PHOTO : TIMESOFREPUBLIC
Investigators have found the so-called "black boxes" of a plane that crashed in the southern India state of Kerala, killing at least 18 people. The Air India Express plane, en route from Dubai, skidded off the runway during bad weather before breaking in two while landing at Kozhikode airport. There were 190 people on board the flight and one official said it was a "miracle" the toll was not higher. The flight was repatriating Indians stranded by the coronavirus crisis. First responders to the crash have been asked to go into quarantine. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was "pained" by the accident. Flight IX 1134 was carrying 184 passengers, including 10 infants, and six crew when it attempted to land at the airport in Kozhikode, formerly known as Calicut. The Boeing 737 aircraft crashed at 19:40 local time on Friday. Indian media said the pilots could not see the runway during a first attempt at landing due to heavy rain//BBC
PHOTO : PATCH
In South America, more than 70,000 indigenous people have been infected by COVID-19 to date. Among them are almost 23,000 members of 190 indigenous peoples in the Amazon basin. Over 1,000 deaths have been recorded, including several elders with deep knowledge of ancestral traditions. They include the tragic death in Brazil this week of chief Aritana, of the Yawalapiti people. Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in the statement received by VOI on August 9 said that COVID-19 is a critical threat to indigenous peoples, at a time when many are also struggling against man-made environmental damage and economic depredation. In almost all the 90 countries where they live in often remote locations, many indigenous communities have deeply inadequate access to health care, clean water and sanitation. Bachelet said in June her office issued a Guidance Note on indigenous peoples' human rights in the context of COVID-19. It highlights promising practices adopted by several countries – many in close consultation with indigenous peoples – and emphasises practical recommendations with both immediate and longer term impact on health//Media release
PHOTO : RUTLANDHERALD
Thousands in Britain sought refuge from the searing heat Friday, mobbing beaches and parks despite warnings to keep their distance from others amid the COVID-19 pandemic. With the pandemic curbing Britons’ ability to travel abroad, those in need of sea air after months in lockdown pushed the rules on staying far apart. Parks also were crowded as people sought shade in temperatures predicted to rise to 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit) — or maybe more. As stated by APNews.com (07/8) last week, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution carried out 30 rescues on just one beach on a single day in Cornwall. Kitty Norman, a water safety expert at the charity stated the beaches across the whole of the southwest are extremely busy at the moment with both locals who are holidaying at home this year and an influx of visitors to the region//APNews
PHOTO : WIVB
As India hit another grim milestone in the coronavirus pandemic on Friday, crossing 2 million confirmed cases and more than 41,000 deaths, community health volunteers went on strike complaining they were ill-equipped to respond to the wave of infection in rural areas. As stated by APNews.com (07/8) even as India has maintained comparatively low mortality rates, the disease has spread widely across the country, with the burden shifting in recent weeks from cities with robust health systems to rural areas, where resources are scarce or nonexistent. The Health Ministry reported 62,538 cases in the past 24 hours, raising the nation’s confirmed total to 2,027,074. It said 886 more people had died, for a total of 41,585. But the ministry said that recoveries were growing. India has the third-highest caseload in the world after the United States and Brazil. It has the fifth-most deaths but it//APNews
PHOTO : MORNING JOURNAL
The United States added 1.8 million jobs in July, a pullback from the gains of May and June and evidence that the resurgent coronavirus is weakening hiring and the economic rebound. As quoted by APNews.com (07/8) at any other time, hiring at that level would be seen as a blowout gain. But after employers shed a staggering 22 million jobs in March and April, much larger increases are needed to heal the job market. According to the Labour Department’s jobs report released on Friday the hiring of the past three months has recovered only 42% of the jobs lost to the pandemic-induced recession. And now, with much of the nation having paused or reversed plans to restore economic activity, many employers are still reluctant or unable to hire and consumers remain generally hesitant to shop, travel or eat out//APNews
PHOTO : BELOITDAILYNEWS
Like many countries across the globe, Colombia shut down in March as coronavirus cases surged in Europe and started trickling into the South American country. As reported by APNews.com (05/8), but while restrictions have been lifted in many places elsewhere, a nationwide stay-at-home order remains in effect in Colombia more than four months after being put into place. Isolation orders have been extended repeatedly as cases continue to rise and a limited economic reopening that began in April has inched forward only slightly// Colombia now has the ninth-highest total of Covid-19 infections worldwide, prompting President Iván Duque to prolong the quarantine again until late August// The effects of the long isolation are beginning to surface: In the capital of Bogota, the mayor’s office reports that suicide attempts are up 21% since the start of quarantine//APNews
PHOTO : AZERBAYCAN24
As Lebanon reeled in shock a day after the massive blast in Beirut and counted the dead, nations around the world promised it would not be alone. As reported by APNews.com ( 05/8), French President Emmanuel Macron announced he would fly to the shattered Lebanese capital, and two planeloads of French rescue workers and aid were expected to touch down on Wednesday afternoon (5/8). Other countries were sending search teams, stunned by the explosion that killed at least 100 people, injured thousands and left smoking rubble strewn for blocks around Beirut’s port. But the pledges of aid raised new questions for a country whose economic and political crisis has made donors wary in recent years//APNews
PHOTO : TIMEMAGAZINE
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday (5/8) that he is considering delivering his Republican convention acceptance speech from the White House after his initial plans to hold the event in two battleground states were foiled by coronavirus concerns and health restrictions. As reported by APNews.com ( 05/8), the move would mark an unprecedented use of public property for partisan political purposes. During a wide-ranging telephone interview on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends, he said that it’s easy and he thinks it’s a beautiful setting, and his side is thinking about that. It’s certainly one of the alternatives. The Republican National Convention is scheduled for Aug. 24-27, with Trump’s acceptance speech capping the final night//APNews
PHOTO : THEWEEK
The results of nationwide antibody tests conducted on nearly 65,000 Italians indicate that some 1.5 million individuals or 2.5% of the population have had the coronavirus, health officials said Monday. As quoted by APNews.com on Tuesday (04/8) that figure is six times the number of confirmed cases in Italy’s official virus tally. The results — viewed with the country’s overall death toll of close to 35,000 —align with the 2.3% estimated mortality rate of the virus. Dr. Franco Locatelli, a key scientific government adviser, said the tests were designed to understand the virus’ circulation nationwide and not whether Italians with antibodies were safe from the virus. He said the huge geographic variability in the results — some 7% of residents in hard-hit Lombardy had the virus versus 0.3% in Sicily — showed that Italy’s three-month nationwide lockdown was critical to sparing parts of the country the devastation experienced in the north//APNews
PHOTO : THEMAZLATANPOST
Distance learning will begin for more than 30 million Mexican school children Aug. 24, but a return to classrooms will remain an uncertain goal, the country’s education secretary said Monday. As quoted by APNews.com on Tuesday (04/8) secretary Esteban Moctezuma Barragán and executives from the country’s largest television networks presented in broad strokes a plan to put educational instruction on television. Moctezuma said that risks to in-person education continue being too high. Officials fear children could become coronavirus carriers, infecting relatives at home//APNews