Hong Kong (AFP) Jan 17, 2022 Hong Kong police arrested and charged Monday two Cathay Pacific flight attendants for allegedly contravening Covid regulations, after the emergence of the Omicron variant in the territory was traced to their breach of home quarantine. Like China, Hong Kong maintains a strict zero-Covid strategy that has kept cases low, but has largely cut the finance hub off from both … Continue reading Police charge Cathay flight attendants at centre of Hong Kong outbreak

Herat, Afghanistan (AFP) Jan 17, 2022 At least 26 people were killed after an earthquake hit western Afghanistan on Monday, an official said. The victims died when roofs of their houses collapsed in Qadis district in the western province of Badghis, spokesman for the province Baz Mohammad Sarwary told AFP. The shallow quake was magnitude 5.3, according to the US Geological Survey. “Five women and … Continue reading At least 26 killed in Afghan earthquake

Nuku’Alofa, Tonga (AFP) Jan 15, 2022 An underwater volcano in the South Pacific erupted Saturday with a stunning blast, sending tsunami waves onto nearby Tonga and to the north in Japan, with warnings of dangerous ocean surges issued as far away as the US West Coast. Dramatic satellite images showed the long, rumbling eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai send a huge mushroom of smoke … Continue reading Volcano triggers Tonga tsunami, alerts from Japan to US

Beijing (AFP) Jan 15, 2022 An Omicron case has been detected in Beijing, officials in the Chinese capital said Saturday, as the country battles multiple outbreaks of the highly transmissible coronavirus variant ahead of the Winter Olympics. The announcement comes a day after the southern city of Zhuhai imposed travel restrictions on residents as a mass testing drive uncovered seven infections. Millions of peoplehttp://dlvr.it/SHCwP7 Continue reading Omicron detected in Beijing as China battles Covid clusters

Bunia, Dr Congo (AFP) Jan 15, 2022 At least one student was “seriously wounded” Saturday when an army air strike hit a school in the troubled northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo, local sources said. “At around 9:00 this morning (0700 GMT), two FARDC (army) helicopters came to bomb around Petsi’s health centre and school,” Maki Angaika, a nurse at the health centre told … Continue reading Student ‘seriously wounded’ in DR Congo army op: medic

Hong Kong (AFP) Jan 14, 2022 When Hong Kong’s national security police knocked on his door before dawn last month, journalist Ronson Chan was unsurprised but still found himself shaking. China’s crackdown on dissent has silenced or jailed most Hong Kong democracy activists and has now begun to focus on the press. Chan knew he was a target as both the chair of the Hong … Continue reading Who’s next? Hong Kong media fearful after arrests, shutdowns

Nicosia (AFP) Jan 15, 2022 A Chinese mother and son’s fight against extradition from Cyprus to face fraud charges at home has drawn in US-based right-wing lobby groups who allege the charges are politically motivated. Cyprus police said the mother, 61, and her son, 39, were arrested on December 8 under a warrant issued by the Chinese authorities for alleged investment fraud in China between … Continue reading Cyprus move to extradite China pair riles US lobbyists

Nagoya, Japan (SPX) Jan 14, 2022 In a new study published in Physical Review Letters, researchers from Japan show that high-frequency plasma waves in the Geospace can generate low-frequency plasma waves through wave-particle interactions by heating up low-energy ions, unveiling a new energy transfer pathway in collisionless plasma. A prominent signature of plasma – a state of matter characterized by freely roaming chargedhttp://dlvr.it/SH9V5p Continue reading Arase uncovers Geospace coupling between plasma waves and charged particles

Puerto Ayora, Ecuador (AFP) Jan 15, 2022 Ecuador created a massive new marine reserve Friday north of its Galapagos islands, forming a Pacific corridor up to Costa Rica’s Cocos Island National Park to preserve species of migratory fauna, such as sharks. President Guillermo Lasso, on board a scientific vessel from the Galapagos National Park (PNG) anchored in the bay of Puerto Ayora off Santa Cruz … Continue reading Ecuador expands sea life protections around Galapagos

Washington (AFP) Jan 15, 2022 “Smart” pistols designed to limit who can shoot them are poised to hit the booming US firearm market this year, taking aim at spiking gun deaths as federal lawmakers remain deadlocked on any new restrictions. Questions over reliability and political fights have bedeviled the technology for decades, but backers say it’s a chance to prevent children, criminals or people considering … Continue reading A safer gun?: ‘Smart’ pistols headed to US market