Germany’s police have detained two former soldiers on terrorism-related charges for allegedly trying to form a pro-Saudi mercenary group of up to 150 members to fight in the war on Yemen. German prosecutors said in a statement that Arend-Adolf G and Achim A were detained on Wednesday in southern Germany. …
Read More »Daily Archives: October 20, 2021
At least 19 killed in car crash in Egypt
At least 19 people were killed as a truck collided with a passenger microbus near the Egyptian capital Cairo, Egypt’s state-run Al-Ahram news website reported on Wednesday. The accident took place on a ring road on the outskirts of Cairo towards the 6th of October city, where security and traffic …
Read More »Iraq records 1,388 new Covid-19 infections and 26 fatalities on Wednesday
Iraq recorded 1,388 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said today, Wednesday. The daily epidemiological report on the COVID-19 situation stated that 26 COVID-19 deaths were registered today. On the other hand, 2,938 patients achieved full recovery. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 in Iraq, …
Read More »Demonstrators called to trial the head and members of the Board of Commissioners
The Committee that prepares for demonstrations against the election results demanded, on Wednesday, to bring the head and members of the Board of the Electoral Commission to trial. In a statement, the Committee confirmed that “the Head and members of the Board of Commissioners should be submitted to the judiciary …
Read More »Iraq’s Electoral Commission Failed People with Disabilities: HRW
In the weeks leading up to the October 10 parliamentary elections, Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) promised to take steps to ensure people with disabilities could vote. But on election day, videos circulated suggested IHEC’s promises to make polling places accessible, with ballot boxes on the ground floor, went …
Read More »Police raid homes, businesses across Germany, Italy, Bulgaria in Italian mafia probe
Police in Germany, Italy, and Bulgaria raided 46 residential and commercial buildings on Wednesday as part of a European probe into the Italian mafia, German police said. They said they would release more information after the raids had been completed. The synchronized raids were the result of a European investigation …
Read More »Floods, landslides kill 116 in India and Nepal
More than 100 people have died following several days of massive flooding and landslides in India and Nepal, officials said Wednesday, with scores more missing. In Uttarakhand in northern India, officials said that 46 people had died in recent days with 11 missings. In Kerala in the south chief minister …
Read More »Taliban agree to new polio vaccination across Afghanistan
UN agencies are gearing up to vaccinate all of Afghanistan’s children under 5 against polio for the first time since 2018 after the Taliban agreed to the campaign, the World Health Organization says. For the past three years, the Taliban barred UN-organized vaccination teams from doing door-to-door campaigns in parts …
Read More »Russia scrambles two fighter jets to escort US strategic bombers over Black Sea: RIA
Russia scrambled two Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets to escort a pair of US B-1B strategic bombers over the Black Sea, Russia’s defense ministry said on Wednesday, an incident that coincided with a visit to the region by the US secretary of defense. The supersonic US Cold war-era planes were originally …
Read More »US FDA to recommend Pfizer, Moderna boosters for people 40 and older: CNN
The US Food and Drug Administration is expected to soon recommend that persons 40 and older receive Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 booster shots, CNN reported on Tuesday. The US has administered 409,438,987 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Tuesday morning and distributed 495,844,635 doses, the US Centers …
Read More »Taliban promise cash rewards, plots of land to ‘heroic’ suicide bombers’ families
The Taliban is gifting a plot of land and cash rewards to the family members of “heroic” suicide bombers who died after targeting US and Afghan forces, a spokesman for the group’s interior ministry said on Twitter. Writing on social media, Taliban spokesman Qari Saeed Khosty quoted an announcement made …
Read More »Italy’s Chinese feel penalized by COVID-19 Green Pass rules
One of Italy’s largest Chinese communities says it is being unfairly penalized by the government’s mandatory COVID-19 health pass and has asked the authorities for a flexible interpretation of the rules. The so-called Green Pass, showing proof of COVID immunity through vaccination, previous infection, or a negative test, has triggered …
Read More »Facebook plans to change its name: Report
Social media giant Facebook Inc is planning to rebrand itself with a new name next week, The Verge reported on Tuesday, citing a source with direct knowledge of the matter. Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg plans to talk about the name change at the company’s annual Connect conference on …
Read More »No action as UK ends probe into abuse claims in Iraq
Investigations into claims of abuse by British troops in Iraq have closed without a single prosecution being brought, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said on Tuesday. Allegations against British soldiers who served in the conflict — and elsewhere around the world — have dogged the government and military. But in June …
Read More »Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine highly protective in 12-18 age group: US CDC
The Pfizer Inc/BioNTech SE COVID-19 vaccine was 93 percent effective in preventing hospitalizations among those aged 12 to 18, according to an analysis released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday. The study was conducted between June and September when the extremely contagious Delta variant …
Read More »Air strike hits capital of Ethiopia’s Tigray for third time this week
Ethiopian government airstrikes hit the capital of the northern Tigray region on Wednesday, the third such attack this week in a stepped-up campaign to weaken rebellious Tigrayan forces in an almost one-year-old war. Tigrai Television, controlled by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), said the attack targeted the center of …
Read More »NATO will still seek channels with Russia despite spy dispute
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday that the alliance would still need to talk to Russia after Moscow suspended its diplomatic mission to the alliance over an espionage dispute. That means relying on a hotline between Russia’s chief of general staff, Valery Gerasimov, and Tod Wolters, NATO’s Supreme Allied …
Read More »Goodbye, Columbus: Vikings crossed the Atlantic 1,000 years ago
Long before Columbus crossed the Atlantic, eight timber-framed buildings covered in sod stood on a terrace above a peat bog and stream at the northern tip of Canada’s island of Newfoundland, evidence that the Vikings had reached the New World first. But precisely when the Vikings journeyed to establish the …
Read More »Hundreds protest against Bulgaria’s COVID health pass
Hundreds of anti-vaccine protesters joined some political leaders in Sofia on Wednesday to demonstrate against Bulgaria’s decision to make a COVID-19 “Green Certificate” mandatory for access to restaurants, theatres, and shopping malls. The interim health ministry announced the move on Tuesday to try to slow a surge in infections and …
Read More »Japanese volcano spews plumes of ash, people warned away
A volcano erupted in Japan on Wednesday, blasting ash several miles into the sky and prompting officials to warn against the threat of lava flows and falling rocks, but there were no reports of injuries or casualties. Mount Aso, a tourist destination on the main southern island of Kyushu, sent …
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