'Diversity is strength': WTO candidate

More diversity would strengthen the World Trade Organization, a WTO leadership candidate said, suggesting that placing an African or a woman such as herself at the top could send a "very powerful message". Amina Mohamed of Kenya, one of eight candidates vying to become the WTO's next director-general, said the organisation, as it battles with the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, would benefit from better reflecting all those around the world who contribute to global trade. &quo

Sept. 8, 2020

NATO demands Moscow reveal Novichok programme

  BRUSSELS (AFP) --NATO on Friday called for an international probe into the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and demanded Moscow reveal its Novichok nerve agent programme to the global chemical weapons watchdog.    After an emergency meeting of NATO's ruling council, alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg said all countries were united in condemning the "horrific" attack on Navalny.    Germany, where Navalny is being treated, briefed the other

Sept. 4, 2020

Neymar one of three PSG stars to test positive for Covid-19

PARIS (AFP) - Neymar was one of three Paris Saint-Germain stars to have contracted the coronavirus, a well-placed source told AFP on Wednesday, after the Champions League runners-up announced several positive tests. "Three Paris Saint-Germain players have confirmed positive Sars CoV2 tests and are subject to the appropriate health protocol," PSG said in a statement. "All of the players and coaching staff will continue to undergo tests in the coming days." When contacted b

Sept. 3, 2020

US preparing for Nov. 1 rollout of first coronavirus vaccine: report

WASHINGTON -- The United States is getting ready to start distributing its first new coronavirus vaccine just before the presidential election, a news report said Wednesday, raising questions over the viability of what it said may be a politically-motivated target date. The report from California-based publishing firm McClatchy said the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has sent a letter to governors of each state, asking them to eliminate hurdles for vaccine distrib

Sept. 3, 2020

Ethnic Mongolians in China protest switch to Mandarin schooling

BEIJING (AFP) -- Tens of thousands of people in an ethnic Mongolian region of northern China have joined rare protests and school boycotts against a new curriculum they fear will wipe out their minority culture, residents said Tuesday. The sudden policy change in Inner Mongolia means all ethnic minority schools in the remote region will now be required to teach core subjects in Mandarin rather than Mongolian, echoing similar moves in Tibet and Xinjiang to assimilate local minorities into the d

Sept. 1, 2020

UN agency laments summer's 'deep wound' to Earth's ice cover

GENEVA (AP) -- The United Nations weather agency says this summer will go down for leaving a "deep wound" in the cryosphere -- the planet's frozen parts -- amid a heat wave in the Arctic, shrinking sea ice and the collapse of a leading Canadian ice shelf. The World Meteorological Organization said Tuesday that temperatures in the Arctic are rising twice as fast as the global average, provoking what spokeswoman Clare Nullis called a "vicious circle." "The rapid decline

Sept. 1, 2020

Who's next? Abe's party maneuvers to pick Japan's next PM

TOKYP (AP) -- With Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announcing his plans to step down due to health reasons, members of his ruling party are furiously maneuvering ahead of an internal vote that will ultimately decide his successor. Executives of Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party met Tuesday and decided that the Sept. 14 vote for party leader -- and with it almost assuredly prime minister -- will be limited to lawmakers and not broader members of the party. Some younger lawmakers had ca

Sept. 1, 2020

Japan's Suga hopes to succeed PM Abe, race heats up: media

TOKYO (Reuters) -- Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga will join the race to succeed his boss Shinzo Abe as prime minister, local media said on Sunday, as the competition heats up to succeed Japan’s longest-serving leader. Suga, a longtime lieutenant of Abe’s in a key supporting role, had denied interest in the top job but attracted attention with a series of interviews, to Reuters and other news organisations, in the days before Abe’s abrupt resignation for

Aug. 30, 2020

'7 bullets, 7 days': Protesters march for Blake in Kenosha

KENOSHA (AP) -- With chants of "One person, one vote!" and "No justice, no peace!" a crowd of about 1,000 demonstrators gathered outside a Wisconsin courthouse Saturday to denounce police violence and share messages of change, a week after an officer shot Jacob Blake in the back and left the 29-year-old Black man paralyzed. The diverse group of protesters also chanted "Seven bullets, seven days!" -- a reference to the number of times Blake was shot last Sunday --

Aug. 30, 2020

Trump to visit Kenosha in wake of racial unrest

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- US President Donald Trump will travel next week to the Midwestern city where African American Jacob Blake was shot multiple times in the back by a white policeman, sparking a nationwide wave of protest. Trump will meet police in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Tuesday and "survey damage from recent riots" triggered by Blake's shooting last weekend, White House spokesman Judd Deere said Saturday. Blake took at least half a dozen shots in front of his small children as he tr

Aug. 30, 2020

Japan's Abe says he's resigning for health reasons

Japan's longest-serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said Friday he intends to step down because a chronic health problem has resurfaced. He told reporters that it was "gut wrenching" to leave so many of his goals unfinished. Abe has had ulcerative colitis since he was a teenager and has said the condition was controlled with treatment. Concerns about Abe's health began this summer and grew this month when he visited a Tokyo hospital two weeks in a row for unspecified health checkups

Aug. 28, 2020

Search for bodies as Afghan floods kill more than 160

CHARIKAR (AFP) -- Rescue workers were searching Thursday for bodies in the debris of collapsed houses after flash floods fuelled by torrential rains killed at least 162 people in Afghanistan. At least 100 people died in the city of Charikar north of Kabul when flooding overnight on Tuesday caused hundreds of buildings to collapse. Abdul Ghayor, a labourer who was working in the capital, said he had rushed back to Charikar to look for his family only to find his house had been swept away. &q

Aug. 27, 2020

Russian police launch initial 'check' into Navalny case

MOSCOW (AFP) -- Russian police announced on Thursday they had begun a preliminary examination of opposition leader Alexei Navalny's illness after the Kremlin dismissed German doctors' findings that he was apparently poisoned. Transport police in Siberia said they have started "a pre-investigation check" into what led to Navalny's hospitalisation in the city of Omsk to establish "all the circumstances" and decide whether to open a criminal probe. The 44-year-old polit

Aug. 27, 2020

China cosies up to EU as US tensions high

ROME (AFP) -- China's foreign minister on Tuesday kicked off a tour of a Europe still reeling from coronavirus, as he seeks to shore up economic and diplomatic relations in light of tensions with the US. Donald Trump's administration has stepped up anti-China rhetoric in the run-up to the US presidential election on November 3, despite ongoing trade talks. On his first European stop in Rome, Wang Yi shied away from naming Washington explicitly, but lamented "provocation and damage from e

Aug. 26, 2020

[Graphic News] One-third of US children, adolescents eat fast-food daily

　More than one-third of children and adolescents across the United States eat fast-food each day, according to new figures from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 　In 2018, 36 percent of young people ate fast food every day, an increase from 34 percent of in 2011, researchers said. 　Up to 14 percent of young people obtained 25 percent to 45 percent of their daily calories from fast-food - up from just over 12 percent in 2011, agency researchers said. 　The percentage is hig

Aug. 24, 2020

[Graphic News] Shinzo Abe under fire for coronavirus response: survey

　Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe received the lowest approval rating in a recent survey covering six countries and their response to the global coronavirus pandemic. 　The poll conducted by US-German communications consultancy Kekst CNC shows Abe is under fire for his handling of the health crisis as speculation grows in Japan that Abe could leave office before the end of his term in September 2021. 　The survey, which polled 1,000 respondents from the US, Britain, Germany, Sweden, France

Aug. 19, 2020

Ryanair cuts Sept, Oct flights as virus hits demand

       DUBLIN (AFP) -- Ryanair will cut its September and October timetable by "20 percent" on weaker-than-expected demand following renewed virus-linked travel restrictions in some European countries, the Irish airline said Monday. "These capacity cuts and frequency reductions for the months of September and October are unavoidable given the recent weakness in forward bookings due to COVID restrictions in a number of EU countries," the no-frill

Aug. 17, 2020

Amazon France withdraws ads for child-like sex dolls

     PARIS (AFP) -- Amazon France has withdrawn advertisements for child-like sex dolls from its website after an online outcry, the French government said Monday. The French AIVI anti-paedophilia movement alerted authorities on Twitter over the weekend, prompting widespread outrage on social media. Screengrabs of some of the dolls, shared in an online campaign accusing Amazon of facilitating paedophilia, show some of the dolls on offer: likenesses  of pre-pu

Aug. 17, 2020

Facebook rushes to delete misinformation about COVID-19

Facebook deleted about 7 million posts in the second quarter that were deemed to contain misinformation about the novel coronavirus, the social media company said. Content considered to contain false information on virus prevention and treatment made up a big portion of the deleted posts. Facebook explained that its artificial intelligence monitoring technology greatly contributed to the massive deletions from April to June as the company moved to remote working amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aug. 15, 2020

[Graphic News] Pandemic workday is 48 minutes longer and has more meetings

　Employees are logging longer hours, attending more meetings with more people and sending more emails. 　From New York City to Tel Aviv, the telecommuting revolution has meant a lot more work, according to a study of 3.1 million people at more than 21,000 companies across 16 cities in North America, Europe and the Middle East. 　The researchers compared employee behavior over two 8 week periods before and after COVID-19 lockdowns. Looking at email and meeting meta-data, the group calculated

Aug. 12, 2020