The Fiji Times

Russia beefs up warship presence in Black Sea as Ukraine tensions simmer

Two Russian warships transited the Bosphorus en route to the Black Sea on Saturday and 15 smaller vessels completed a transfer to the sea as Moscow beefs up its naval presence at a time of tense relations with the West and Ukraine. The reinforcement coincides with a huge build-up of Russian troops near Ukraine, something...

Myanmar junta chief to attend ASEAN summit in first foreign trip since coup

Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing will attend an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Indonesia on April 24, Thailand said on Saturday, for his first known foreign trip since he seized power on Feb. 1. Myanmar has been in upheaval since Min Aung Hlaing ousted an elected government led by democracy champion...

Chad’s Deby takes early election lead, partial results show

Chad President Idriss Deby has taken a strong early lead and appeared poised to extend his three-decade rule, partial provisional results of the April 11 presidential election released by the election commission showed. Deby has won a majority in all but one of the 51 departments announced so far, and secured a plurality in the...

Russia and Ukraine to expel a diplomat each as tensions simmer

Russia accused a Ukrainian diplomat on Saturday of trying to obtain classified information and ordered him to leave the country by April 22, prompting a like-for-like response from Ukraine as border tensions simmer. Russia’s FSB security service said Oleksandr Sosoniuk had been detained when he tried to access information from Russian law enforcement databases during...

Iran, China say signs of progress at nuclear talks

A new understanding is emerging at talks aimed at salvaging Iran’s nuclear deal with global powers, Tehran’s chief negotiator said on Saturday according to Iranian state media, as China’s delegate also reported progress. Abbas Araqchi said after a meeting of remaining parties to the 2015 deal that the Iranian delegation had submitted proposed texts on...

Iran identifies suspect behind blast at Natanz nuclear site

Iran on Saturday named a man it wants arrested in connection with a recent explosion and power outage at its main Natanz nuclear plant, as talks got underway in Vienna to try to save Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. “Reza Karimi, the perpetrator of this sabotage… has been identified” by Iran’s intelligence ministry,...

Italy’s Salvini sent to trial on migrant kidnapping charge

Matteo Salvini, leader of Italy’s right-wing League party, must stand trial on charges of kidnapping over his decision to prevent more than 100 migrants from landing in the country in 2019, a judge ordered on Saturday. Salvini, who was interior minister at that time, left the migrants stranded at sea until prosecutors ordered the seizure...

India’s capital Delhi faces hospital beds shortage as coronavirus cases surge

India’s capital New Delhi recorded 24,000 coronavirus cases in a 24-hour period and is facing an acute shortage of hospital beds, its chief minister said on Saturday, as the country overall recorded more than 200,000 cases for a third day. “The situation is very critical, worrying. Oxygen is in short supply,” said chief minister Arvind...

Biden keeps U.S. refugee cap at Trump-era 15,000 – for now

President Joe Biden signed an order on Friday limiting U.S. refugee admissions this year to the historically low 15,000 cap set under his predecessor Donald Trump, shelving a plan to raise it to 62,500 and drawing the ire of refugee advocates and some Democratic lawmakers. But as criticism mounted, the White House issued a statement...

India reports another record daily rise in COVID-19 infections

India reported a record daily increase of 234,692 COVID-19 infections over the last 24 hours, health ministry data showed on Saturday. It was the eighth record daily increase in the last nine days. Total cases reached nearly 14.5 million, second only to the United States which has reported more than 32 million infections. India’s deaths...

Australia to continue review of COVID vaccinations – health minister

Australia will continue its review of coronavirus vaccines after a 48-year-old woman’s death was likely linked to the inoculation, Health Minister Greg Hunt said on Saturday. On Friday, Australia reported its first fatality from blood clots in a recipient of AstraZeneca’s (AZN.L) COVID-19 shot. It was the third case of the rare blood clots appearing...

Brazil asks women to delay pregnancy over new coronavirus variant fears

Brazil asked women on Friday to delay getting pregnant until the worst of the pandemic passes, saying the virus variant that is devastating the South American country appears to affect expectant mothers more than earlier versions of the coronavirus. The recommendation comes as Brazil continues to be one of the global epicenters of the pandemic,...

Queen Elizabeth stands alone as her ‘strength’ Philip is laid to rest

Queen Elizabeth and her family paid their last respects to Prince Philip at a funeral on Saturday that celebrated his naval past, his international heritage and seven decades of service in which he helped guide the queen through repeated crises. Elizabeth, dressed in black and in a white trimmed black mask, stood alone as her husband of...

Queen Elizabeth and Britain to bid farewell to Prince Philip

Queen Elizabeth will bid a final farewell to Prince Philip, her husband of more than seven decades, at a ceremonial funeral on Saturday, with the nation set to fall silent to mark the passing of a pivotal figure in the British monarchy. While the ceremony will include some of the traditional grandeur of a significant...

Sexual violence being used as weapon of war in Ethiopia’s Tigray, U.N. says Michelle Nichols

Sexual violence is being used as a weapon of war in Ethiopia’s Tigray, the U.N. aid chief told the Security Council on Thursday, prompting the U.S. envoy to challenge the body’s silence, asking: “Do African lives not matter as much as those experiencing conflict in other countries?” The U.N. official, Mark Lowcock, said the humanitarian...

Opponents of Myanmar coup form unity government, aim for ‘federal democracy’

Opponents of Myanmar’s junta announced a National Unity Government on Friday including ousted members of parliament and leaders of anti-coup protests and ethnic minorities, saying their aim was to end military rule and restore democracy. Myanmar has been in turmoil since the Feb. 1 coup that ousted a civilian government led by democracy champion Aung...

China’s Q1 GDP grows at record pace as recovery speeds up

China’s economic recovery quickened sharply in the first quarter to record growth of 18.3% from last year’s deep coronavirus slump, propelled by stronger demand at home and abroad and continued government support for smaller firms. But the brisk expansion, heavily skewed by the plunge in activity a year earlier, is expected to moderate later this...

Samoa election stalemate to continue into coming week

Samoa’s election results have been confirmed with 25 seats each for the incumbent HRPP and newcomer FAST, with the final seat holder yet to confirm allegiance. The FAST leader says final negotiations will be held over the coming week with an independent MP who may hold the balance of power. Fa’atuatua i le Atua Samoa...

Rome funeral workers protest as coffins pile up in cemeteries

Undertakers protested on Friday against a massive backlog of coffins building up at Rome cemeteries, saying city authorities were failing to cope with a surge of coronavirus deaths. Funeral directors said more than 2,000 bodies were being stored at Rome’s sole crematorium, which can handle around 50 cremations a day, while mortuary rooms at other...

Samoa election: Savai’i votes for change as top parties tied

Residents on Samoa’s main island of Savai’i have voted for change in this year’s general election. The official results have been declared with the two main parties FAST and HRPP tied at 25 seats. The final round of counting ended on Friday evening, and the Electoral Commissioner then presented the results to the Head of State, who...

India battles record COVID surge as rallies, Hindu festival draw huge crowds

India battled a record surge in COVID-19 cases on Friday as hospitals ran out of oxygen and beds, while politicians held election rallies and hundreds of thousands of Hindu devotees attended a weeks-long festival, infuriating health officials. A massive second wave of infections, second only to the United States in total, forced authorities to restrict...

PNG epidemic underlines need for vaccine equity: WHO

The World Health Organisation’s director-general says Papua New Guinea’s struggle with Covid-19 underlines the need for vaccine equity. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus today told a briefing focused on Papua New Guinea and the western Pacific region about the WHO’s concern of the potential for a much larger epidemic in PNG. Globally cases and deaths were “continuing...

Let’s shake narrative of bickering Middle East, say former foes

Israel, the UAE, Greece and Cyprus said they would seek to deepen their cooperation in fields ranging from energy to fighting COVID, saying budding ties could change the face of a region more synonymous with conflict. “The evolving web of regional cooperation is creating a new narrative, one that is cracking the glass ceiling of...

PNG does deal with ‘devil’ it knows over gold mine

Papua New Guinea’s government has done a deal with “the devil” to reopen a large gold mine in the country’s Highlands region. With an economy in contraction due to the pandemic, the PNG government has reached an agreement with Canada-based company Barrick Gold on plans to reopen the Porgera mine. The Enga province mine had...

In London’s East End, adoration and expletives for the royal family

In London’s East End, there was both adoration for the monarchy and sharp criticism of some members of Britain’s royal family on the eve of the funeral of Prince Philip, who died a week ago after seven decades of service to his wife Queen Elizabeth. The queen, heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles and other senior royals will...

Tonga’s Princess takes the lead on Covid-19 vaccination

Tonga’s Princess Pilolevu Tuita was the first person to receive her first dose of the Covid-19 AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, followed by frontline workers on Tongatapu. The Princess volunteered to take part along with her husband Lord Tuita and Prime Minister Dr Pohiva Tu’i’onetoa. Acting CEO for Health Dr Reynold ‘Ofanoa also received his first shot. “This...

Antibiotics in development not enough to tackle ‘superbugs’: WHO

(Reuters) – None of the 43 antibiotics currently in development as well as recently approved medicines are enough to combat the increasing emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance, the World Health Organization cautioned on Thursday. Almost all new antibiotics brought to market in recent years are variations of drug classes discovered decades ago, according to...

Explosives-laden drone targets U.S. forces at Iraq’s Erbil airport

ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) -A drone dropped explosives near U.S. forces stationed at Erbil airport in northern Iraq late on Wednesday, Kurdish officials said, with no immediate reports of casualties. A separate rocket attack killed a Turkish soldier at a military base nearby, the Turkish defence ministry said. It was the first known attack carried out...

Fit for, and designed by, a prince: Philip’s Land Rover funeral hearse

WINDSOR, England (Reuters) -When Prince Philip’s coffin is conveyed to church for his funeral service, it will be taken in a specially-commissioned Land Rover that the British royal himself helped design. Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth, died last week aged 99 and his funeral will be held entirely at Windsor Castle on Saturday, with...

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Canadian police refuse provincial order to make random stops amid COVID-19 surge