Death toll in haiti

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said on Twitter late Wednesday in the US that he had tested positive for COVID after his appointments with the International Monetary Fund and the G20 in Washington. "After two years without a COVID-19 infection, after a negative result yesterday in a test center and another negative rapid test earlier today: positive," Lindner wrote. "Thanks to three vaccinations only mild and already fading cold symptoms." Lindner was taking part in various appointments in the US capital, focused on the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund as well as a G20 session he participated in and a smaller G7 finance ministers' meeting he chaired, as Germany is the current G7 presidency holder. According to Finance Ministry officials, he had been undergoing regular tests, all of them negative, until recording one positive rapid test late on Wednesday. The 43-year-old had further appointments scheduled for Thursday in the US, and then a late … [Read more...] about COVID digest: German Finance Minister Lindner tests positive in US

Besieged people of Mariupol, promised a ceasefire so they could escape the horrors of war, had to dodge constant Russian shelling as innocent residents are killed in the streets. The evacuation of thousands of people from the war-torn city in the south east of Ukraine was due to start this morning, with Moscow promising to stop attacks to allow them to leave. Instead, more distressing reports have emerged from the port city. Its people have suffered near constant shelling for days on end, leaving them without power, heating, power or lights in near freezing conditions. Virtually cut off from the rest of the world, people have to rely on rainwater from gutters to quench their thirst whilst there is little that can be done for their hunger. Several grocery stores have been destroyed by missiles. Those left standing have been emptied of food and medicine by desperate people trying to survive. Follow the latest updates from Ukraine in our live blog A paramedic … [Read more...] about Inside the Mariupol siege: Constant shelling, overwhelmed hospitals and starving people

Russian troops in medal-adorned uniforms paraded new tanks and deadly missiles in Red Square yesterday almost 300 miles from the death and depravity of war in Ukraine . Even as President Vladimir Putin marked Russia ’s proud World War II Victory Day celebrations, Ukrainians were desperately battling his forces’ brutal 75 days-long invasion. The rising death toll on Russia’s troops was obvious, according to sources, with ranks bolstered by police, female soldiers, railway troops and even Moscow’s spooks in uniform. Over the border devastating civilian tragedy and suffering marks the Ukraine invasion - in stark contrast to Russia’s attempt at a proud remembrance of its sacrifice fighting Nazi Germany. A Russian Yars intercontinental ballistic missile launcher parades through Red Square during the Victory Day ( Image: AFP via Getty Images) Rotting dead bodies and other debris of horrific fighting have been swept aside across south and east Ukraine as Moscow’s … [Read more...] about Russian troops parade new tanks and deadly missiles in display 300 miles from Ukraine

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un ordered his military to respond to a surge in suspected COVID-19 infections. Late last week, Pyongyang for the first time acknowledged that the country had faced any COVID cases at all, before state media began to rapidly report about it spreading "explosively" across the reclusive country. Health authorities said on Monday that eight more people had died, and an additional 392,920 were newly found to have feverish symptoms. That brings the official death toll to 50 and illnesses to more than 1.2 million. Kim ordered the deployment of the "powerful forces" of the army's medical corps to "stabilize the supply of medicines in Pyongyang City," North Korea's capital, state news agency KCNA reported on Monday. Kim also reportedly criticized health officials over what he called a botched pandemic response , saying medicine supplies weren't being distributed to pharmacies in time because of their "irresponsible work attitude" and lack of … [Read more...] about North Korea’s Kim orders military to help curb COVID-19 outbreak

Australia’s embattled prime minister on Sunday officially launched his conservative party’s campaign less than a week before elections, highlighting the nation’s early success in containing the pandemic and its strong economic recovery. Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s coalition trails the centre-left Labor Party opposition in most opinion polls as the administration seeks a rare fourth three-year term in elections on Saturday. Morrison focused the party launch on economic management, which has traditionally been regarded as the strength of his conservative Liberal Party. He described the election as “a choice between a strong economy or a weaker one that only makes your life harder, not better”. READ MORE: Centre-left parties worldwide have struggled to reinvent themselves – what's going on? Labor leader Anthony Albanese tests positive for Covid, Australian election campaign plans on hold An alleged Chinese interference plot stirs fears – and smears – ahead of … [Read more...] about Australia’s Morrison launches campaign days before election, as Liberals trail Labor in polls

Russia is reportedly refusing to take bodies of its soldiers killed in fighting in Ukraine, with corpses piling up in refrigerated train cars outside the Ukrainian capital. Colonel Volodymyr Lyamzin, Ukraine’s chief civil-military liaison officer, said several hundred bodies had been collected from the battlefield in the Kyiv and Chernihiv region and brought to a railyard outside the Ukrainian capital. They are being kept on a train until the Russian government agrees to take them. “Ukrainian authorities are dealing with this issue because Russia refuses to take them,” he told Al Jazeera. “Each body testifies to war crimes. If they keep refusing to take the bodies, Ukraine will bury them.” Soldiers dressed in white protective suits were seen loading bodies of Russian soldiers, wrapped in white body bags, on refrigerated train cars on Friday afternoon (local time). READ MORE: Ukraine: Russians withdraw from around Kharkiv, batter east Ukraine: Russia suffers … [Read more...] about Russia ‘refusing’ to take soldiers’ corpses as it tries to hide scale of losses in Ukraine

Police will be permitted to stop and search people without suspicion of a crime under new powers backed by Priti Patel to combat knife violence. The Home Secretary will on Monday permanently lift restrictions on police’s use of stop and search in areas where they anticipate there may be serious violence. The move – in a letter to all police forces – will make it easier for them to enact section 60 powers, allowing them to mount “no suspicion” stop and searches in designated areas rather than requiring them to have “reasonable grounds” to suspect a person is carrying a weapon. Removing the restrictions means that more officers can authorise section 60, the powers can be in place for longer and can be used when police anticipate that serious violence “may” occur rather than “will” occur. Operation Sceptre backlash It coincides with today’s launch of Operation Sceptre, a week of intensive action by all 43 police forces in England and Wales to combat knife crime but is likely to … [Read more...] about Priti Patel lifts restrictions on use of stop and search to combat knife crime

MUCH has been written about how the only winners in the Wagatha Christie saga are the lawyers. But no. Trundling up on the rails is one Wayne Rooney . A man who, after 19 years of patchy form, is finally stepping, nay galloping, up to the front. While Rebekah Vardy’s husband, Jamie , is conspicuous by his absence, day after day former racehorse owner Wayne has been glued to Coleen’s side. To paraphrase Martine McCutcheon, this is his perfect moment. Dutifully lugging in his wife’s wheelbarrow-sized Fendi bags — she has been sporting a collection of decidedly more delicate Chanel ones — Wayne has been little short of stoical at London’s High Court. Read more on Wagatha ROON WITH A VIEW Wayne & Coleen staying at exclusive £3,500 a night hotel during trial 'MENACING' Becky Vardy brands Coleen 'school bully' who wanted to make her 'feel paranoid' Daily court sketches, surely etched by a Liverpool … [Read more...] about Wayne Rooney’s behaviour has tested Coleen to the limit, now he’s repaying the debt in court