Section: Independent Online (South Africa)
The latest on the spread of the coronavirus around the world
Reported cases of the coronavirus have crossed 2.57 million globally and 178,574 people have died, according to a Reuters tally as of 1400 GMT on Wednesday. DEATHS AND INFECTIONS AMERICAS * The US House of Representatives will pass Congress’ latest coronavirus aid bill on Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, paving the way for...
New fires fanned by strong winds flare near Chernobyl
Kiev, Ukraine – New fires broke out in the area around the defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant on Thursday, fanned by heavy winds that have made it harder to put out the blaze, Ukrainian officials said. Emergency workers managed several days ago to contain an initial bout of fires that tore through forests around the site of the world’s...
Radiation rises to 16 times above norm as firefighters battle blaze near Chernobyl
Kiev – Firefighters in the Chernobyl exclusion zone of northern Ukraine on Monday entered their third day of battling a forest fire in the area, still contaminated with radiation from the nuclear power plant disaster more than three decades ago. Radiation in the area was 16 times higher than normal background levels, a senior environmental...
Russian plane heading for US with coronavirus medical equipment
Moscow – A Russian military transport plane was headed to the United States on Wednesday carrying tons of medical equipment and masks to help Washington fight coronavirus, Russian state TV reported and a US official said. President Vladimir Putin offered Russian help in a phone conversation with US President Donald Trump on Monday, when the two...
Worldwide coronavirus deaths exceed 42 000
More than 851 000 people have been infected by the novel coronavirus across the world and 42 053 have died, according to a Reuters tally. Infections have been reported in more than 200 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019. The following table shows countries that have reported deaths due to the...
Ukraine to suspend all passenger flights from March 17 – Interfax Ukraine
Kiev – Ukraine will suspend all passenger flights from March 17, Interfax Ukraine quoted Parliament Speaker Dmytro Razumkov as saying on Friday evening. Ukraine earlier announced that it was banning foreign nationals from entering the country to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The country recorded its first death from the virus on...
Downing of MH17: Breakdown of the trial
Amsterdam – The first hearing in the criminal trial of four men accused of murder for their roles in the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in Ukraine is due to start in the Netherlands on Monday: WHAT HAPPENED? MH17 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17 2014 over an area where Ukrainian government forces were...
MH17 trial in Netherlands to start without Russian, Ukrainian suspects
Amsterdam – Four fugitive suspects go on trial in the Netherlands on Monday charged with the murder of 298 passengers and crew aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 which was shot down with a Russian-made missile over eastern Ukraine in July 2014. Wreckage of the Boeing 777 fell to the ground in fields surrounding the Ukrainian village of...
Crimean court jails Jehovah’s Witness for religious extremism
Moscow – A court in Russian-controlled Crimea jailed a Jehovah’s Witness for six years on Thursday after finding him guilty of organising the activities of a banned extremist organisation, part of a crackdown rights activists say violates religious freedom. The court in the Crimean town of Dzhankoi explained in a statement why it had...
China reports fall in coronavirus cases
Shanghai/Beijing – China reported a decrease in the number of new deaths and new cases of the coronavirus on Saturday, while its central bank predicted a limited short-term economic impact and said the country was confident in winning the fight against the epidemic. Mainland China had 397 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infections on...
