A fire sparked by an oxygen tank explosion killed at least 82 people and injured 110 at a hospital in Baghdad that had been equipped to house Covid-19 patients, an Interior Ministry spokesman said on Sunday.”We urgently need to review safety measures at all hospitals to prevent such a painful incident from happening in future,” spokesman Khalid al-Muhanna told state television, announcing the toll.The fire erupted on Saturday at the Ibn Khatib hospital in the Diyala Bridge area.Ali Bayati, a member of Iraq’s semi-official High Commission for Human Rights, had said earlier a final death toll had not yet been…
Author: Mike Harrison
As the largest beneficiary of EU stimulus, Italy is set to receive at least 191.5 billion euros, including 69 billion euros of grants. Bloomberg | PUBLISHED ON APR 25, 2021 02:06 PM IST Italy’s government on Saturday signed off on a large package of investment and reforms that will be financed by the European Union’s 800-billion euro ($968 billion) post-pandemic recovery fund.As the largest beneficiary of EU stimulus, Italy is set to receive at least 191.5 billion euros, including 69 billion euros of grants, and plans to use the money to accelerate the green and digital transformation of the economy,…
As many as 5,611 fresh infections were reported in the last 24 hours, while 118 people succumbed to the virus in the same period, ARY News reported citing the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC). ANI | PUBLISHED ON APR 25, 2021 02:03 PM IST Pakistan’s COVID-19 positivity ratio jumped to over 10 per cent on Sunday, a day after the country reported the highest number of deaths due to the novel coronavirus.As many as 5,611 fresh infections were reported in the last 24 hours, while 118 people succumbed to the virus in the same period, ARY News reported citing…
Southeast Asian leaders demanded an immediate end to killings and the release of political detainees in Myanmar in an emergency summit Saturday with its top general and coup leader, Indonesia’s president said.The leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations also told Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing during the two-hour talks in Jakarta that a dialogue between contending parties in Myanmar should immediately start, with the help of ASEAN envoys, President Joko Widodo said.“The situation in Myanmar is unacceptable and should not continue. Violence must be stopped, democracy, stability and peace in Myanmar must be returned immediately,” Widodo said during…
Pakistan recorded 5,611 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, pushing the number of infections to 795,627, while the death toll due to coronavirus has crossed 17,000 mark, according to the official data.The Ministry of National Health Services said 118 more people have succumbed to the virus in the last 24 hours, taking the overall death toll to 17,117.The pandemic is not receding and the officials have introduced tough restrictions like closure of markets after 6 pm to bring it under control.Information minister Fawad Chaudhry said on Saturday that the government would wait for a week and if the situation did not…
Nepal has issued a record 394 permits so far this year for expeditions to Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak, despite the surging coronavirus pandemic.”We have issued permission to those expedition teams, which applied for the same with due procedures,” Meera Acharya, director at the Department of Tourism, said.The Ministry of Tourism and civil aviation issued a record 394 permits for the expeditions to Everest till Friday, breaking the earlier record of 381 permits issued in 2019, she said.The Nepali government’s move has come amid intense scrutiny over a reported traffic jam on Mt. Everest, whose revised height is 8848.86…
At least 65 fighters have been killed over the past two days as Yemen’s Huthi rebels make gains in the battle for Marib, advancing towards the city centre, military sources said.The rebels have taken full control of the northwest Kassara battlefront and made progress on western frontlines despite airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition which backs Yemen’s government.Marib and its surrounding oil fields make up the last significant pocket of government-held territory in the north, the rest of which is under rebel control, including the capital Sanaa.Amid fierce fighting, the casualties over the past two days include some 26 loyalist forces,…
The European Union called out China on Saturday for endangering peace in the South China Sea and urged all parties to abide by a 2016 tribunal ruling which rejected most of China’s claim to sovereignty in the sea, but which Beijing has rejected.The EU last week released a new policy aimed at stepping up its influence in the Indo-Pacific region to counter China’s rising power.The Philippines on Friday protested to China over its failure to withdraw what it called as “threatening” boats believed to be manned by maritime militia around the disputed Whitsun Reef, which Manila calls the Julian Felipe…
The US has decided to deploy “more supplies and support” to help India deal with the ongoing second wave of Covid-19 cases. It comes amid mounting calls for the Biden administration to do more – from lawmakers and businesses – with an Indian-American tech billionaire even offering to fund “planeloads of oxygen”.“The US is deeply concerned by the severe Covid outbreak in India,” tweeted US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Saturday. “We are working around the clock to deploy more supplies and support to our friends and partners in India as they bravely battle this pandemic. More very soon.”Sullivan…
German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a video address on Saturday defended “tough” new coronavirus restrictions amid the third wave and urged German citizens to “do what is necessary again” to slow the Covid-19 pandemic.”This is something new in our fight against the pandemic and I am convinced that it is urgently needed because we are in the middle of the third wave,” Merkel said, reported euronews.Defending the emergency brake measures, Merkel said that the government had weighed whether such tough efforts were necessary.”As much as one would wish there were less burdensome ways to break and reverse the third wave…