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by Mark Felix Agence France Presse HOUSTON, United States (AFP) — US-Chinese relations, already tense over the coronavirus pandemic and Beijing’s crackdown in Hong Kong, deteriorated once again Wednesday as Washington ordered the closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston within 72 hours. China slammed the US move, which came one day after the unveiling of a US indictment targeting two Chinese nationals for allegedly hacking hundreds of companies worldwide and seeking to steal […]
By Rohnczel Castro EBC Canberra Bureau (Eagle News) — This year, the government of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) aims to remove a total of 1,958 Eastern Gray Kangaroo from nine priority reserves in Canberra amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This was earlier announced by the ACT Open Government which said that the culling, which it does yearly to control the kangaroo population in Canberra, had started in June. Canberra, the bush capital of Australia, is […]
CHICAGO, United States (AFP) — A shootout outside a funeral parlour left 14 people wounded Tuesday in Chicago, as President Donald Trump threatens to send federal agents to a handful of US cities led by Democratic mayors. The incident started when occupants of a vehicle “began firing at attendees of a funeral. At that time the attendees of the funeral exchanged fire,” Chicago deputy police superintendent Eric Carter told reporters. Shootings have become breathtakingly normal […]
MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — Australia reported a record 502 new coronavirus infections Wednesday, nearly four months after the epidemic initially peaked, with authorities warning the country was entering a critical new phase. Most of the new cases were reported in the southeastern state of Victoria, where authorities have struggled to bring an outbreak in Melbourne under control despite an almost two-week lockdown in Australia’s second-biggest city. Australia’s new coronavirus infections previously peaked on March 28 […]
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Ailing Saudi King Salman chaired a virtual cabinet meeting from a hospital office late Tuesday, a day after he was admitted due to gall bladder inflammation, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The cabinet held a virtual meeting, chaired by King Salman “from his office at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh,” SPA said on Twitter. The report was accompanied by footage from the spacious office in the hospital where […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck off the Alaskan peninsula, triggering a brief tsunami warning for areas within 200 miles (300 kilometers) of the epicenter. Sirens blared as residents were warned to move inland or to higher ground, reports said. The shallow quake hit at 0612 GMT Wednesday about 500 miles southwest of Anchorage, and around 60 miles south-southeast of the remote settlement of Perryville, the US Geological Survey said. “Based on […]
MUNICH, Germany (AFP) — German prosecutors said Wednesday they have arrested the former chief executive and two board members of Wirecard for “commercial fraud”, saying investigations show that trickery was already happening in 2015. The widening probe suggests that banks in Germany and Japan as well as other investors were conned into providing funds of up to 3.2 billion euros ($3.7 billion) to Wirecard, said prosecutors, adding that the sums are now “very likely lost […]
FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Germany (AFP) — The US government has agreed to pay almost $2 billion for 100 million doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine, German firm BioNTech said on Wednesday. BioNTech, which is developing the drug with US pharma giant Pfizer, said in a statement that American people would receive the future vaccine “for free” in line with the Trump administration’s “commitment for free access for COVID-19 vaccines”. Under the agreement, the US government […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hong Kong reported 113 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, a new daily record as a sudden surge in cases shows no signs of slowing despite ramped up social distancing rules. The finance hub was one of the first places to be struck by the virus when it emerged from central China. But the city had impressive success in tackling the disease, all but ending local transmissions by late June. However, […]
BRASILIA, Brazil (AFP) — A Chinese-made vaccine against the new coronavirus entered the final stage of testing Tuesday in Brazil, where volunteers received the first doses of what officials hope will be a game-changer in the global pandemic. The vaccine, developed by private Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac Biotech, became the third in the world to enter Phase 3 clinical trials, or large-scale testing on humans — the last step before regulatory approval. “We’re living […]
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AFP) — Bolivian police said on Tuesday they recovered more than 400 bodies from streets and homes over a five-day period, with 85 percent of the dead believed to have had coronavirus. A total of 191 bodies were recovered in the Cochabamba metropolitan area alone from July 15-20, with another 141 collected in La Paz, national police director Coronel Ivan Rojas told journalists. In the country’s biggest city, Santa Cruz, authorities […]
by Damon Wake, with AFP Bureaus Agence France Presse BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — European leaders on Tuesday agreed a massive aid package for their pandemic-ravaged economies, as US President Donald Trump finally came out in favour of face masks as a tool against the coronavirus. The virus has infected more than 14.7 million people and killed over 610,000 of them since emerging in China late last year, with fresh alarm being sounded over its accelerating […]
