Europe

The Latest: France outdoor cafes reopen after 6 months

PARIS — It’s a grand day for the French. Cafe and restaurant terraces are reopening Wednesday after a pandemic shutdown of more than six months deprived people of what feels like the essence of life in France.

Asia Pacific

Israel accuses Chinese state TV of ‘blatant antisemitism’

BEIJING — Israel’s Embassy in China is protesting what it describes as “blatant antisemitism” on a program run by the overseas channel of state broadcaster CCTV discussing the ongoing violence in Gaza and elsewhere.

Europe

Putin, Xi initiate projects in show of warming ties

BEIJING — Chinese leader Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin joined Wednesday in a videoconference to initiate a series of nuclear energy projects, an event intended to display warming ties between two nations that have paired-up as the chief geopolitical rivals to the United States.

Asia Pacific

India sets global record for daily coronavirus deaths

NEW DELHI — India recorded the pandemic’s highest single-day death toll in the world on Wednesday, as coronavirus infections continued to spread through its vast rural areas with weak health systems.

Asia Pacific

IOC offers Tokyo medical help amid call for cancellation

TOKYO — Confronted in Japan with some of the strongest medical-community opposition yet to the Tokyo Olympics, IOC President Thomas Bach offered Wednesday to have added medical personnel available to help out when the games open in just over nine weeks.

Business

Sri Lankan court: China-built port board needs public assent

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s top court has ruled that some provisions of legislation to set up a powerful economic commission in a Chinese-built port city violate the constitution and require approval by a public referendum to become law.

Asia Pacific

Indonesians protest at US Embassy over Israeli airstrikes

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Pro-Palestinian protesters marched to the heavily guarded U.S. Embassy in Indonesia’s capital on Tuesday to demand an end to Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip.

Asia Pacific

Hong Kong police say top officer did nothing immoral

HONG KONG — Hong Kong police said Tuesday there is no evidence the director of its National Security Department, who was caught up in a raid on an unlicensed massage business, was engaging in any immoral or illegal behavior.

Asia Pacific

Lam defends freezing of publisher’s assets as safety measure

HONG KONG — Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Tuesday defended the freezing of pro-democracy publisher Jimmy Lai's assets as a necessary move under the city's new national security law to protect the safety of all Chinese people.

Europe

Hong Kong’s new bishop wants differing views respected

HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s incoming Roman Catholic bishop Stephen Chow called for respect for different views as he prepares to lead a diocese that has been polarized by the city’s deteriorating political situation.

Asia Pacific

Bangladesh arrests journalist known for unearthing graft

DHAKA, Bangladesh — Police in Bangladesh's capital have arrested a journalist known for her strong reporting against official corruption in the South Asian country where journalists are often threatened with dire consequences for professional work.

Europe

Ransomware hits AXA units in Asia, hurts Ireland healthcare

PARIS — Cybercriminals have hit four Asian subsidiaries of the Paris-based insurance company AXA with a ransomware attack, impacting operations in Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the Philippines, the insurer said.

Asia Pacific

Powerful cyclone hits land in India amid deadly virus surge

NEW DELHI — A powerful cyclone that emerged in the Arabian Sea made landfall on India's western coast on Monday, hours after authorities evacuated hundreds of thousands of people and suspended COVID-19 vaccinations in one state.

Asia Pacific

Election watchdog says no credible proof of Myanmar fraud

BANGKOK — Last November’s election results in Myanmar were “by and large, representative of the will of the people,” an independent election monitoring organization said Monday, rejecting the military’s allegations of massive fraud that served as its reason for seizing power.

Asia Pacific

Prisons push Thailand’s COVID-19 cases to new daily high

Health authorities in Thailand reported 9,635 new coronavirus cases on Monday, doubling the previous daily record set last week. Over 70% of Monday’s increase -- 6,853 cases -- came from prisons.

Europe

The Latest: Fauci says pandemic highlights racism’s impact

ATLANTA — The immunologist who leads the COVID-19 response in the United States said Sunday that “the undeniable effects of racism” have led to unacceptable health disparities that especially hurt African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans during the pandemic.

Asia Pacific

Severe cyclone heading toward southern India; 6 dead

NEW DELHI — A severe cyclone is roaring in the Arabian Sea off southwestern India with winds of up to 140 kph (87 mph), already causing heavy rains and flooding that have killed at least six people, officials said Sunday.

New York

The Latest: Florida’s amusement parks loosen mask wearing

ORLANDO, Fla. — Visitors to Walt Disney World and Universal Studios-Orlando were allowed Saturday to remove their masks when outdoors, except when on attractions, in line or riding transportation.

Asia Pacific

India police jail 21 Kashmiris amid pro-Palestinian rallies

SRINAGAR, India — Police in Indian-controlled Kashmir said Saturday that 21 people were arrested for disturbing public order by expressing solidarity with Palestinians and holding protests against Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.

Asia Pacific

Nepal scales back Hindu chariot festival amid virus surge

KATHMANDU, Nepal — A drastically truncated version of a Hindu chariot festival took place Saturday in Nepal's capital amid strict COVID-19 restrictions, following an agreement by organizers and authorities that prevented a repeat of violent confrontations between police and protesters last year.

Asia Pacific

Back-to-back tornadoes kill 12 in China; over 300 injured

BEIJING — Back-to-back tornadoes killed 12 people in central and eastern China and left more than 300 others injured, authorities said Saturday.

Asia Pacific

Success story Taiwan faces its worst outbreak in pandemic

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The island of Taiwan, which has had enviable success in containing COVID-19, imposed new restrictions in its capital city on Saturday as it battled its worst outbreak since the pandemic began.

Europe

The Latest: New Mexico adopts CDC guidance on facemasks

SANTA FE, N.M. -- New Mexico has adopted guidance on facemasks from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that says fully vaccinated Americans no longer need to wear masks indoors or outside in most cases.

Europe

Turkish tourism video sparks outcry, unequal treatment claim

ISTANBUL — A video promoting tourism in Turkey amid the pandemic has caused an uproar on social media for showing tourism employees wearing masks that read “Enjoy, I’m vaccinated.”

Asia Pacific

Thai PM tells UN envoy he won’t push back Myanmar refugees

BANGKOK — Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha promised a United Nations special envoy on Friday that he will not force back people fleeing violence in neighboring Myanmar, where the military ousted a democratically elected government in February.

Asia Pacific

Misinformation surges amid India’s COVID-19 calamity

NEW DELHI — The man in the WhatsApp video says he has seen it work himself: A few drops of lemon juice in the nose will cure COVID-19.

Asia Pacific

EXPLAINER: Why Japan has been slow to roll out vaccinations

TOKYO — Japan's rollout of COVID-19 vaccines began belatedly in mid-February, months behind the United States and many other countries. Officials blamed a shortage of Pfizer Inc. vaccine from Europe as the main culprit in the delay.

Business

The Latest: Philippine president eases lockdown in capital

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine president has eased a coronavirus lockdown in the bustling capital and adjacent provinces to fight economic recession and hunger but still barred public gatherings this month, when many Roman Catholic summer religious festivals are held.

Asia Pacific

Festival travel, vaccine shortage put Bangladesh at risk

DHAKA, Bangladesh — Tens of thousands of people left Bangladesh's capital on Thursday to join their families in home villages to celebrate the Islamic religious festival of Eid al-Fitr, despite stark warnings that the exodus could worsen the country's sharply rising coronavirus outbreak.

Asia Pacific

Japanese tycoon planning space station visit, then moon trip

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The Japanese fashion tycoon who’s booked a SpaceX ride to the moon is going to try out the International Space Station first.

Asia Pacific

1 Swiss, 1 American die on Everest in year’s 1st fatalities

KATHMANDU, Nepal — A Swiss climber and an American have died on Mount Everest in the season's first casualties on the world's highest mountain, expedition organizers said Thursday.

Asia Pacific

Political turmoil returns as Nepal suffers worst COVID surge

KATHMANDU, Nepal — Political turmoil has returned to Nepal, which has had eight different governments in a decade and is experiencing its worst COVID-19 surge with acute shortages of health facilities and oxygen for patients...

Business

Australia signs deal for 25M Moderna doses through next year

CANBERRA, Australia —

Europe

The Latest: Louisiana kids can start vaccinations Thursday

NEW ORLEANS — Children as young as 12 can expect to start getting Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine Thursday in Louisiana.

Asia Pacific

Frustration in Japan as leader pushes Olympics despite virus

TOKYO — A full-page newspaper ad says Japanese will be "killed by politics" because the government is forcing them to endure the pandemic without vaccines. More than 300,000 people have signed a petition calling for the Tokyo Olympics to be canceled...

Asia Pacific

16 new cases cause worry in Taiwan, Tsai says don’t panic

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan's president on Wednesday sought to reassure the public that the government is capable of withstanding a further outbreak of COVID -19 after 16 local cases were detected...

Asia Pacific

Drop in Xinjiang birthrate largest in recent history: report

BEIJING — Xinjiang in far western China had the sharpest known decline in birthrates between 2017 and 2019 of any territory in recent history, according to a new analysis by an Australian think tank...

Europe

Beyond vaccines, UNESCO wants more global science shared

PARIS — While the U.S. president is calling for suspending patents on COVID-19 vaccines, experts at UNESCO are quietly working on a more ambitious plan: a new global system for sharing scientific knowledge that would outlast the current pandemic...

Business

1.4B but no more? China’s population growth closer to zero

BEIJING — China’s population growth is falling closer to zero, government data showed Tuesday, adding to strains on an aging society with a shrinking workforce as fewer couples have children.