Chinese city seeing half a million Covid cases a day – local health chief
The figures reported by Qingdao’s municipal health chief were in stark contrast to official statistics from the central government
Agence France-Presse
Half a million people a day are being infected with Covid-19 in a single Chinese city, a senior health official has said, in a rare and quickly censored acknowledgment that the country’s wave of infections is not being reflected in official statistics.
A news outlet operated by the ruling Communist party in Qingdao reported the municipal health chief as saying that the eastern city was seeing “between 490,000 and 530,000” new Covid cases a day.
The coastal city of about 10 million people was “in a period of rapid transmission ahead of an approaching peak”, Bo Tao reportedly said on Friday, adding that the infection rate would accelerate by another 10% over the weekend.
Afghanistan: Taliban tells NGOs to stop women from working
Taliban officials say the ban was imposed because some women were not keeping to the country's strict dress code. Earlier this week, the Taliban banned women from attending universities.
The Taliban on Saturday ordered all nongovernmental organizations to suspend their female employees in the latest curbs on women's rights in Afghanistan.
The announcement came just days after the Islamist militant group banned women from studying at universities — a move that sparked protests and international outrage.
What is the latest Taliban ruling?
Economy Ministry spokesperson Abdulrahman Habib said the female NGO employees were not allowed to work until further notice because some had not adhered to the Taliban's strict interpretation of the Islamic dress code for women.
Clashes with police at protests over deaths of Kurds in 'racist' attack
Renewed clashes broke out in Paris on Saturday between police and members of the Kurdish community angry at the killing on Friday of three members of their community.
Several cars were overturned and small fires set alight near Republic Square, the traditional venue for demonstrations in the city where Kurds earlier held a peaceful protest.
Clashes broke out as some demonstrators left the square, throwing projectiles at police who responded with tear gas.
A gunman carried out the killings at a Kurdish cultural centre and nearby cafe on Friday in a busy part of Paris' 10th district, stunning a community preparing to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the unresolved murder of three activists.
Chinese buying spree empties cold medicine stocks in Japan
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
December 24, 2022 at 15:09 JST
Drug stores in Tokyo are being forced to limit purchases of cold medicines due to a rush on stocks by foreign, mostly Chinese, customers.
Cold remedies suddenly started flying off shelves earlier this month, staff at the stores said.
Drug stores in the vicinity of Ikebukuro Station said they are limiting the purchases due to dwindling stocks.
A particularly popular brand of cold medicine is Pabron Gold A produced by Taisho Pharmaceutical Co. Some drug stores limit purchases to one box per customer and only display sample boxes on shelves. Customers are required to take the empty box to the register to make a purchase.
‘An empty seat at the table’: Christmas without Shireen Abu Akleh
She was a renowned journalist, but to her niece, Shireen was a Christmas-loving aunt and the ‘backbone’ of the family.
Each year, as Christmas approached, Lina Abu Akleh would look forward to spending time with her aunt.
Lina and her siblings – an older brother and a younger sister – would get together with their parents and their father’s younger sister at the family home in occupied East Jerusalem, where they’d enjoy a big Christmas lunch.
But this year, it is a day 27-year-old Lina is dreading.
That is because on May 11, Lina’s aunt, the 51-year-old veteran television correspondent, Shireen Abu Akleh, was shot dead by Israeli forces. She and other journalists – all dressed in protective helmets and blue flak jackets marked “Press” – were fired upon as they walked down a road in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.
Iran protests: Activist Narges Mohammadi details 'abuse' of detained women
A leading human rights activist in Iran has written from prison to give the BBC details of how women detained in recent anti-government protests are being sexually and physically abused.
Narges Mohammadi said such assaults had become more common in recent protests.
She is serving a lengthy sentence in Tehran's notorious Evin prison.
The protests were triggered by the death in custody in September of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, arrested for violating strict dress codes.
No comments:
Post a Comment