Foreign
Jailed adviser of Myanmar's Suu Kyi dies of Covid-19
July 21, 2021, 7:29 pm
JAKARTA, Indonesia – A senior adviser to Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was imprisoned since the Feb. 1 military coup, has died of Covid-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) on Tuesday, his party said. Nyan Win, 78, died at a hospital where he was shifted last week from Yangon’s… Read More
Delta variant accounts for 83% of US Covid cases as deaths rise
July 21, 2021, 1:58 pm
CHICAGO, United States – The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced Tuesday that the Delta variant of the coronavirus accounts for 83 percent of new cases, up significantly from two weeks ago as deaths spike. As of July 3, the variant, considered more easily transmissible… Read More
PH important, trustworthy partner of Vietnam: PM
July 20, 2021, 6:09 pm
HANOI – Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính spoke with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte over the phone late Monday, affirming that the archipelago nation is always an important and trustworthy partner that shares many concerns and strategic interests with Vietnam. Chính said… Read More
Fewer women than men to regain employment during Covid recovery
July 20, 2021, 2:38 pm
GENEVA – Inequalities between women and men in the job market that have been exacerbated due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic will persist and there will be 13 million fewer women employed in 2021 than in 2019, while men’s employment will have succeeded in recovering, an… Read More
Floods in Germany leave more than 150 dead
July 18, 2021, 4:38 pm
BERLIN – More than 150 people were killed and over 650 injured in flooding in western Germany, officials said on Sunday. At least 110 people lost their lives in the hard-hit Ahrweiler district of the Rhineland-Palatinate state, the Koblenz Police Department said in a statement. It also reported… Read More
Death toll from Germany floods rises to 106
July 17, 2021, 4:53 pm
BERLIN – The number of people who died in floods in western Germany rose to 106 on Friday, officials confirmed in Rhineland-Palatinate. At least 63 people have died due to severe flooding, the Koblenz Police Department said in a statement, while in the neighboring North Rhine-Westphalia region,… Read More
World in early stages of Covid-19 third wave: WHO head
July 15, 2021, 3:02 pm
GENEVA – The world is currently in the early stages of a third wave, World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday. In his opening remarks at the 8th meeting of the IHR Emergency Committee on Covid-19, Ghebreyesus said in the past week, cases of… Read More
Covid-19 cases soar in US amid falling vaccination rates
July 13, 2021, 1:35 pm
WASHINGTON – Covid-19 cases rose in more than 40 US states over the past week as the vaccination rate has slowed down and the highly transmissible Delta variant continues to spread. The country is averaging about 19,455 new cases over the last seven days, a 47 percent increase from the week… Read More
Global hunger, malnutrition rose in 2020 mainly due to Covid: UN
July 13, 2021, 1:34 pm
ANKARA – World hunger and malnutrition levels worsened dramatically last year, mainly due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a multi-agency UN report released on Monday. UN agencies, including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Food Program (WFP) and the World Health… Read More
Vietnam reports record high of new Covid-19 cases
July 12, 2021, 7:22 am
HANOI – For the fourth day running, Vietnam has recorded a record high of new Covid-19 infections. Sunday saw 1,953 new cases in the daily tally including eight imported cases and 1,945 locally transmitted infections. Of the new local cases, Ho Chi Minh City reported 1,397, bringing the total… Read More
Pfizer to develop booster Covid-19 jab; CDC says it's unnecessary
July 10, 2021, 7:24 pm
WASHINGTON – US drugmaker Pfizer on Thursday revealed its plan to develop a booster dose of its coronavirus vaccine to better protect people from growing variants, heightening hesitancy of the unvaccinated population and sparking confusion around the United States on whether a booster shot is… Read More
Cuba OKs emergency use of homemade Covid-19 vaccine
July 10, 2021, 5:21 pm
HAVANA - The Cuban Center for State Control of Medicines, Equipment and Medical Devices on Friday gave emergency use authorization to Abdala, one of five vaccines against Covid-19 being developed by Cuban scientists. The regulatory body said in a statement it granted emergency use authorization to… Read More
Global food prices fall for 1st time in 12 months: UN body
July 9, 2021, 8:18 pm
ANKARA – World food prices fell in June for the first time in 12 months, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Thursday. Following 12 consecutive monthly increases, the FAO Food Price Index slipped 2.5 percent from May, averaging at 124.6 points this June. The figure was… Read More
Pfizer developing Covid-19 booster shot to target Delta variant
July 9, 2021, 5:50 pm
WASHINGTON – Pfizer and BioNTech said they are developing a coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) booster shot intended to target the highly transmissible Delta variant, according to U.S. media reports on Thursday. Concerns continue to rise as the Delta strain has already become the dominant… Read More
Haiti prexy assassinated at his residence: official
July 7, 2021, 11:08 pm
ANKARA – Haiti President Jovenel Moise was assassinated at his residence while the first lady was injured, the country's interim prime minister said on Wednesday. According to a statement by Claude Joseph, a group of unidentified people, including those speaking Spanish, attacked the private… Read More
Russia sees Asean as reliable ally amid global instability
July 7, 2021, 1:01 pm
MOSCOW – Russia regards the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) as a reliable and predictable ally in an unstable geopolitical situation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday at a special meeting of the Russian and Asean Foreign Ministers in Jakarta. "Amid unstable… Read More
SoKor says Delta variant rapidly spreading across country
July 6, 2021, 4:17 pm
ANKARA – A South Korean health official warned on Monday that Delta, the latest alarming variant of Covid-19, is rapidly spreading across the country. According to Son Young-rae, the variant, which was first identified in India, "currently accounts for about 7 percent of new coronavirus cases."… Read More
Pope Francis undergoes surgery for colon diverticulitis
July 5, 2021, 1:52 pm
VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis "reacted well" to planned surgery for a symptomatic diverticular stenosis of the colon, according to the Vatican spokesman Sunday. The 84-year-old Pope was admitted to the A. Gemelli Polyclinic, a Catholic teaching hospital, in Rome in the afternoon and underwent… Read More
Indonesia logs record 27,913 Covid-19 daily cases
July 4, 2021, 4:38 pm
JAKARTA – Indonesia saw a record increase in daily Covid-19 cases on Saturday, with 27,913 new infections reported across the country that increased the total tally to 2,256,851, the Covid-19 Response Task Force said. The country’s death toll also increased to 60,027 after recording 493 more… Read More
Deaths as historic heat wave hits Western Canada
June 30, 2021, 3:12 pm
TRENTON, Canada – Western Canada is sweltering under record-high temperatures that may have killed scores of people in Vancouver, police reported Tuesday. In the province of British Columbia (BC), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) issued a plea for people "to check on loved ones and… Read More