Author: News Desk

The death toll following a police raid in a favela in Rio de Janeiro rose to 29 on Saturday, two days after a shootout between officials and alleged members of a drug gang. One officer from an anti-drug unit and 28 suspects died after the raid in the Jacarezinho favel, G1 news portal reported, citing the police, according to Deutsche press agency (dpa). All of the suspects were involved in drug deals, police secretary Allan Turnowski said at the funeral of the slain officer. Three of the suspects had been charged with drug trafficking by the prosecutor’s office and were…

The death toll in a horrific bombing at a girls’ school in the Afghan capital has soared to 50, many of them pupils between 11 and 15 years old, the Interior Ministry said Sunday. The number of wounded in Saturday’s attack has also climbed to more than 100, said Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian. Three explosions outside the school entrance struck as students were leaving for the day, he said, according to The AP. The blasts occurred in a mostly Shiite neighborhood in the west of the capital. The Taliban denied responsibility, condemning the attack. The first explosion came from a…

The National Medical Taskforce for Combatting the Coronavirus (COVID-19) highlighted the importance of following all precautionary guidelines, including being vaccinated against COVID-19, to increase shared immunity and community protection, and reduce the severity of symptoms for those infected. The Taskforce noted that 78% of the 1706 active COVID-19 cases recorded on Friday, 7 May, have not received a vaccine, while the percentage of those unvaccinated in intensive care was 94% of 119 cases. The Taskforce further added that all 4 of the deaths recorded on 7 May were of persons not vaccinated. The Taskforce reiterated the dangers of not following…

India’s COVID-19 deaths rose by more than 4,000 for a second consecutive day on Sunday as calls for a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the virus mounted. India’s health ministry reported 4,092 fatalities over the past 24 hours, taking the overall death toll to 242,362. New cases rose by 403,738, just shy of the record and increasing the total since the start of the pandemic to 22.3 million. India has been hit hard by a second COVID-19 wave with cases and deaths hitting record highs every other day. With an acute shortage of oxygen and beds in many…

The value of dogecoin dropped sharply in early U.S. hours on Sunday, after Tesla chief and cryptocurrency supporter Elon Musk called it a ‘hustle’ during his guest-host spot on the “Saturday Night Live” comedy sketch TV show. Dogecoin was quoted as low as $0.47 on crypto exchange Binance, down 28% from levels around $0.65 before the show. The billionaire Tesla Inc chief executive hosted the show at 11:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday (0330 GMT on Sunday). Cryptocurrency enthusiasts had for days been eager to see what he would say, after his tweets this year turned the once-obscure digital currency into a…

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday he expected to be able to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin soon and the White House said ongoing differences between the United States and Russia would not need to be resolved in advance of a summit. Biden told reporters at the White House he wanted to meet Putin despite Russia’s build-up of military forces near Ukraine. “It does not impact my desire to have a one-on-one meeting and you’ll notice he had more troops before. He’s withdrawn troops,” he said. Asked about meeting Putin in June, he said: “I’m confident we’ll be able…

China’s Sinopharm state company has offered substantial support for the COVAX programme to provide COVID-19 vaccines mainly to poor countries, a WHO official said on Friday after the global health body gave emergency approval to Sinopharm’s vaccine. Senior WHO adviser Bruce Aylward said it would be up to Sinopharm to say how many doses of its vaccine it can provide to the programme, but added: “They are looking at trying to provide substantial support, make substantial doses available while at the same time of course trying to serve China’s population.” (Reuters)

Mexico City: At least 23 people were killed after a bridge on an elevated section of the Mexico City underground system partially collapsed as a train was passing over it late Monday, the Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA) reported. At least 49 people were injured, some of them seriously, Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum told journalists at the scene of the accident. At least seven people were being operated on in hospitals, and children were among the dead, Sheinbaum said. The cause of the accident was initially unclear. Several carriages of a line 12 metro train plunged several metres and collided into each other, videos circulating…

Munich: Bavarian Premier Markus Soeder declared on Tuesday that his state would be open again for tourists this month amid hopes that the worst of the coronavirus pandemic might be over for Germany, the Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA) reported. Holidays in Bavaria, which is a popular destination for travellers not just from Germany but around the world, would be possible again from May 21 in regions with low infection numbers, Soeder said. Bavaria’s decision came amid signs that the number of new infections across Germany has been falling after a protracted lockdown. Berlin, along with several states including Bavaria, is also moving to provide…

Manama: His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has today met remotely, at Al Safriya Palace, Southern Governor His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Ali bin Khalifa Al-Khalifa, Muharraq Governor Salman bin Isa bin Hindi Al-Mannai, Capital Governor Shaikh Hesham bin Abdulrahman Al-Khalifa and Northern Governor Ali Abdul Hussein Al Asfoor. HM the King also met remotely citizens from the four governorates, marking the last ten days of Holy month of Ramadan, as part of HM the King’s meetings with leading Bahraini personalities. HM the King delivered a speech on this occasion, congratulating the audience and all the people of…