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NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India will reopen gyms and end a nighttime curfew from August, but cinemas, bars and schools will remain closed in the vast South Asian nation as the number of coronavirus cases passed 1.5 million and deaths neared 35,000 on Wednesday. The country of 1.3 billion people — the world’s third-most infected nation — has gradually eased its virus restrictions imposed since late March to boost the flagging economy. But the […]
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — A freight train derailed and caught fire on a bridge in Arizona on Wednesday, but there were no reports of injuries in what a witness described as a “scene from hell.” The accident near Phoenix took place at around 6:15 a.m., prompting a massive fire visible for miles and sending some 100 firefighters, police and paramedics to the scene. Tim McMahan, a spokesman for Union Pacific, told AFP that […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A Hiroshima court issued a rare ruling Wednesday expanding the designation of atomic bomb survivors to include more people hit by radioactive “black rain”, 75 years after the US nuclear attack on Japan at the end of World War II. The Hiroshima District Court said all 84 plaintiffs, aged from their 70s through 90s, should be granted medical benefits given to the victims of the attack, known locally as “hibakusha”. After […]
ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italy’s parliament on Wednesday gave the go-ahead to extend the country’s state of emergency until October 15, allowing the government more flexibility to fight the lingering coronavirus pandemic. The state of emergency serves primarily to cut red tape and accelerate decision-making for the government when faced with disasters such as earthquakes, floods and other catastrophes. Italy was the first European country to be hit by the coronavirus crisis and a more […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — The first five Rafale fighter jets bought from France in a multi-billion-dollar deal landed in India on Wednesday and the defense minister used their arrival to launch a veiled warning to neighboring China over territorial tensions. A water-cannon guard of honor greeted the five jets when they landed at the Ambala air base in Haryana state. An intense nationwide spotlight on the combat jets has been sharpened by a deadly […]
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — The European Commission has ordered 30,000 treatment doses of the antiviral medication remdesivir from US drugs giant Gilead, it announced Wednesday. Sold under the brand name Veklury, remdesivir is the first medicine to be approved by the EU to treat victims of the COVID-19 pandemic in EU member states and Britain. It is hoped the drug will shorten recovery times for patients with severe infections and it will be made available […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The spread of the novel coronavirus does not appear to be impacted by seasonality, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, warning against false beliefs that summer is safer. “Season does not seem to be affecting the transmission of this virus,” WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told reporters in a virtual briefing. She pointed out that some of the hardest-hit countries are currently in the midst of different season. While it is summer […]
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Madrid moved to make mask-wearing obligatory at all times in public Tuesday as Spain grappled with the fallout from a spike in virus cases that has triggered several international travel warnings. Wearing masks in public has been obligatory in Spain since May 21 where social distancing was not possible, but in recent weeks almost all of its 17 regions have made it compulsory at all times, with Madrid one of the […]
by Barney Spender with AFP bureaus PARIS, France (AFP) — Governments across the world imposed new restrictions Tuesday in a bid to cool coronavirus hotspots as new infections shot up in some countries, sparking fears of a second wave. The World Health Organization warned that the virus does not appear to be affected by seasonality and the global death toll from the pandemic passed 654,000 Tuesday, nearly a third of that number in Europe, according […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — A new coronavirus cluster in a port city in northeast China has spread to other provinces and prompted fresh restrictions, authorities said Tuesday, as Beijing scrambles to prevent a second wave of infections. China had largely brought the virus under control since it first emerged in the country late last year, through a series of strict lockdowns and travel restrictions. But in recent months a number of small outbreaks have given […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The International Monetary Fund on Monday said it had approved $4.3 billion in aid to South Africa to help it fight the coronavirus pandemic. “The IMF approved $4.3 billion in emergency financial assistance under the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) to support the authorities’ efforts in addressing the challenging health situation and severe economic impact of the COVID-19 shock,” the Washington-based crisis lender said in a statement. South Africa is the […]
HONG KONG, China A strong 6.3 magnitude quake struck early Monday in China’s Tibet region, the US Geological Survey reported. The quake struck in a sparsely populated area at 2007 GMT Monday, the USGS said. Its epicenter was nearly 600 kilometers (350 miles) northeast of Llasa at a shallow depth of 10 kilometers, according to USGS data. There were no immediate reports of casualties. © Agence France-Presse
