Category: World

NEW DELHI (AP): A fire in a COVID-19 hospital ward in western India killed 18 patients early Saturday, as the country grappling with the worst outbreak yet stepped up a vaccination drive for all adults even as some states said they don’t have enough jabs. India on Saturday set yet another daily global record with… Continue reading Hospital fire kills 18 virus patients as India steps up jabs

(TheGuardian): At least 44 people have been killed and about 150 injured in a crowd crush at a Jewish religious gathering in northern Israel attended by tens of thousands of people, in one of the country’s worst peacetime disasters. Children were among the dead, Eli Beer, the director of an Israeli volunteer ambulance service, Hatzalah,… Continue reading Dozens killed in crush at Lag Baomer religious festival in Israel

(BBC): The United States has told its citizens to leave India as soon as possible as the country battles a devastating coronavirus wave. India reported 379,257 new infections on Thursday, the world’s highest single-day total. The US embassy warned that “access to all types of medical care is becoming severely limited”. The Level 4 “do… Continue reading India Covid crisis: US tells citizens to leave the country

NEW YORK (AP): The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased its guidelines Tuesday on the wearing of masks outdoors, saying fully vaccinated Americans don’t need to cover their faces anymore unless they are in a big crowd of strangers. And those who are unvaccinated can go outside without masks in some situations, too. The… Continue reading C.D.C. Eases Outdoor Mask Guidance for Vaccinated Americans

(BBC): Japan has announced emergency Covid measures in Tokyo and three other areas in a bid to curb rising infections, just three months before the country is set to host the Olympics. The government said the state of emergency – set to last for about two weeks – would be “short and powerful”. Under the… Continue reading Japan declares virus emergency in Tokyo as Olympics near

NEW DELHI (AP): India put oxygen tankers on special express trains as major hospitals in New Delhi begged on social media on Friday for more supplies to save COVID-19 patients who are struggling to breathe. More than a dozen people died when an oxygen-fed fire ripped through a coronavirus ward in a populous western state.… Continue reading Indian hospitals plead for oxygen, country sets virus record

MINNEAPOLIS (AP): Former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted Tuesday of murder and manslaughter for pinning George Floyd to the pavement with his knee on the Black man’s neck in a case that triggered worldwide protests, violence and a furious reexamination of racism and policing in the U.S. Chauvin, 45, was immediately led away with… Continue reading Chauvin guilty of murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death

(Reuters): Osaka will ask the Japanese government to declare a state of emergency in an effort to reverse the rise in coronavirus cases, the governor of the country’s third-most populous prefecture said on Monday. Osaka and several other prefectures have been in a “quasi-emergency” state for two weeks, with targeted measures aimed at controlling the… Continue reading Japan’s Osaka to ask govt to declare state of emergency – governor

(BBC): Russia has announced that 20 diplomats from the Czech Republic will be expelled from the country. The Czech Republic expelled 18 Russian diplomats on Saturday. Czech local intelligence agents claim the diplomats are Russian intelligence operatives. They are suspected of involvement in an explosion at an arms depot in 2014. European Union foreign ministers… Continue reading Russia expels Czech diplomats over explosion row

CNN: Three people were pronounced dead at the scene of a shooting in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, according to tweets from Austin-Travis County EMS. The shooting appears to be “a domestic situation that is isolated,” a tweet from Austin police said.Police identified the suspect, still at large, as Stephen Nicholas Broderick, 41.It is unknown if… Continue reading Three people are dead after apparent ‘domestic situation’ in Austin, Texas