Monrovia (AFP) July 22, 2024 Severe flooding in Liberia has led a group of senators to propose relocating the capital city away from overcrowded and poorly managed Monrovia, a suggestion met with a mixture of enthusiasm and hesitancy in the West African country. Flash floods triggered by torrential rains between the end of June and early July left nearly 50,000 Liberians in urgent need, the … Continue reading Flooding drives Liberia to mull capital city move

Paris (AFP) July 21, 2024 World leaders lined up to pay tribute to US President Joe Biden Sunday after he announced he was dropping out of the US presidential race. Biden notified the public of his decision in a letter, a stunning move that upends the 2024 race for the White House. He endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party’s new nominee. – … Continue reading World leaders pay tribute to Biden as he ends reelection bid

La Rochelle, France (AFP) July 20, 2024 Protesters clashed with police in France’s western port of La Rochelle Saturday, as conservationists and small farmers mobilised against massive irrigation reservoirs under construction. Local government officials had banned demonstrations in the city, which is a popular tourist site in summer. A 2,000-strong march, one of two through the city, was charged by police at around 1:30 pm … Continue reading French police clash with water demonstrators after port blockade

Chebika, Tunisia (AFP) July 21, 2024 Amor Nouira, a farmer in Tunisia’s Chebika village, has lost hope of saving his prickly pear cacti, ravaged by the cochineal insect spreading across North Africa. The 50-year-old has seen his half-hectare of cactus crops wither as the invasive insect wreaked havoc on about a third of the country’s cacti after an outbreak in 2021. “At first, I wanted … Continue reading Insect infestation ravages North African prickly pear

Mumbai (AFP) July 20, 2024 Monsoon rains pounded India’s financial hub of Mumbai on Saturday, causing the partial collapse of a residential building that killed at least one person, a municipal official said. A woman died and four others were injured after sections of a four-storey building came crashing down in Grant Road, an affluent suburb in the south of the city. “The woman who … Continue reading Monsoon rains pound India financial hub

Beijing (AFP) July 20, 2024 Flash floods in northern and southwest China have killed at least 20 people and left dozens missing, state media said Saturday, after a week of deadly downpours across the country. Several vehicles in northwestern Shaanxi province plunged into a swollen river late Friday after a bridge collapsed, with at least 12 people killed and over 30 missing, state news agency … Continue reading Flash floods across China kill at least 20, dozens missing

Hong Kong (AFP) July 19, 2024 Hong Kong microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung has done battle with some of the world’s worst threats, including the SARS virus he helped isolate and identify. And he has a warning. Another pandemic is inevitable and could exact damage far worse than Covid-19, according to the soft-spoken scientist sometimes thought of as Hong Kong’s answer to top US health expert Anthony … Continue reading ‘Hong Kong’s Dr Fauci’ sounds alarm on next pandemic

Woodstock, United Kingdom (AFP) July 18, 2024 Britain’s new Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to “strengthen their cooperation on irregular migration” and “reinvigorate” their defence partnership in bilateral talks on Thursday. The two met on the sidelines of a summit with European leaders as London looks to reset its relationship with the EU and turn the page on rocky post-Brexit … Continue reading Macron and Starmer reaffirm cooperation on migrants

Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories (AFP) July 18, 2024 Polio has been detected in samples of sewage that is starting to take over Gaza in the grip of a devastating war, health authorities in the Hamas-run territory and Israel said Thursday. The announcement came after a European activist group released a report saying the Gaza Strip is “drowning” in hundreds of thousands of tonnes of human … Continue reading Polio virus found as flies and mosquitoes feast on Gaza’s waste