By HAU DINH Associated Press HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam’s largest metropolis, Ho Chi Minh City, has begun a tightened lockdown to battle the coronavirus. It comes a day ahead of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’s visit to the capital, Hanoi. In Ho Chi Minh City, police and army troops have mobilized to enforce the
Continue Reading By BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — International aid groups are warning that millions of people in Syria and Iraq are losing access to water, electricity and food. The groups say the two Arab countries are suffering a rise in temperatures, low rainfall and drought, depriving many of drinking water. The drought is also
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By Jessie Yeung, Nectar Gan and Steve George, CNN Beijing was once known as one of the world’s most polluted cities, with dense smog and acrid air a daily reality for residents. Now, its skies are mostly blue — a sign the Chinese capital is entering a new era of clean air, the country’s Minister
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By Jessie Yeung, Nectar Gan and Steve George, CNN Beijing was once known as one of the world’s most polluted cities, with dense smog and acrid air a daily reality for residents. Now, its skies are mostly blue — a sign the Chinese capital is entering a new era of clean air, the country’s Minister
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By Nectar Gan, CNN China reported no new locally transmitted Covid-19 cases on Monday for the first time since July, according to its National Health Commission (NHC), as authorities double down on the country’s stringent zero-Covid approach. China has been grappling with the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant since July 20, when a
Continue Reading By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — Officials say Egypt has closed its main border crossing point with the Gaza Strip amid tensions with the territory’s militant Hamas rulers. Monday’s closing is the first time the Rafah crossing was shuttered since early this year. Egypt had kept the crossing open during an 11-day war
Continue Reading TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albanian police say they have arrested two people for allegedly hurling tear gas cannisters during a concert by a Bosnian Serb musician whom many in the country accuse of not condemning the war in Kosovo. A statement on Monday said a 21-year-old man was arrested after hurling a tear gas cannister
Continue Reading By NINIEK KARMINI Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s anti-graft court has sentenced a former Cabinet minister to 12 years in prison for bribery related to the distribution of coronavirus aid. Juliari Peter Batubara was arrested in December a day after an anticorruption commission foiled an attempt to hand over seven suitcases and backpacks
Continue Reading By Nick Paton Walsh, CNN Dozens of US military transport jets were expected to land at Kabul’s international airport on Monday, as about 20,000 people remained at the facility awaiting evacuation, a source close to the situation told CNN. Plans called for 33 US Air Force C-17s to head to Hamid Karzai International Airport in
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By Nick Paton Walsh, Sam Kiley and Sheena McKenzie, CNN Afghans who have applied for special immigrant visas to the US were told to stay away from Kabul’s airport on Monday, as American officials ramped up evacuation flights and the Taliban said all US forces needed to leave by August 31. Western countries are now
Continue Reading By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan is sending three military aircraft to Afghanistan to evacuate Japanese citizens and local staff as security deteriorates following the Taliban takeover. Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi says the planes will pick up Japanese nationals and Afghans who worked for the Japanese Embassy and development agencies. Japan closed
Continue Reading By ALEXANDRA JAFFE Associated Press SINGAPORE (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris says the U.S. must maintain its focus on evacuating Americans and vulnerable Afghans and shouldn’t get distracted by questions over what went wrong in the chaotic U.S. exit from Afghanistan. Harris made the comment at a news conference in Singapore after meeting with
Continue Reading By ELENA BECATOROS Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Firefighting aircraft and ground forces in Greece have gained the upper hand over two new blazes that broke out in areas already scarred by major wildfires this summer. The first broke out Monday in the southern part of Evia, Greece’s second-largest island, whose north was devastated
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By ELENA BECATOROS Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Firefighting aircraft and ground forces in Greece have gained the upper hand over two new blazes that broke out in areas already scarred by major wildfires this summer. The first broke out Monday in the southern part of Evia, Greece’s second-largest island, whose north was devastated
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By Ben Westcott and Eric Cheung, CNN Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen received her first shot of the island’s homegrown Covid-19 vaccine on Monday, a public show of support for the new drug which is central to plans for inoculation self sufficiency amid low immunization rates and struggles to obtain vaccines from overseas. Monday’s island-wide rollout
Continue Reading By NICK PERRY and ROD McGUIRK Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s government says it’s extending a strict nationwide lockdown until at least Friday as it tries to extinguish a growing coronavirus outbreak. The news came as health authorities reported 35 new local infections of the fast-spreading delta variant, the highest number
Continue Reading By NICK PERRY and ROD McGUIRK Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s government says it’s extending a strict nationwide lockdown until at least Friday as it tries to extinguish a growing coronavirus outbreak. The news came as health authorities reported 35 new local infections of the fast-spreading delta variant, the highest number
Continue Reading By JOSEF FEDERMAN Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — A leading international human rights group says Israeli airstrikes that demolished four high-rise buildings in the Gaza Strip during a May war apparently violated international laws of war. Human Rights Watch on Monday called on the Israeli military to produce evidence justifying the attacks. The New York-based
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By NOAH TRISTER AP Baseball Writer The Baltimore Orioles have lost 18 games in a row, and somehow that doesn’t do their skid justice. What’s startling is how rarely they’ve come close to ending the slide. Baltimore’s losing streak is the longest in the major leagues since Kansas City’s 19-gamer in 2005. The Orioles have
Continue Reading By SARAH EL DEEB Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s health sector is a casualty of the multiple crises that have plunged the country into a downward spiral. A financial and economic meltdown has been compounded by a complete failure of the government, runaway corruption and a pandemic that isn’t going away. The collapse is
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