Author: News Desk

Austrian police have found the body of a woman who, they say, was mummified by her son so he could keep claiming her social security. The 66-year-old man confessed to keeping his mother’s body in the basement of a property in the Innsbruck-Land region of western Austria after officers visited the house on Saturday. The 89-year-old woman is thought to have died in June 2020, police said, but the man kept her body in order to continue receiving her pension and care allowance. Police said the man collected around €50,000 ($59,000) during the time he kept his mother’s body in the basement.…

Official commemorations are under way to commemorate 20 years since the 9/11 attacks against the US. The ceremony in New York started with a minute’s silence at 08:46 EST (13:46 BST) – the exact time the first plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center in 2001. Thousands of people across the US have gathered to mark the sombre occasion. President Joe Biden will travel to all three attack sites on Saturday – New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia. A minute’s silence also marked the moment the second plane crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.…

WASHINGTON: Twenty years after 9/11, Sekou Siby still feels the pangs of survivor’s guilt. A cook and dishwasher at the World Trade Center’s Windows on the World restaurant, Siby had swapped shifts that day with a co-worker who ended up dying in the terrorist attacks. The tragedy sent Siby on a path he had never imagined he would take when he emigrated from the Ivory Coast in 1996: He made it his mission to advocate for higher pay and better working conditions for restaurant workers — a role that has gained importance as the restaurant industry has struggled more than most in the…

France’s former health minister is being formally investigated over the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. Prosecutors looking into government failings are investigating Agnès Buzyn for “endangering the lives of others”. Ms Buzyn left the post in February 2020 to run for Paris mayor, saying Covid was low risk. But she later spoke of knowing a “tsunami” was approaching. It is one of the world’s first cases of a minister facing legal accountability for their pandemic response. A special court set up in France in 1993 to investigate government ministers accused of misconduct will decide whether to prosecute her. The wording…

Munich : There were clashes with the police during protests against the IAA Mobility car show in Munich on Friday, and officers used batons and pepper spray against demonstrators several times, said dpa international. Protesters briefly occupied a house near the old town, where they planned to set up an “Open Space for Future” as a counterpoint to the “Open Spaces” used by the IAA in the Munich’s city centre to promote the giant event. Demonstrators also blocked the motorway for a time. On Thursday night, the Munich home of VW Group CEO Herbert Diess was vandalized with paint. Friday’s…

Milan : Italy’s data protection authority said on Friday it has asked Facebook (FB.O) to provide clarifications over the social media giant’s newly launched smart glasses to assess whether the product is compliant with privacy laws. Facebook smart glasses, which were created in partnership with Ray-Ban maker Essilor Luxottica (ESLX.PA), allow wearers to listen to music, take calls or capture photos and short videos and share them across Facebook’s services using a companion app. The Italian watchdog, Garante, said it has called on the Irish data protection commissioner, which leads oversight of Facebook because the social-media company’s European headquarters are…

Tlalnepantla : A section of mountain on the outskirts of Mexico City gave way Friday, plunging rocks the size of small homes onto a densely populated neighborhood and leaving at least one person dead and 10 others missing. Firefighters scaled a three-story pile of rocks that appeared to be resting on houses in Tlalnepantla, which is part of Mexico state. The state surrounds the capital on three sides, The Associated Press (AP) reported. As rescuers climbed the immense pile of debris, they occasionally raised their fists in the air, the familiar signal for silence to listen for people trapped below.…

Russia : The Russian energy company Gazprom says it has completed construction of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany. Running under the Baltic Sea, it will double Moscow’s gas exports to Germany and circumvent Ukraine, which relies on existing pipelines for income. It still needs to be certified by Germany’s regulator, a process that could take up to four months. The US fears the pipeline will increase Europe’s energy dependence on Russia. The loss of transit fees would hit Ukraine’s economy hard. The Ukrainian presidency opposed Nord Stream 2, which Volodymyr Zelensky described as a…

China : Chinese President Xi Jinping has spoken with his US counterpart Joe Biden for the first time in seven months. A White House Statement said both leaders had “discussed the responsibility of both nations to ensure competition does not veer into conflict”. This is only the second call between them since President Biden took office. US- China relations have been tense, with clashes over issues like trade, espionage and the pandemic. “The two leaders had a broad, strategic discussion in which they discussed areas where our interests converge, and areas where our interests, values, and perspectives diverge,” the White House…

Hong Kong : Vietnam and Taiwan are bracing for twin cyclones which are expected to make landfall over the weekend. Tropical Storm Conson is forecast to bring flooding rains to Vietnam this weekend while Super Typhoon Chanthu is expected to bring damaging winds and extremely heavy rainfall to Taiwan this weekend. Super Typhoon Chanthu to make landfall across Taiwan this weekend Taiwan issued a sea and land warning for Pingtung and Taitung Country on Friday ahead of Super Typhoon Chanthu. Chanthu is a very strong and destructive storm with sustained winds of 260 kph (160 mph) as of Friday evening. This makes…