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Massacre in Mexican bar leaves 11 people dead
MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) – A massacre in a bar left 11 people dead on Sunday, Mexican authorities said, as the country grapples with a record homicide rate despite the government’s pledge to stop gang violence....
WHO announces rapid tests to be made available to low and middle-income countries
World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has announced that a substantial proportion of COVID-19 rapid tests – 120 million – will be made available to low and middle-income countries, all thanks to an agreement between WHO and partners. Dr Adhanom made the announcement yesterday saying those tests provided reliable results in approximately...
Vietnam government says needs $133.3 billion for power projects by 2030
HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam will need to invest up to $133.3 billion in new power plants and transmission networks over the next decade to meet the country’s rising demand, the government said on Monday. Of the total, $96 billion is needed to build new power plants and $37.3 billion to expand its power grid, the...
Greek police probe aid workers on Lesbos island
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greek police have opened an inquiry into the activities of aid workers facilitating what authorities said were illegal entries into the country through the island of Lesbos. Greece was on the front line of a huge surge of refugees and migrants to Europe in 2015 and 2016, many through its outlying islands...
Turkey prepares second indictment of six Khashoggi murder suspects – media
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish prosecutors have prepared a second indictment in connection with the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, naming six new Saudi nationals as suspects, broadcaster CNN Turk and other media said on Monday. Khashoggi, a critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was last seen at the Saudi...
Australia’s virus hotspot sees five new cases, on track for Christmas opening
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Australia’s coronavirus hotspot Victoria recorded a single digit rise in new cases for the first time in three months on Monday and lifted some of the state’s tough restrictions, as it aims for near-normal conditions by Christmas. Australia’s second-most populous state reported just five new cases and three deaths from COVID-19 in...
India’s coronavirus infections cross six million
BENGALURU (Reuters) – India’s coronavirus case tally topped 6 million after it reported 82,170 new infections in the last 24 hours, data from the health ministry showed on Monday. Deaths from COVID-19 rose by 1,039 in the last 24 hours to 95,542, the ministry said, which is 1.6% of total cases. Globally, India has the...
Armenia-Azerbaijan clashes kill at least 16, undermine regional stability
YEREVAN/BAKU (Reuters) – At least 16 military members and several civilians were killed on Sunday in the heaviest clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan since 2016, reigniting concern about stability in the South Caucasus, a corridor for pipelines carrying oil and gas to world markets. The clashes between the two former Soviet republics, which fought a...
Yemen’s warring parties agree to their largest prisoner swap as U.N. seeks ceasefire
GLION, Switzerland (Reuters) – The U.N. Special Envoy for Yemen wants to build on Sunday’s announcement of the largest prisoner exchange agreement in the five-year conflict to pave the way for a national ceasefire and a political solution to end the war, he said.Yemen’s warring parties agreed to exchange 1,081 prisoners, including 15 Saudis, as...
28th September
Tens of thousands rally against Belarus president in ‘people’s inauguration’
MINSK (Reuters) – Masked police dragged people into vans and fired stun grenades and tear gas to disperse crowds as tens of thousands marched for a seventh straight weekend to demand veteran Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko quit. Protesters chanted “impostor” and “Sveta is our president” as they marched through Minsk and other cities decked out...
Betrayed Macron says will continue Lebanon efforts, eyes Hezbollah
PARIS (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron admonished Lebanon’s leaders on Sunday for serving their own interests ahead of their country and vowed to push ahead with efforts to prevent chaos, but appeared to have no back up plan should his initiative fail. Lebanon’s prime minister-designate, Mustapha Adib, quit on Saturday after failing to line...
Tapura retains Tahiti’s two seats in French Senate
The two candidates of French Polynesia’s ruling Tapura Huiraatira party have been chosen as the territory’s members of the French Senate. Lana Tetuanui and Teva Rohfritsch were elected for a six-year term in the first round with the backing of almost 68 percent of the votes. They were chosen by an electoral college of 728...
Greece says first migrant dies of COVID-19 since the pandemic
ATHENS (Reuters) – A male migrant died of COVID-19 on Sunday, the first reported death of an asylum seeker since the pandemic broke out in Greece in late February, a government official told Reuters. The 61-year-old Afghan, a father of two children, who lived at the migrant camp of Malakasa north of Athens, was treated...
Samoa extends State of Emergency despite no Covid cases
The Samoan government has extended its Covid-19 State of Emergency until 26 October. The Samoa Observer reported the weekend announcement by Cabinet will take the country into a seventh month of restrictions despite Samoa not having recorded any cases of coronavirus. The extension was met with an appeal for common sense in government decision-making from some sectors...
France’s centre right keeps control of Senate in election
PARIS (Reuters) – France’s centre-right Les Republicains party was on course to maintain its majority in the Senate after Sunday’s vote, while President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party avoided mishap 18 months away from a general election. Partial results also showed France’s green party making gains, with leaders of the Europe Ecology – The Greens saying...
Covid-19 among crew halts French Polynesia cruise
A cruise from Tahiti to the Marquesas Islands has been aborted after several crew members were informed that they were Covid-19 positive. The Aranui 5 had already left the French Polynesian capital and was forced to return to Papeete. Seven crew are affected. Tahiti Nui TV reported that locally resident passangers were allowed to return home while foreigners...
Romania’s ruling centrists ahead in municipal vote
BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Romania’s ruling centrist Liberals emerged as the leading party in a municipal ballot on Sunday, including in the capital, exit polls showed, bolstering their chances of forming the next government after a Dec. 6 parliamentary election. The ballot is a popularity test ahead of the national vote for the minority cabinet of...
Despite criticism Aust coal-miner confident of PNG go-ahead
An Australian company aiming to mine coal and build a coal-fired power station in Papua New Guinea is dismissing criticism of the plan. Australian environmental advocacy group, Jubiliee Australia, claimed what Mayur Resources was planning was costly, destructive and not needed. It said PNG was gradually growing its renewable energy base while the chosen power...
Massacre in Mexican bar leaves 11 people dead
MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) – A massacre in a bar left 11 people dead on Sunday, Mexican authorities said, as the country grapples with a record homicide rate despite the government’s pledge to stop gang violence. The attorney general’s office of the central Mexican state of Guanajuato said the bodies of seven men and four women...
French Polynesia elects its French Senators
French Polynesia will today choose its two members of the French Senate. 728 special voters will cast their votes at a Papeete high school to determine which two of the 13 candidates will join France’s Upper House for a six-year term. Most eligible voters are delegates of local councils, but also include all 57 territorial...
Former Samoa CJ raises concern about ‘criminal condition of juvenile prison
Conditions for juveniles at Samoa’s Tanumalala prison have been described as criminal by the former acting Chief justice, Vui Clarence Nelson. Vui also said the youth looked like ”caged animals” at the facility. The Samoa Observer newspaper reported the criticism was contained in an email to District, Supreme and Lands and Titles Court judges. This followed a...
Diplomat named Mali PM, meeting regional bloc demand for civilian
BAMAKO (Reuters) – Former foreign minister Moctar Ouane was named as Mali’s interim prime minister, state television said on Sunday, a move likely to trigger the lifting of sanctions imposed by the West Africa regional bloc in the aftermath of the military coup last month. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said on...
Tahiti jail detects 20 Covid-19 cases
The Covid-19 outbreak in French Polynesia has reached Tahiti’s prison and infected 20 people. The French High Commission said after two cases were detected among corrections staff, tests revealed an initial tally of 13. A second round of testing then found another four cases among staff and three among the prisoners. While the employees were...
Jordan’s monarch dissolves parliament in preparation for November election
AMMAN (Reuters) – Jordan’s King Abdullah dissolved parliament on Sunday, officials said, paving the way for an election in November at a time of rising popular discontent over worsening economic conditions and curbs on public freedoms under emergency laws. Under constitutional rules, the government must resign within a week. In July, Jordan’s electoral commission set...
Tuvalu Language Week all about resilience – minister
The theme of New Zealand’s Tuvalu Language Week is a call to resilience according to the Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio. Vaiaso o Te Gana Tuvalu was launched online this morning with a church service hosted by Reverend Alee Talava, the Vice Chairman of Te Ekalesia Kelisiano Tuvalu Pulega Niu Sila. There were...
Trump picks Barrett as he moves to tilt U.S. Supreme Court rightward
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Saturday nominated Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, and she pledged to become a justice in the mold of the late staunch conservative Antonin Scalia – another milestone in Trump’s rightward shift of the top U.S. judicial body. Trump’s announcement during a flag-festooned White House Rose Garden...
As U.S., China squabble at U.N., a plea – and warning – from one of world’s smallest states
NEW YORK (Reuters) – As China and the United States feuded at the United Nations this week over COVID-19 and climate, one of the world’s smallest states pleaded for detente. “Micronesia asks our American and Chinese friends to reinforce their cooperation and friendship with each other … to achieve what is best for our global...
North Korea warns of naval tensions during search for slain South Korean: KCNA
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea said it was searching for the body a South Korean man killed by its troops, but warned that South Korean naval operations in the area threatened to raise tensions, state media reported on Sunday. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un issued a rare apology on Friday for the fatal shooting...
Lebanon’s prime minister-designate quits in blow to French initiative
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon’s prime minister-designate quit on Saturday after trying for almost a month to line up a non-partisan cabinet, dealing a blow to a French plan aimed at rallying sectarian leaders to tackle the worst crisis since the nation’s 1975-1990 civil war. Mustapha Adib, former ambassador to Berlin, was picked on Aug. 31...
27th September
Belarus police detain dozens as crowds chant against Lukashenko
MINSK (Reuters) – Belarusian security forces detained dozens of protesters on Saturday as crowds rallied in central Minsk accusing President Alexander Lukashenko of rigging last month’s election. One group of women chanted “Our president is Sveta” – referring to opposition politician Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya who they say won the vote. Riot police dragged many of them...
