BEIJING (AFP) -- Millions of people in Beijing stayed home on Monday as China’s capital tries to fend off a Covid-19 outbreak with creeping restrictions on movement. Subway stations and offices were empty during rush hour Monday morning across Chaoyang -- the city’s most populous district -- after officials stepped up a work-from-home order on Sunday over rising Covid cases. Non-essential businesses in the district, home to 3.5 million people, were shuttered, with even the Apple store in the popular Sanlitun shopping area ordered to close after opening briefly in the morning. Beijing has reported hundreds of infections in recent weeks, with 49 new Covid-19 infections confirmed on Monday, a relatively tiny number by international comparisons but enough to sti…

 

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TOKYO (AFP) -- Bitcoin slumped below $30,000 for the first time since July 2021 on Tuesday as cryptocurrencies track sinking markets with investors spooked by aggressive U.S. monetary tightening and surging inflation. The world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value fell as low as $29,764 in Tuesday trade, before recovering above $30,000, extending a recent collapse in price as investors desert assets viewed as risky. Bitcoin’s value has more than halved since a November surge that saw the token hit a record of nearly $69,000. While crypto enthusiasts view bitcoin as a hedge against inflation, an influx of more traditional investors tend to view it as a riskier asset. They have been offloading bitcoin and other digital tokens along with other volatile assets like tech stocks as the U.S. Federal Reserve moves to hike interest rates to tackle decades-high inflation. The slump in crypto follows dives on U.S. equities and other markets, with the tech-rich Nasdaq closing down 4.3 percent on Monday, the S&P 500 declining 3.2 percent and the Dow ending off 2.0 percent.

 

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ALGIERS (AFP) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited gas-producing ally Algeria for talks Tuesday as a European drive to secure alternative supplies gathers pace. Lavrov, who arrived in Algiers late Monday, was due to hold talks with both Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra and President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Algerian reports said. His visit is the first since January 2019 and comes as the two countries mark the 60th anniversary of their establishment of diplomatic relations.

 

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SANTO DOMINGO DE LOS COLORADOS, Ecuador (AFP) -- At least 44 inmates died in Ecuador’s latest grisly prison riot, the public prosecutor said, as another 100 prisoners managed to escape. Authorities said a fight broke out between the rival Los Lobos and R7 gangs inside the Bellavista prison in Santo Domingo de los Colorados, in the center of Ecuador some 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Quito. During the riot, dozens of inmates tried to escape. Police chief Fausto Salinas told reporters that 108 were missing after another 112 escaped prisoners were recaptured. Six gang leaders were transferred from Bellavista to two maximum security prisons, the interior ministry said. Prior to this one, around 350 inmates had been killed in five separate prison riots since February 2021. Just last month, at least 20 inmates died inside the El Turi prison in Cuenca, southern Ecuador. President Guillermo Lasso insists the problem inside the facilities mirrors that outside, where drug gangs are vying for control of trafficking routes.

 

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VIENNA (AFP) -- One person died and a dozen were injured when a train derailed outside of Vienna, according to rescue services. Rescuers rushed to the accident at Muenchendorf, just south of Vienna, according to Andreas Zenker of the Red Cross of Lower Austria. “One person died, three have been seriously injured and nine lightly injured,” Zenker told AFP, adding about 100 people were riding the train when the accident occurred in the evening rush hour. “Two waggons derailed for yet unknown reasons,” he said, adding that one crashed into an embankment while another tipped over into a field next to the tracks. “Serious train accident at Muenchendorf,” the emergency services of Lower Austria wrote on Facebook. Deadly train accidents are rare in the Alpine EU member of nine million people. In April 2018, 54 people were treated for injuries after two train carriages collided at a station in the Austrian city of Salzburg.

 

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DUBLIN (Reuters) -- Ireland’s prime minister warned his British counterpart on Tuesday against unilaterally seeking to overrule any of the post-Brexit rules agreed with the European Union for trade in British-run Northern Ireland. The Times newspaper reported on Monday that British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is set to ditch large parts of the Northern Ireland protocol governing that trade after giving up on talks with the European Union on a Brexit deal.  “Spoke to Prime Minister Boris Johnson this morning. On the Protocol, I stressed need to intensify EU and UK discussions, and to avoid any unilateral action,” Micheal Martin said on Twitter.

 

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OUAGADOUGOU (AFP) -- Burkina Faso’s armed forces said on Tuesday they had killed at least 50 “terrorists” in two operations. A rapid reaction force responding to an ambush Monday near Barakuy in the northwestern region of Boucle du Mouhoun “routed the assailants, killing at least 40 terrorists,” military headquarters said in a statement, using a term typically used for jihadists. Troops conducted a sweep with backup from the air force, seizing combat equipment, it said, adding that “a few soldiers” were “slightly wounded.” Also on Monday, a commando unit launched an attack near Djigoue in the southwest of the country, near the border with Ivory Coast, it said. The operation, carried out in coordination with volunteer forces, led to the death of 10 “terrorists” whose weapons were seized, the statement said. Burkina Faso has been struggling since 2015 with a takfiri insurgency that is mainly concentrated in the country’s north and west. More than 2,000 people have died and almost two million fled their homes.