News in Brief

Date: 31 July 2020 - 22:10

News ID: ۸۱۲۴۰

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -- A massive sea and air search was under way on Friday for eight missing U.S. Marines off the Southern California coast after a training mishap on Thursday also resulted in one Marine dead and two others injured, the Marine Corps said in a statement. Fifteen Marines and one Navy sailor were aboard an assault amphibious vehicle that began taking on water around 5:45 p.m. Pacific time on Thursday (0045 GMT Friday), the statement said. One Marine was pronounced dead at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla, and two others were taken to hospitals where one was listed in critical condition and the other in stable condition, the statement said. A U.S. Navy destroyer and a Coast Guard cutter searched at sea while three Navy helicopters and a Coast Guard helicopter searched overhead, in addition to several small Navy boats, the statement said. All the Marines involved were assigned to the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is based at Camp Pendleton, the largest Marine base on the West Coast of the United States, between Orange and San Diego counties.

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BEIJING (AP) — China is celebrating the completion of its BeiDou Navigation Satellite System that could rival the U.S. Global Positioning System and significantly boost China’s security and geopolitical clout. President Xi Jinping, the leader of the ruling Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army, officially commissioned the system Friday at a ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. That followed a declaration that the 55th and final geostationary satellite in the constellation launched June 23 was operating after having completed all tests. The satellite is part of the third iteration of the BeiDou system known as BDS-3, which began providing navigation services in 2018 to countries taking part in China’s sprawling "Belt and Road” infrastructure initiative along with others.

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WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The first dog to test positive for the coronavirus in the United States has died, National Geographic magazine reported, after struggling with symptoms that may be familiar to many of the virus’s human sufferers. Buddy the seven-year-old German shepherd became sick in April, around the same time his owner Robert Mahoney was recovering from COVID-19, according to the magazine this week. Buddy seemed to have a stuffed nose and difficulty breathing, and his condition only worsened over the following weeks and months.  Mahoney and his wife Allison, who live in New York, eventually euthanized the dog on July 11 after Buddy began vomiting blood clots, urinating blood and was unable to walk.

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BRASÍLIA (AFP) -- Brazil’s first lady Michelle Bolsonaro tested positive for the new coronavirus Thursday, the government said, after her husband spent two weeks in quarantine with it. The announcement came five days after President Jair Bolsonaro said he was over his illness and had resumed his normal work routine. Michelle Bolsonaro, 38, "is in good health and will follow all established protocols,” the president’s office said. Bolsonaro, 65, has faced criticism for his handling of the pandemic as Brazil has surged to become the country with the second-highest number of infections and deaths in the world, after the United States: more than 2.5 million and 91,000, respectively.

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MOSCOW (Reuters) -- The Kremlin said on Friday it hoped that more than 30 Russian private security contractors detained in neighboring Belarus and accused of plotting acts of terrorism would soon be released. Russia a day earlier demanded an explanation over what it called Minsk’s wrongful arrest of the group, an incident that risks worsening already strained relations between Belarus and traditional ally Moscow.  Belarus this week detained the group of Russian men near the capital Minsk, saying it had received information that over 200 fighters had entered the country to destabilize it before an Aug. 9 presidential election.

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ANGLET, France (AFP) -- A wildfire fanned by soaring temperatures tore through a pine forest in southwestern France on Thursday, burning down at least one house and forcing dozens to flee their homes. Around 100 firefighters and two water bombers tried to beat back the fire, which consumed one home and around 40 hectares (100 acres) of the Chiberta forest by 10:30pm, the local prefecture said. Strong winds and thunderstorms were forecast for overnight. The southwest of France experienced particularly hot weather on Thursday, with the nearby town of Saint-Jean-de-Luz setting its new temperature record of 41.9 degrees Celsius (107 Fahrenheit).

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BUKAVU, Congo (Reuters) -- A soldier shot dead 12 people and injured nine others during a drunken rampage in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday evening, regional authorities said. Security services are conducting a search for the gunman in the city of Sange, 15 miles (24 km) from the Burundian border, where the shooting took place, the governor of South Kivu province, Theo Kasi, said in a statement. President Felix Tshisekedi called the attack a heinous crime and offered his condolences to the victims’ families. Congo’s vast army is widely seen as poorly trained and unprofessional, and its personnel are frequently accused of committing crimes against civilians. Senior generals are under U.S. and EU sanctions for alleged abuses, and are accused by the United Nations of having supplied weapons to rebels and criminal gangs.