HARARE: At least 89 people died in Zimbabwe after Cyclone Idai tore across some parts of the country, reports said.
The cyclone created a humanitarian crisis in the country, which is grappling with economic woes.
Agency reports said Chimanimani district has been cut off from the rest of the country due to heavy rains and winds of up to 170 km per hour.
Authorities said winds swept away homes, bridges and roads knocking out power and communication lines.
Officials said the toll is expected to rise.
Rescuers, including security personnel, are struggling to reach people in the affected areas.
Meanwhile, the government has declared a state of disaster in affected areas. It should be noted that Zimbabwe, which has a population of 15 million people, has been suffering a severe drought. (Agencies)
BEIJING: Chinese authorities have arrested around 13,000 “terrorists” in Xinjiang since 2014, reports said.
According to the Chinese government, Xinjiang has so far destroyed 1,588 violent and terrorist gangs and have arrested 12,995 terrorists.
Reports said authorities seized 2,052 explosive devices while punishing around 30,645 people for 4,858 illegal religious activities. The report said that Chinese authorities also confiscated 345,229 copies of illegal religious materials since 2014. (Agencies)
CHRISTCHURCH: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the government would announce new gun laws within a few days.
PM Ardern said so after 50 people died in mass shootings at two mosques in Christchurch last week.
Brenton Tarrant, an Australian, and a suspected white supremacist, has been charged with murder. Tarrant, 28, was remanded without a plea.
PM Ardern said within 10 days of the horrific act of terrorism, the government will have announced reforms which will make the community safer. (Agencies)
TEXAS: A Houston woman gave birth to six babies in a span of nine minutes on Friday morning. Thelma Chiaka had two sets of twin boys and one set of twin girls delivered between 4:50 a.m. and 4:59 a.m, at the Women’s Hospital of Texas.
According to the hospital’s press release, the babies weighed between 1 pound, 12 ounces to 2 pounds, 14 ounces. They are in stable condition and will receive treatment at the hospital’s advanced neonatal intensive care unit. The mother is doing well.
Multiple babies can due to premature birth and lower weight of the infants. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology says babies born “before 32 weeks of pregnancy can die or have severe health problems, even with the best of care.”
The odds of giving birth to sextuplets is 1 in 4.7 billion, according to the hospital. A study by raisingmultiples.org suggested that one or fewer sets of sextuplets are born each year in the U.S.
SHANGHAI: China’s anti-corruption watchdog, Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), said it would prosecute Nur Bekri over allegations of graft during his time as governor of Xinjian.
Nur, one of the highest-ranking ethnic Uighur officials, obstructed an investigation launched in September. The CCDI has alleged him of failing to tell the truth.
Nur, holding the second-highest position of power in the western region, was governor of Xinjiang between 2008-2014.
The CCDI said Nur ‘took advantage of his position’ to obtain a huge amount of wealth.
The anti-corruption body has also alleged him of receiving bribes. (Agencies)
NANJING: Latest 30 years are the warmest period for the past 2,000-year period, due to the effect of anthropogenic greenhouse gas, concludes a study by Chinese and American scientists.
The scientists were able to read the well-dated and quantitative air temperature record through the research on a sediment core collected at a small lake in subtropical southwest China’s Yunnan Province.
The report on the research was published on the March issue of the international journal of Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
The research was carried out by the State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment under the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Columbia University.
In the past 2,000 years, Earth’s climate system has transitioned from being forced solely by natural factors to also being forced by anthropogenic greenhouse gases.
However, previous to the research, many existing climate records only extend back approximately 1,000 years in some continents.
The sediment samples from Tiancai Lake, located some 4,000 meters above sea level, keep the 2,000-year-long record. The sediment has not been affected by human activities and can reflect multi-centennial-scale temperature fluctuations.
Zhao Cheng, a member of the research team, said the high-altitude region is sensitive to climate changes. Solar radiation and volcanic activities used to be major natural factors affecting the climate. However, during the latter half of the 20th Century, anthropogenic greenhouse gas has become a major cause of the temperature rise.
(Agencies)
QALA-E-NAW: Over 50 militants were killed and scores of others injured in Bala Murghab district of Afghanistan’s western Badghis province over the past 24 hours, said a statement released by the army on Saturday.
Government forces in the crackdown against militants, according to the statement, have used aircraft and artillery since Friday. So far 51 armed insurgents were killed. The statement did not provide more details and Taliban militants have not commented yet. Meanwhile, local news agency Pajhwok reported that the Taliban had tightened the noose around Bala Murghab district.
NEW ZEALAND: Forty-nine people were killed and 48 others sustained injuries in shootings at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in the nation’s deadliest attack.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described it as a terrorist attack and one of New Zealand’s “darkest days”.
A gunman identifying himself as an Australian live-streamed the rampage at Al Noor mosque to Facebook. He had espoused racist, anti-immigrant views. Police say a man in his late 20s has been arrested and charged with murder.
Two other men and one woman were also detained.
No names have been made public. Firearms and explosive devices were recovered, Police Commissioner Mike Bush said.
The gunman live-streaming the attack from a head-mounted camera said he was a 28-year-old Australian called Brenton Tarrant. The footage showed him firing at men, women and children from close range inside the Al Noor mosque.
Facebook said it had removed the suspect’s Facebook and Instagram accounts and was working to remove any copies of the footage. The live-stream of the attack lasted for 17 minutes.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison described the man as an “extremist, right-wing” terrorist. New Zealand Police Commissioner Bush confirmed that the man had not been known in advance to either New Zealand or Australian security
The first report of an attack came from the Al Noor mosque in central Christchurch at 13:40 on Friday (00:40 GMT).
A gunman drove to the front door, entered and fired indiscriminately for about five minutes.
RABAT: Forty-five migrants died while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Spain, including pregnant women, a Spanish rights activist said Thursday, quoting survivors. Morocco reported that at least 21 other migrants were rescued at sea.
Helena Maleno, who runs the Tangiers-based group Walking Borders, said she based her figure on accounts from seven female survivors of the smuggling boat that floundered and took on water Wednesday.
“Survivors told me they had about 13 women on board. Many were pregnant,” Maleno said by telephone. “There was also one young girl, between 12 and 14 years old, who didn’t survive.”
The information was not immediately confirmed by Morocco. A Moroccan official said the Royal Marines rescued at least 21 migrants on Thursday, a day after their rubber dinghy floundered. One body was recovered, he said, but he was unaware of the total number of dead.
The official, who had information about the sinking, was not authorized to discuss it. He said the migrants, all sub-Saharans, were in a critical state when pulled from the water north of Nador.
Spain’s Maritime Rescue Service said it offered Moroccan authorities logistical help for the search and rescue operation on Wednesday and Thursday.
Maleno said she was contacted Wednesday morning by a family member but was only able to make contact with the small boat at 3:45 p.m. that day. The migrants told her they were having trouble keeping their boat afloat. Just over two hours later she said that migrants told her by phone: “We are sinking, the Zodiac is full of water.” Then she said she heard screams.
Spain’s maritime rescue said a plane from the European border and coast guard agency and the Algerian coast guard had also joined in the search. It did not explain why they did not reach the boat in time.
Spain became the leading migrant entry route into Europe last year with over 57,000 unauthorized arrivals, according to the European Union. Morocco is the main departure point.
Around 2,300 people died crossing the Mediterranean Sea last year, according to the International Organization for Migration.
(Agencies)
MOSCOW: A Moscow-bound Boeing 737-800 was forced to make an emergency landing in northern Russia. Engine failure is suspected to be the cause behind the incident, officials on the ground said.
The aircraft was carrying 157 passengers and six crew members on board. It was traveling from the small city of Mirny, Siberia to Moscow when the pilots were forced to divert the plane to Syktyvkar in northern Russia.
It is not immediately clear what caused the problem, but early data indicates that one of the plane’s engines stopped working mid-air, officials on the ground said.
The airliner belonged to Russian diamond-mining giant, Alrosa. The incident comes as Boeing faces scrutiny after two air craft of its newest 737 MAX 8 series crashed in Indonesia and Ethiopia, killing everyone on board. This led many nations around the globe to ground their entire fleets of 737 MAX 8 planes.
(agencies)