Category: World

WASHINGTON (AP): President Joe Biden ordered U.S. intelligence officials to “redouble” their efforts to investigate the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, including any possibility the trail might lead to a Chinese laboratory. After months of minimizing that possibility as a fringe theory, the Biden administration is joining worldwide pressure for China to be more open… Continue reading Biden orders more intel investigation of COVID-19 origin

BBC: More than a million people in India have been evacuated as a powerful cyclone has started making landfall on its eastern coast on Wednesday. Cyclone Yaas, which intensified into a “very severe cyclonic storm”, hit the state of Orissa, also known as Odisha, and will take two hours to cross over. This is the… Continue reading Cyclone Yaas: Severe storm makes landfall on India coast

MINNEAPOLIS (AP): A family-friendly street festival, musical performances and moments of silence were held Tuesday to honor George Floyd and mark the year since he died at the hands of Minneapolis police, a death captured on wrenching bystander video that galvanized the racial justice movement and continues to bring calls for change. Floyd’s sister Bridgett… Continue reading Rallies, moments of silence honor George Floyd a year later

Reuters: Military officers in Mali detained the president, prime minister and defence minister of the interim government on Monday, deepening political chaos just months after a military coup ousted the previous president, multiple sources told Reuters. President Bah Ndaw, Prime Minister Moctar Ouane and defence minister Souleymane Doucoure were all taken to a military base… Continue reading Military detain Mali’s president, prime minister and defense minister

BEIJING (AP): Twenty-one people running a mountain ultramarathon have died in northwestern China after hail, freezing rain and gale-force winds hit the high-altitude race, state media reported Sunday. After an all-night rescue operation in freezing temperatures involving more than 700 personnel, rescuers were able to confirm that 151 people were safe, out of a total… Continue reading 21 die in extreme weather in China ultramarathon

(Reuters): Nigeria’s army chief, Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru, died in a plane crash on Friday on an official visit to the northern state of Kaduna, which has had security challenges in recent months, the presidency said. The air force said in a statement that its plane crashed near Kaduna airport and that it was investigating… Continue reading Nigerian army chief dies in air force plane crash

(Reuters): A truce between Israel and Hamas took hold on Friday after the worst violence in years, with U.S. President Joe Biden pledging to salvage the devastated Gaza Strip and the United Nations urging renewed Israeli-Palestinian dialogue. Israel’s bombardment of Gaza and militant rocket attacks on Israeli towns ceased after 11 days under an agreement… Continue reading Israel-Palestinian ceasefire comes into effect

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP): Six people were killed and several others were wounded Friday when a powerful roadside bomb exploded near a vehicle carrying a local leader of an Islamist political party in Pakistan, police and a government spokesman said. It was unclear who was behind the attack in Chaman, a town in the southwestern Baluchistan… Continue reading Bomb targeting Islamist leader’s car kills 6 in Pakistan

NEW DELHI (AP): India’s total virus cases since the pandemic began swept past 25 million on Tuesday as the country registered more than 260,000 new cases and a record 4,329 fatalities in the past 24 hours. The numbers continue a trend of falling cases after infections dipped below 300,000 for the first time in weeks… Continue reading India reports record day of virus deaths as cases level off

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP): A strike launched from Gaza killed two Thai workers in southern Israel on Tuesday, police said, hours after Israeli airstrikes toppled a six-story building in the Palestinian territory that housed bookstores and educational centers. With the war showing no sign of abating, Palestinians across the region went on a general… Continue reading Strike from Gaza kills 2 as Israel topples 6-story building