News in Brief

Date: 18 May 2021 - 22:02

News ID: ۹۰۳۵۱

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 on Monday. Active cases in the country also decreased by more than 165,000 on Tuesday — the biggest dip in weeks. But deaths have continued to rise and hospitals are still swamped by patients. India has recorded nearly 280,000 virus deaths since the pandemic began. Experts warn that both the number of deaths and total reported cases are likely vast undercounts. Infections in India have surged since February in a disastrous turn blamed on more contagious variants as well as government decisions to allow massive crowds to gather for religious festivals and political rallies.

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TUNIS (Reuters) -- At least 57 migrants drowned in a shipwreck off Tunis as they tried to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy and 33 were rescued, humanitarian organization Tunisian Red Crescent said on Tuesday. In recent weeks, drowning incidents have occurred off the Tunisian coast, with an increase in the frequency of trips to Europe from Tunisia and Libya towards Italy as the weather has improved. “Thirty-three Bengalis were rescued (and) 57 others drowned in a boat carrying about 90 migrants that set off from Libya towards Europe,” Red Crescent official Mongi Slim told Reuters. The UN refugee agency UNHCR says fewer than 23,500 people have made its across the sea to Europe this year, with most new arrivals landing in Italy and Spain from Tunisia and Algeria. The agency estimates that 633 people have died or gone missing in transit this year.

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KYIV (Reuters) -- Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Tuesday that Ukrainian state security agents had come to his apartment in what he denounced as an attempt by his rival, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to put pressure on him. The SBU state security agency denied having taken action against the mayor. Rivalry between the two began soon after Zelenskiy unexpectedly won Ukraine’s presidency in 2019, beating the then-incumbent Petro Poroshenko, a former political ally of the mayor of Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. Klitschko, a former world boxing champion, told reporters SBU officers tried to enter his apartment early on Monday when he was out for training, and that a camera recorded them going up the stairs, ringing and knocking on his door. Klitschko said that when he arrived back, he was told the SBU was carrying out an investigation against other residents of the same building. He expressed disbelief and denounced the situation as a sign of political pressure by Ukraine’s central authorities against his municipal government.

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LONDON (AP) — Ireland’s health system was still struggling to restore its computers and treat patients on Tuesday, four days after it shut down its entire IT system in response to a cyberattack. Thousands of diagnostic appointments, cancer treatment clinics and surgeries have been canceled or delayed since a ransomware attack on Friday. Authorities said hundreds of people have been deployed to tackle the attack, but it could be weeks before the health service can return to normal. Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said Tuesday that the attack was a “heinous” one that targeted patients and “the Irish public.” Health Service Executive chief clinical officer Colm Henry said the attack had had “a profound impact on our ability to deliver care,” and that the disruptions would undoubtedly “mount in the coming days and weeks.” More than 2,000 patient-facing IT systems are affected, with around 80,000 devices linked to such systems throughout the health service, Henry told Irish broadcaster RTE.

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SEOUL (Reuters) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in is hoping to use his first summit with U.S. President Joe Biden this week to revive long-stalled talks with North Korea and urge the White House to embrace the issue with more urgency. Amid the global coronavirus pandemic, domestic economic and political challenges, and foreign policy crises elsewhere, the Biden administration has not signaled North Korea is a top priority, potentially complicating Moon’s hopes of cementing his legacy. Moon is scheduled to arrive in Washington on Thursday for a four-day stay, which will include a series of summits with Biden and meetings with Vice U.S. President Kamala Harris and congressional leaders.

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NAYPYITAW (Reuters) -- More than 800 people have been killed by Myanmar’s security forces since a wave of protests broke out across the country after the military seized power in a coup in February, an activist group said. Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s government and detained her and officials of her party. The military has responded to protests in cities and towns with lethal force, while there has been an upsurge in fighting between the army and ethnic rebels in border areas and newly formed militia forces. As of Monday, 802 people had been killed in the junta’s crackdown on its opponents, according to the activist group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. “This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher,” the group said in its daily briefing.