AFP Former US president Barack Obama on Wednesday applauded the “profound” protests by Americans demanding racial justice and said demonstrations over last week’s killing of a black man in police custody could spark nationwide reforms. In his first video comments since George Floyd’s death on 25 May in Minneapolis triggered unrest across the country, President
AP A cyclone made landfall Wednesday south of India’s financial capital of Mumbai, with a storm surge threatening to flood beaches and low-lying slums as city authorities struggled to contain the coronavirus pandemic. Live TV coverage showed inky black clouds framing the sea on India’s western coastline. Trees swayed wildly as rain pounded the coastal
BBC Tens of thousands of people have demonstrated, mainly peacefully, across the United States for an eighth night following the death of African-American George Floyd in police custody. One of the biggest protests, joined by Floyd’s relatives, took place in his hometown of Houston, Texas. Many defied curfews in several cities, imposed after violence and
AFP Protests sweeping the United States over the death of George Floyd reverberated on the other side of the globe on Monday when thousands marched in solidarity on the streets of New Zealand. The rallies were peaceful in contrast to the days of sometimes violent protests in the US after Floyd, an African-American, died while
AP The novel coronavirus has killed at least 372 047 people since the outbreak first emerged in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 11:00 (GMT) on Monday. At least 6 182 860 cases of coronavirus have been registered in 196 countries and territories. Of these, at least
Africa News Protests over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody spread around the United States on Friday, as his case renewed anger over others involving African Americans, police and race relations. They were largely peaceful as demonstrators marched in the streets from Los Angeles to New York. But in Atlanta, demonstrators set
BBC Protesters have clashed with police in cities across the US over the killing of an unarmed African-American man at the hands of officers in Minneapolis. Minnesota’s governor said the tragedy of the death of George Floyd in police custody had morphed into “something much different – wanton destruction”. New York, Atlanta, Portland and other
AP India’s coronavirus caseload has surpassed 150,000, with another single-day high of more than 6,000 reported on Wednesday. The spike comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government prepares a new set of guidelines, with the fourth phase of the two-month-old lockdown across the country set to end on Sunday. The Health Ministry reported 151,767 cases
AFP South Korea reported its highest number of new coronavirus infections in weeks on Wednesday and India saw another record single-day jump of more than 6,000 cases, as the pandemic expanded its grip across much of the globe. Still, optimism over reopening economies from business shutdowns to fight the virus spurred a rally on Wall
AFP Twitter labelled two Donald Trump tweets “unsubstantiated” and accused him of making false claims Tuesday, a first for the social network which has long resisted calls to censure the US president over truth-defying posts. The move drew a furious response from Trump, who used the platform to accuse Twitter of “interfering in the 2020
AP The number of coronavirus cases in India has surged past 100,000, and infections are on the rise in home states of the migrant workers who left cities and towns during the nationwide lockdown. India’s Health Ministry on Tuesday reported a total of 101,139 cases and 3,163 deaths due to COVID-19, the disease caused by
AFP President Donald Trump has threatened to pull the US out of the World Health Organization, accusing it of botching the global coronavirus response and of being a “puppet of China.” The American leader has been locked in a bitter spat with Beijing, alleging it covered up the initial outbreak in central China late last
AFP Scores of Mexicans are dying from drinking adulterated liquor, a consequence of the shortage of mainstream alcoholic beverages during the coronavirus pandemic, authorities say. The first of at least 138 deaths in recent weeks occurred at the end of April in the western state of Jalisco, a month after the government declared a health
BBC India recorded 5,242 new cases in the last 24 hours – the highest spike the country has seen so far, just as the government has begun to ease restrictions. This takes the total number of cases to 96,169, with around 56,000 active infections. While the lockdown is slated to end on 31 May, some
BBC The mayor of Brazil’s largest city, São Paulo, has said its health system could collapse as demand grows for emergency beds to deal with coronavirus cases. Bruno Covas said the city’s public hospitals had reached 90% capacity and could run out of space in two weeks. São Paulo is one of the country’s worst-hit
AP China reported another rise in coronavirus cases on Monday, as the government reminded people to step up personal protection against the virus. The warning from Mi Feng, spokesperson for the National Health Commission, came as 17 new cases were reported, up from 14 the day before which had represented the first double-digit increase in
AFP Millions of people in France and Spain were set to embrace a relaxation of stay-at-home rules on Monday, but Britain extended its lockdown as countries plot their way tentatively through the coronavirus crisis. Fears of a second wave of the pandemic, which has killed more than 280,000 people worldwide and wrecked the global economy,
AP China and South Korea both reported more coronavirus infections Friday after reopening economies damaged by devastating outbreaks. Around the globe, governments are opting to accept the risks of easing pandemic-fighting restrictions that left huge numbers of people without income or safety nets. In the U.S., some governors are disregarding or creatively interpreting White House
AFP South Korea, once one of the hardest-hit countries in the coronavirus pandemic, reported no new cases on Thursday, boosting hopes of an eventual return to normality as US scientists hailed the results of a major drug trial. The good medical news caused equities to rally, despite mounting deaths worldwide and abysmal economic figures caused
BBC The World Health Organization warned on Saturday recovering from coronavirus may not protect people from reinfection as the death toll from the pandemic approached 200,000 around the globe. Governments across the world are struggling to limit the economic devastation unleashed by the virus, which has infected nearly 2.8 million people and left half of
