condemned as an attempt to frustrate the peace process, with top Afghan and foreign officials calling for an end to the violence so negotiations […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — The active search for dozens of sailors from a cargo ship that sank in a typhoon last week was called off Wednesday, Japanese authorities said, with two crewmen the only known survivors. The Gulf Livestock 1, which was carrying 6,000 cows, issued a distress call last week as Typhoon Maysak passed through the area, launching a desperate search for the 43 crew on board. The Japan Coast Guard had been […]
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — The European Commission announced Wednesday it has reached a deal with a sixth pharmaceutical firm, this time BioNTech-Pfizer, to reserve a further 200 million doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine. “Our chances to develop and deploy a safe and effective vaccine have never been higher, both for Europeans here at home, or for the rest of the world,” European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said. “To defeat coronavirus anywhere, […]
DENVER, United States (AFP) — Coloradans were ditching the suntan lotion Tuesday and pulling out warm gloves and boots as the western US state went from blazing summer heat to snowfall in just one day. In the state capital Denver, the temperature was around 91 degrees Fahrenheit (33 Celsius) on Monday afternoon. By Tuesday morning it had dropped to 36F, and it could cool further as the day wears on, forecasters say. “Drastic change to […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A massive motorcycle rally held in the US state of South Dakota last month may have been responsible for 260,000 new coronavirus cases, according to an analysis published Tuesday. This figure, which came from a paper that hasn’t yet been peer-reviewed, would represent the biggest Covid-19 spreading event documented in the US to date. The study was published by the Institute of Labor Economics and conducted by economists at the […]
by Patrick GALEY PARIS, France (AFP) — Disruptions to health services due to the pandemic are putting millions of additional lives at risk worldwide, the United Nations said Wednesday, warning that Covid-19 could reverse decades of progress in reducing child mortality. The past 30 years have seen remarkable strides forward in preventing or treating causes of infant deaths including premature births and pneumonia. New mortality estimates published by the UN’s children’s fund UNICEF, the World […]
