Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
Beijing, China | AFP | Wednesday Millions of people in China were under tight Covid restrictions on Wednesday as sporadic outbreaks across the country prompted business closures and disruption at the world’s largest iPhone factory. China is the last major economy welded to a zero-Covid strategy, persisting with snap lockdowns, mass testing and lengthy quarantines in a bid to keep infections to a minimum. But fast-spreading virus variants have challenged that approach in recent […]
by Jean Daniel SENAT with Lucie AUBOURG in Washington Agence France-Presse PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) — When humanitarian officials in Haiti try to describe their concerns over a new, fast-spreading cholera epidemic, they struggle to find words strong enough: “alarming,” “chaotic,” even “a catastrophe.” A sizable part of the island’s population has been isolated — and unable to access health care — either by serious fuel shortages or by the brutal armed gangs that control vast […]
Zouk Mikael, Lebanon | AFP | by Jonathan SAWAYA After losing four relatives to respiratory illness, Zeina Matar fled her hometown north of Lebanon’s capital where she says a decaying power plant generates little electricity but very deadly pollution. Thick black smoke sometimes billows from its red-and-white chimneys, leaving a grey haze in the air above the Zouk Mikael industrial district where the toxins remain trapped by a nearby mountain chain. Zeina, aged 40, says […]
Jakarta, Indonesia (AFP) — The Indonesian government announced on Wednesday a ban on all syrup and liquid medicine prescription and over-the-counter sales, after the deaths of nearly 100 children from acute kidney injury this year. The ban comes as the Southeast Asian country’s health authorities probe an unexplained rise since January in the number of children’s deaths from acute kidney injury (AKI). It also comes after nearly 70 children died in The Gambia earlier this […]
Paris, France (AFP)– There was a dramatic divergence in the average life expectancy of people in different global regions during the second year of the pandemic, a study found Monday, as higher vaccination rates helped some nations recover far more quickly than others. Because governments have counted Covid statistics in different ways, researchers have sought to give a clearer picture of the pandemic’s true impact by measuring a country’s total number of annual deaths from […]
Madrid, Spain | AFP | A 13-month old baby girl received the world’s first intestinal transplant, Spanish health authorities have announced. The baby “has already been discharged and is in perfect condition at home with her parents”, said the statement from Madrid’s La Paz hospital, issued Tuesday. The baby received the organ via asystolic donation — from a donor at the end of their life. This method of donation means “the organ to be […]
by Remi BANET Agence France Presse Istanbul, Turkey (AFP) — Briton Rida Azeem knew her dental trip to Turkey had gone badly wrong the second she took off her mask. “My husband said, ‘What have they done to you? Your face is all sunk.’” “I had big gaps underneath my gums and you could see all the metal bits (of the implants). It was done so badly it was unbelievable,” the engineer from Manchester told […]
by Daniel Lawler Agence France Presse Paris, France (AFP) — Research about what is healthy comes so thick and fast — red meat can appear good for you one week, stroke-inducing the next — that a confused public often struggles to keep up. But a massive new review published on Monday aims to look beyond the latest study by evaluating the available evidence on a range of health topics and giving it a star rating. […]
by Michel Comte Agence France-Presse OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) — An acute nursing shortage is clogging or even closing hospital emergency rooms across Canada, pushing an already stressed national health system to the brink with potentially severe consequences for patient care. Burnout from the Covid-19 pandemic, abuse from patients and salary discontent have seen nursing staff quitting their jobs in droves, and experts say the situation is only likely to worsen. The impact on emergency care […]
by Ashraf KHAN / Joe STENSON Agence France-Presse JOHI, Pakistan (AFP) — His head haloed by a whirlwind of mosquitoes, Aamir Hussain stands on the roof of his home in southern Pakistan surveying the fetid floodwaters all around. Four months after the start of record monsoon rains linked to climate change, the standing water has curdled into a pestilent soup breeding malaria, cholera and dengue. The UN has warned of a “second wave” of catastrophe, […]
by Marc Preel and Alma Cohen Agence France-Presse STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AFP) — Breast cancer discoveries and mRNA vaccines are seen as possible winners when the Nobel Medicine Prize kicks off a week of winner announcements on Monday, with this year’s awards held under the shadow of war in Europe. Established more than 120 years ago before Europe was ravaged by two world wars, the Nobel prizes will celebrate those who have “conferred the greatest benefit […]
Évry, France (AFP) — Hackers who crippled a French hospital and stole a trove of data last month have released personal records of patients online, officials have confirmed. The cyberattackers demanded a multimillion dollar ransom from the Corbeil-Essonnes hospital near Paris a month ago, but the institution refused to pay. The hospital said the hackers had now dumped medical scans and lab analyses along with the national security numbers of patients. “I condemn in the […]
