World News
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Australia and New Zealand consider just living with Covid-19
With Covid-19 on the rise in Australia and New Zealand, officials in both countries have hinted at moving away from a strategy of eliminating the virus and instead learning to live with it. Australia has daily infection numbers nearing 1,000, setting new records each day and, while New Zealand had long avoided Covid-19 outbreaks, today the country reported 62 new…
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Keep your subscriptions! OnlyFans backs down on porn ban
Following unexpectedly widespread global mainstream media coverage, OnlyFans has backed down on its ban on explicit porn material on its platform. The announcement was made on Twitter just 2 hours ago with the promise of an official statement to be sent to the site’s more than 2 million content creators including many in Thailand. The original announcement to remove all…
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Nepal fears ‘third wave’ as COVID cases surge
As COVID cases continue to rise, Nepal’s Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) has warned of a third coronavirus wave, instructing all hospitals and health centers to gear up and prepare necessary measures. Nepal’s second COVID wave in mid-May had overwhelmed the Himalayan nation’s health system. Hospitals ran out of oxgen supplies, hospital beds and ventilators. “We are at the…
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Worldwide Covid-19 infections may be levelling off again
The World Health Organisation said this week that Covid-19 may be plateauing worldwide after 2 months of steady increases. The global Covid-19 totals saw 4.5 million new infections and 68,000 new deaths this week, stats that reveal only a marginal increase over last week’s totals of 4.4 million infections and 66,000 deaths. According to the WHO’s epidemiological update, the worldwide…
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Tanzania: Outcry after President Samia calls women footballers ‘flat-chested’
Tanzania’s president has been criticized for describing the country’s female footballers as having “flat-chests” and being unattractive for marriage. Samia Suluhu Hassan made the remarks while hosting Tanzania’s Under-23 men’s football team at State House in the coastal city of Dar es Salaam. The president said that while female footballers were making the East African country proud by winning trophies,…
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Indonesian navy seizes tanker and crew, says they stole oil
Indonesia’s navy announced today that it has seized a tanker and the tanker’s crew, the seamen were wanted on charges of stealing almost 300,00 barrels of crude oil out of Cambodia’s reserves. The ship was stopped on July 27 while it was off the coast of Sumatra, says the Indonesian navy. Days prior, Phnom Penh had issued a red notice…
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Afghan migrants trapped at the border between Poland and Belarus
There were originally about 50 people in the group stuck on on the Polish-Belarusian border, but according to the Polish border police, Belarusian border guards have since taken women with small children and some of the men back to Belarus. As of Monday, there were still about 24 Afghan men and women camping near the border and refusing to be…
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How the Taliban’s Afghanistan takeover could hurt US-Pakistan ties
The fall of Kabul to the Taliban has left many people in Pakistan questioning their country’s future relations with the US. Some hard-liners in Pakistan say Washington will blame Islamabad for the Islamic fundamentalist group’s takeover of Afghanistan. Pakistan’s Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari wrote an article on Tuesday asserting that “her country would no longer accept being scapegoated for…
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A kayak tour of Argentina for environmental protection
Juan Camelia is not really much of a sportsman. He got his kayak just six years ago, to paddle about on the Parana River and go camping in the great outdoors. Now, he is one of more than 40 kayakers who have caused a considerable stir in Argentina with their spectacular environmental campaign to get the Congress to pass a…
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Are India’s emergency visas for Afghans issued based on religion?
Days after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan, the Indian government introduced a new category of visa to fast-track the applications of Afghans who want to come to India and flee what has become a growing humanitarian crisis. It was announced that all Afghans, irrespective of their religion, could apply for the so-called e-Emergency X-Misc Visa online. However, the announcement…
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Could Afghanistan under Taliban rule become a haven for Islamist militants?
As the US withdraws its military from Afghanistan, it is clear that Washington’s goal in the country has always been to guarantee American security. President Joe Biden left little doubt to this effect during a speech last week. “Our single most vital interest in Afghanistan remains what it always was, to prevent a terrorist attack on our country.” Biden’s assertion…
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Rwanda’s military intervention in Mozambique raises eyebrows
On August 9, the Rwandan military announced it had taken the strategically important northern Mozambican port of Mocimboa da Praia from al-Shabab militants. Kigali daily, “New Times,” quoted Brigadier-General Pascal Muhizi saying the Rwandan army had chased out the al-Shabab fighters. The jihadists had occupied Mocimboa da Praia in the Cabo Delgado province for over a year but fled towards…
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All Ho Chi Minh City residents to be tested for Covid; military sent in to help distribute food, enforce restrictions
The Prime Minister of Vietnam, Pham Minh ChÃnh, has ordered that all Ho Chi Minh City residents get tested for Covid following the decision to have the military sent in to distribute food and enforce Covid restrictions. Confusion swirled in the city as officials released conflicting information about food buying restrictions. Vietnamese media showed swarms of residents flocking to markets…
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All remaining Thai nationals now evacuated from Afghanistan
When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan nearly a week ago on Monday, thousands of foreign nationals raced to the airport in hopes of assistance in fleeing the country while it was still possible. Now Thailand’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson has confirmed that all Thai nationals have left Afghanistan. The Foreign Ministry believes that there were 4 remaining Thai people in…
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Czech Republic: Health care professions become fashionable
In the Czech Republic, the devastation of the coronavirus pandemic reached its peak in late 2020 and early 2021: The country of 10.5 million led the world in per-capita infections and deaths. In all, some 1.7 million Czechs became ill and to date more than 25,000 people in the EU state have died as a result of COVID-19. The only…
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Vietnam Covid-19 surges, Ho Chi Minh enters lockdown Monday
With soaring Covid-19 infections, Ho Chi Minh City has issued a stay-at-home order enacting a strict lockdown that bans people from leaving their home starting Monday. The megacity of 9 million people has accounted for a full 80% of all Covid-19 deaths and 50% of Covid-19 infections in Vietnam and less harsh lockdown restrictions aren’t making headway. The deputy head…
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China eyes booster shots to hit herd immunity by year’s end
If they can achieve over 80% vaccination rate, China may reach herd immunity by the end of the year, according to the country’s top respiratory disease expert. He believed that booster shots would make up for the loss of efficacy after 6 months of vaccines from China and others used in the country. Officials in China believe that they will…
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Africa: Vaccination rollout hindered by hesitancy, low supply
A new wave of COVID-19 infections across Africa, and the inequitable distribution of vaccines, has further highlighted the multifaceted inequalities both within the continent and across the globe. While in some parts of the world, the challenge is overcoming vaccine hesitancy. In others, the problem is getting the vaccines to the needy — explains Nicholas Crips, South Africa’s Deputy Director…
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Friends, enemies, neighbors? The Taliban and the Middle East
A recent editorial in Al-Alam, an Iranian-owned Arabic-language publication, warned people not to trust the Americans the way the Afghan people did. The people of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Libya “link the fate of their countries and their people with America and believe this will open a new door, through which they will enter into a bright and brilliant…
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AfricaLink on Air – 20 August 2021
Are civilians across Africa arming themselves?+++Ivory Coast closes borders+++Al-Shabab’s presence in Somalia as AU mission winds down+++Nigerian teen helps youths with vocational training+++Sports SOURCE: DW News
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Afghanistan: Local journalists as cornerstones of reporting
“In front of me, the American military is firing warning shots in the air. Behind me, the Taliban are storming the airport compound.” This was Natalie Amiri on German television, quoting a telephone conversation she had with an Afghan colleague who called her from Kabul airport on Wednesday. As the presenter of Weltspiegel, a foreign affairs magazine program on German…
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Alexi Navalny poisoning marked ‘point of no return’ for Kremlin critics
“I have just flown home. I’m going to passport control. All day I’ve only been thinking about how they will search me in particular because I am a foreign agent,” journalist Olga Churakova tells her podcast listeners in an emotional recording from a Moscow airport. She describes a sense that she is not safe in her home country. Churakova tries…
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Last surviving Khmer Rouge leader denies role in Cambodia genocide
The last former leader of the radical communist Khmer Rouge regime is denying charges of genocide. The Khmer Rouge brutally ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 and led to the death of around 2 million people. Some were killed in mass executions by the Khmer Rouge and some were tortured to death. Others died while they were forced to work…
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Will Moscow shake hands with the Taliban?
“We are not worried.” This comment by the Russian president’s special envoy to Afghanistan, Samir Kabulov, sums up Moscow’s reaction to the changeover of power there. On Sunday, Kabulov justified this stance on the state television channel Russia-1, saying that Russia had “good relations” with both the former Afghan government and the Taliban. This despite the fact that the terrorist…
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Essay: Authors of the ‘War on Terror’ in denial to the bitter end in Afghanistan
“It will probably be like last time. When they took Kabul overnight,” Kabul resident Ahmad Jawed, 30, told me last Saturday. When the militant Islamist TalibanTaliban first captured the Afghan capital 25 years ago, Jawed was a young child. But he remembers that morning well. Suddenly the fighters were there, while the members of the mujahedeen government, who had been…
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AfricaLink on Air – 19 August 2021
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan backs a peaceful resolution for the Tigray conflict in Ethiopia++Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari holds separate meetings with security chiefs and elders++Today is World Humanitarian Day SOURCE: DW News
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Afghanistan: What Taliban takeover means for the region
The Chinese government has so far appeared to be at ease with the collapse of the Afghan government and the Taliban’s takeover of the country. “The Chinese embassy in Afghanistan is continuing to operate as normal, and its ambassador and embassy staff will remain in their posts,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Monday. Most Chinese citizens in Afghanistan…
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Haiti earthquake confirmed death toll passes 2,000
As rescuers continue to work to assess the losses in Haiti, the death toll from Saturday’s 7.2 magnitude earthquake has surpassed 2,000 people. The devastating effects of the earthquake on the poor island nation have left thousands homeless, and today 250 more were added to the death count, reaching 2,189 people according to Haiti’s civil protection agency. They estimate the…
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Cambodian union leader given 2 year prison sentence following comments that “incited unrest”
An influential Cambodian labour union leader has been handed a 2 year prison sentence yesterday over comments that the government says were insensitive and incited social unrest. His comments pertained to the country’s border. Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions, has been in police custody for over a year following the government’s claims that Rong disseminated false…
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Biden stands by decision to withdraw troops, says no leaving without ‘chaos ensuing’
Following Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan’s capital Kabul with thousands now trying to evacuate the country, US President Joe Biden sat down with an ABC News reporter for a one-on-one interview, standing by the decision to withdraw US troops after occupying the area for two decades. While acknowledging that he was stunned by the swift takeover of the US-backed Afghan government,…
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