BEIJING (AFP) -- China confirmed Saturday that preparations were still ongoing for a World Health Organization mission to Wuhan to investigate the origins of Covid-19, following a rare rebuke from the UN body over a delay to the long-planned trip. The comments came after the WHO chief said on Tuesday he was “very disappointed” that Beijing had yet to finalise permission even as the team of experts had begun travelling to China to explore the beginnings of the virus, which first emer

World News Jan. 9, 2021

Shares in South Korean automaker Hyundai soared Friday on the back of reports it was in talks with Apple for a joint project to manufacture self-driving electric vehicles. Hyundai Motor shares rocketed 19.4 percent in Seoul, with its affiliate Kia also jumping 8.4 percent at the close. The moves came after cable broadcaster Korea Economic TV said the iPhone maker had approached the South Korean company to discuss a potential partnership to develop electric cars and batteries for them. South

Business Jan. 8, 2021

German listed companies must include women on their executive boards as part of a landmark bill agreed by the country's coalition government Wednesday after voluntary efforts failed to close a gender gap. Listed companies with four executives or more must appoint at least one woman to their boards, according to a draft law to be voted on by parliament. The law sends "a very strong signal", Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht told reporters, urging corporations to "take advanta

World News Jan. 6, 2021

China has moved to crush Hong Kong's democracy movement in recent months but Wednesday's mass arrest of democracy figures for subversion under Beijing's new national security law was particularly momentous.  Here's why. What's so significant about this operation? The most eye-catching element is the scale of the crackdown and the variety of figures caught in the dragnet. Prior to Wednesday, around 30 people had been arrested under the new security law since its imposition in late June

World News Jan. 6, 2021

LIEURON, France (AFP) - Some 2,500 partygoers attended an illegal New Year rave in northwestern France, violently clashing with police who failed to stop it and sparking concern the underground event could spread the coronavirus, authorities said Friday. The revellers had set up the illegal rave in Lieuron, south of Rennes in Brittany, after skirmishes with police, said a statement from the local prefecture. Many were still on the site Friday as a sanitary cordon was thrown up around it. Local

World Jan. 2, 2021

PARIS (AFP) -- The rescheduled Tokyo Olympics will be the centrepiece of a crammed sporting year in 2021 as sports administrators who had their calendars wiped away by the coronavirus pandemic try to fill the gaps even as a second wave hits. While the Games will still be called the 2020 Olympics, they have been changed by Covid-19. Tokyo organisers and the Japanese government are struggling with increased costs and, despite the growing possibility of vaccination, whether to allow foreign visi

World News Dec. 28, 2020

The Covid-19 vaccine developed by the British drugs group AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford has achieved a  "winning formula" for efficacy, the company's chief executive said on Sunday. The vaccine, currently being evaluated by Britain's independent medicines  regulator, provides "100 percent protection" against severe Covid disease  requiring hospitalisation, Pascal Soriot said in an interview with the Sunday Times newspaper. He added he believes tri

World Business Dec. 27, 2020

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump announced Friday that the United States has authorized a second coronavirus vaccine. "Moderna vaccine overwhelmingly approved. Distribution to start immediately," he wrote on Twitter. This follows a recommendation by an expert panel on Thursday to grant emergency use approval for Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine in the United States. The Food and Drug Administration is expected to issue formal approval Friday. A vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech was app

World News Dec. 18, 2020

WASHINGTON -- US Vice President Mike Pence prepared to roll up his sleeve for a public coronavirus jab on Friday as the country neared approval of a second vaccine and several European leaders quarantined ahead of the Christmas holidays. Pence's move comes as inoculation efforts unfurl across the globe, with officials mounting campaigns to quash skepticism about the record-fast development of the jabs. The vice president's public injection is an effort to "build confidence among the Ameri

World News Dec. 18, 2020

BEIJING -- A citizen journalist detained in China after reporting from the Covid-19 ground zero of Wuhan will face trial later this month, her lawyer said Friday, as fears grow for her health. The coronavirus first emerged in central China late last year, and Beijing has faced accusations that it covered up the initial outbreak and silenced early whistleblowers. Zhang Zhan, a former lawyer, travelled to Wuhan in February and livestreamed her experiences on social media. She also wrote essays c

World News Dec. 18, 2020

BERLIN (AFP) -- Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday demanded tougher curbs to bring down coronavirus infections, as the German death toll reached a daily record of nearly 600 people. Germany has ordered far less stringent shutdown rules than other major European nations after coming through the first wave of the pandemic relatively unscathed. But Europe's biggest economy has been severely hit by a second wave with daily new infections more than three times that of the peak in the spring. D

World News Dec. 9, 2020

PARIS (AFP) -- Earth remains on course to warm more than 3 degrees Celsius by the century's end despite a dip in greenhouse gas emissions due to the pandemic and pledges to curb pollution, the UN said Wednesday. In its annual assessment of emissions levels, the UN's Environment Programme found that 2020's 7-percent fall in carbon pollution would have "negligible impact" on warming without a broad and rapid shift away from fossil fuels. The Emissions Gap report analyses the gulf betw

World News Dec. 9, 2020

China's exports rose in November at their fastest pace in almost three years, official figures showed Monday, as a surge in demand in key markets ahead of the festive period also helped the country post a record trade surplus. The reading is the latest spot of good news out of the world's number two economy, which has been enjoying a bounceback from virus-induced lockdowns that sent it into a rare contraction earlier in the year. Overseas shipments grew 21.1 percent on-year last month to $268

Economy Dec. 7, 2020

Japan space agency officials on Sunday hailed the arrival of rare asteroid samples on Earth after they were collected by space probe Hayabusa-2 during an unprecedented mission. In a streak of light across the night sky, a capsule containing the precious specimens taken from a distant asteroid arrived on Earth after being dropped off by the probe. Scientists hope the samples, which are expected to amount to no more than 0.1 grams of material, could help shed light on the origin of life and the

World News Dec. 6, 2020

Police arrested 95 people during protests across France against a planned security law, and 67 officers were injured during the demonstrations, Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin said Sunday. In Paris, the site of the worst violence, 48 police officers or gendarmes were injured during Saturday's street clashes, the interior ministry said on Twitter. A firefighter was also injured in the capital after being hit by a projectile, a police source said. Paris police held 25 people, including two m

World News Dec. 6, 2020