Category: World

BBC: Israel has accused Iran of being behind an attack on an oil tanker in which two crew members – a British national and a Romanian citizen – were killed. The MV Mercer Street, operated by the London-based company Zodiac Maritime, was off Oman’s coast in the Arabian Sea when the incident occurred on Thursday.… Continue reading Israel accuses Iran over deadly oil tanker attack

WASHINGTON (AP): President Joe Biden on Thursday announced sweeping new pandemic requirements aimed at boosting vaccination rates for millions of federal workers and contractors as he lamented the “American tragedy” of rising-yet-preventable deaths among the unvaccinated. Federal workers will be required to sign forms attesting they’ve been vaccinated against the coronavirus or else comply with… Continue reading Biden orders tough new vaccination rules for federal workers

CARRY-LE-ROUET, France (AP) — Europe’s famed summer holiday season is in full swing, but efforts to inoculate people against the coronavirus are not taking a break. Instead, with lockdowns easing despite concerns about variants and nations looking to breathe new life into their ailing tourism industries, vaccinations are being taken to vacationers. It’s all part… Continue reading Europe on vacation, but vaccinations not taking a break

OSLO, Norway (AP): Church bells rang out across Norway on Thursday, marking 10 years since the country’s worst ever peacetime slaughter as leaders urged their country to fight the extremism that was behind the attack. On July 22, 2011, right-wing extremist Anders Breivik set off a bomb in the capital, Oslo, killing eight people, before… Continue reading Norway mourns 77 dead a decade after extremist attack

BBC: Pulitzer Prize-winning Indian photojournalist Danish Siddiqui has been killed in Afghanistan, said the country’s ambassador in Delhi. Siddiqui, the chief photographer of Reuters news agency in India, was on assignment in Afghanistan when he died. He was embedded with a convoy of Afghan forces that was ambushed by Taliban militants near a key border… Continue reading Indian photojournalist killed in Afghanistan

AP: COVID-19 deaths and cases are on the rise again globally in a dispiriting setback that is triggering another round of restrictions and dampening hopes for an almost normal summer of fun. The World Health Organization reported Wednesday that deaths climbed last week after nine straight weeks of decline. It recorded more than 55,000 deaths,… Continue reading Covid deaths and cases rising again globally

AP: Firefighters were working in extreme temperatures across the U.S. West and struggling to contain wildfires, the largest burning in California and Oregon, as another heat wave baked the region, straining power grids. The largest wildfire of the year in California — the Beckwourth Complex — was raging along the Nevada state line and has… Continue reading Wildfires rage as US West grapples with heat wave, drought

MELBOURNE (Reuters): Australia reported its first locally contracted COVID-19 death of the year on Sunday and a 2021 record 77 new cases of the virus in the state of New South Wales, which is battling an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant. State Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the numbers in and around the country’s… Continue reading Australia reports first 2021 local COVID-19 death, highest case number

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP): Haitian authorities have made more arrests in the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, raiding Taiwan’s Embassy where several suspects are believed to have sought refuge, while also detaining two Haitian-Americans and several former Colombian soldiers allegedly tied to the plot. In all, 17 suspects have been detained and another eight are being… Continue reading More suspects arrested in assassination of Haitian president

NKANDLA, South Africa (AP): Former South African president Jacob Zuma turned himself over to police early Thursday to begin serving a 15-month prison term. Just minutes before the midnight deadline for police to arrest him, Zuma left his Nkandla home in a convoy of vehicles. Zuma handed himself over to authorities to obey the country’s… Continue reading South Africa’s ex-leader turns himself in for prison term