More Americans disapprove of the way Asian people are treated in the wake of a string of violent attacks, according to a Gallup poll released recently. The poll found that 46 percent of Americans are satisfied with the way society treats Asian people - down from 60 percent last year. Gallup surveys have found that satisfaction has been declining since 2016. Previously, more than 7 in 10 Americ...

BEIJING (AFP) -- China's top planning authority has allowed shuttered coal mines to restart production as the country works to meet surging power demand while forging ahead with ambitious climate goals. Fifteen mines across China's northern regions ranging from Inner Mongolia to Shanxi have restarted operations, the National Development and Reform Commission said in a statement on Wednesday. La...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The party for the nation’s 44th president will go on, but only for family and close friends. Former President Barack Obama has scaled back his 60th birthday bash set for this weekend due to the surge of infections blamed on the delta variant of the coronavirus, his office said Wednesday. Attendance is now limited to family and close friends. Published reports had said hundred...

SANTIAGO (AFP) -- Workers at the world's biggest copper mine, Chile's Escondida, have approved a strike after rejecting the latest offer proposed by Anglo-Australian owners BHP. Following the results of a vote that lasted until Saturday night, the union reported in a statement that there were 2,164 votes in favor of starting the strike against 11 for accepting the employer's offer. Chile is the...

BERLIN (AFP) -- Hundreds of anti-lockdown demonstrators defied a court-ordered protest ban on Sunday and gathered illegally in the streets of Berlin, resulting in scuffles with police. Police said some protesters had "harassed and attacked" officers in the capital's western Charlottenburg district and ignored roadblocks. "They tried to break through the police chain and pull out our colleagues....

LONDON (AP) -- Restaurants, ride-hailing apps and food delivery services are backing Britain's COVID-19 vaccination drive, offering discounts and even free slices of pizza to persuade young people to roll up their sleeves and get the shot. The program, announced Sunday by the Department of Health and Social Care, is designed to boost the vaccination rate among adults under 30 as Britain races to...

BEIJING (AFP) -- Chinese cities rolled out mass testing of millions of people and imposed fresh travel restrictions as health authorities battled Sunday to contain the country's most widespread coronavirus outbreak in months. China on Sunday reported 75 new coronavirus cases with 53 local transmissions, with a cluster linked to an eastern airport now reported to have spread to over 20 cities and...

YANGON (AFP) -- Myanmar's junta chief said Sunday that elections would be held and a state of emergency lifted by August 2023, extending the military's initial timeline given when it deposed Aung San Suu Kyi six months ago. The country has been in turmoil since the army ousted the civilian leader in February, launching a bloody crackdown on dissent that has killed more than 900 people according...

TOKYO (AFP) - Olympics chief Thomas Bach revealed “doubts” and “sleepless nights” over the postponed Tokyo Games on Tuesday as the opening ceremony nears after a year‘s delay and coronavirus chaos that has made them deeply unpopular with the Japanese public. Bach, speaking at the International Olympic Committee session in Tokyo, said the unprecedented step of postponing the Games “weighed on m...

LONDON (AFP) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson sought to avoid a second lockdown last autumn, arguing that most of those dying were over 80, according to his former aide-turned bitter foe Dominic Cummings. In a BBC interview airing on Tuesday, the mastermind of Johnson‘s anti-EU Brexit campaign said his former boss “put his own political interests ahead of people’s lives”. In the latest ...

More than 60 people have died and dozens were missing Thursday as severe flooding in Germany and Belgium turned streams and streets into raging torrents that swept away cars and caused houses to collapse. Among those killed were nine residents of an assisted living facility for people with disabilities and two firefighters involved in rescue efforts across the region. "I grieve for those who ha...

NAYPYIDAW (AFP) -- Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her personal staff have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 since being taken into military custody, her lawyer said Tuesday, as the country battles a spike in cases. Suu Kyi has been all but invisible since being detained by the military in February, with a handful of court appearances in a special court in Naypyidaw her only link...

BERLIN (AP) -- Chancellor Angela Merkel's party on Tuesday presented a campaign for Germany's September election that portrays would-be successor Armin Laschet as a conciliatory, experienced leader and mixes classic center-right themes with portraying the fight against climate change as an economic opportunity. The Christian Democratic Union's campaign to hold on to Germany's top public office a...

TOKYO (AP) — A member of the Serbian Olympic rowing team has tested positive for COVID-19 while trying to enter Japan for the Tokyo Olympics that are to open in just under three weeks. The news was reported Sunday by the Japanese agency Kyodo and cited Japanese health ministry officials. Officials said the athlete was isolated at Tokyo's Haneda airport. Four others traveling along with the athl...

TOKYO (AP) — Voters in Japan's capital are electing the Tokyo city assembly amid worries about health risks during the Olympics, opening in three weeks, as coronavirus cases continue to rise. In Sunday's balloting, 271 candidates are vying for 127 seats. Eligible voters total 9.8 million people in the megacity with a population of nearly 14 million. Public opinion surveys show about 60% of resp...