News in Brief

Date: 01 February 2022 - 21:32

News ID: ۹۹۵۵۲

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Several Black colleges and universities in the United States received bomb threats and put their campuses on lockdown on Tuesday, a day after a rash of similar threats forced the cancellation of classes for the day at other schools. Howard University in Washington, University of the District of Columbia, Kentucky State, Xavier University of Louisiana and Fort Valley State in Georgia were among the schools reporting receiving threats, according to Twitter postings and local media. Howard gave the all clear Tuesday morning after the campus received a threat at around 2:55 a.m., it said on Twitter. The bomb scares come after several other HBCUs told students and staff on Monday to shelter in place and canceled classes for the day after similar threats. Authorities said they did not find any suspicious devices, allowing the schools to reopen. Students at Xavier University in Louisiana were told to stay in their dorm rooms until further notice and to monitor university channels.

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GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization says overuse of gloves, “moon suits” and the use of billions of masks and vaccination syringes to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus have spurred a huge glut of health care waste worldwide. The UN health agency reported Tuesday that tens of thousands of tons of extra medical waste has strained waste management systems and is threatening both health and the environment, pointing to a “dire need” to improve those systems and get a response from both governments and people. The agency says most of the roughly 87,000 tons of such equipment – including what she called “moon suits” and gloves -- obtained from March 2020 to November 2021 to battle COVID-19 has ended up as waste. More than 8 billion doses of vaccine administered globally have produced 143 tons of extra waste in terms of syringes, needles and safety boxes.

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PARIS (AFP) – Climate change is on track to ramp up the annual cost of U.S. flood damage more than 25 percent by 2050, according to new research that warns disadvantaged communities will likely bear the brunt of the financial burden. The study published in the journal Nature Climate Change used new flood models to map out the present and future impact of sea level rise, tropical cyclones and changing weather patterns. Losses include destruction projected to hit homes and businesses. Researchers warned that even more people are expected to move into areas at growing risk of inundation. Researchers used nationwide property asset data, information on communities and flood projections to estimate flood risk across the U.S. The study showed that poorer communities with a proportionally larger white population currently face the steepest losses.

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QUITO (Reuters) -- At least 14 people died and another 32 were injured in a landslide in the north of Ecuador’s capital Quito, the country’s emergency response office said on Tuesday, as firefighter rescue crews continue searching homes and streets covered by mud. Authorities said late on Monday nine people were missing and 32 were injured. In Brazil, knee-deep in the mud left by a horrific landslide, dozens of rescue workers and volunteers raced to find any remaining survivors before it was too late. Floods and landslides triggered by torrential rains have killed at least 24 people, including eight children, since Friday in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil’s industrial hub and home to 46 million people. In the city of Franco da Rocha, where a landslide killed at least eight people, residents said they could still hear victims stuck in the mud calling out for help Sunday.

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JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -- A report released by Rio Tinto on Tuesday outlined a culture of bullying, harassment and racism at the Anglo-Australian mining giant, including 21 complaints of actual or attempted rape or sexual assault over the past five years. Nearly half of all employees who responded to an external review of the miner’s workplace culture commissioned by Rio said they had been bullied, while racism was found to be common across a number of areas. More than 10,000 employees, nearly a quarter of its 45,000-strong workplace shared their experiences and views for the study. Racism was a “significant challenge” for employees at many locations. People working in a country different to their birth experienced high rates of racism while nearly 40% of men who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander in Australia had experienced racism.

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BANGKOK (AP) — A nationwide strike in Myanmar on Tuesday marked the one-year anniversary of the army’s seizure of power, as sporadic protests and violence across the country raised further international concern over the ongoing struggle for power. Photos and video on social media showed that a countrywide “silent strike” had emptied out streets in Myanmar’s largest city of Yangon and other towns as people stayed home and businesses shut their doors in a show of opposition to army rule. Clashes and violence were reported as well, as the country faces an insurgency that some UN experts now characterize as a civil war. Local media said an explosion killed at least two people and injured dozens at a pro-military rally in a town on the eastern border with Thailand. The cause of the blast was not immediately clear.