World

Yesterday, Bangladesh has confirmed five new deaths due to COVID-19 on the day. This is the highest number of fatalities in a day due to the virus. As of yesterday, Bangladesh's Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) reported the number of recorded infected cases included 114 active cases and 33 recovered cases who were staying home. A total of 17 deaths have been recorded. In an online news briefing, the director of IEDCR, Dr Meerjady Sabrina Flora, said the fatalities included four males and one female. According to

Seyed Mohammad Mir-Mohammadi, a council member of Iranian Expediency Discernment Council, died of COVID-19, the government announced yesterday. Mir-Mohammadi was 71 years old. According to the report by Tasnim News Agency, he died at the Masih-e-Daneshavari hospital in the capital city Tehran. Mir-Mohammadi served as one of the advisors of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran. He had served Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in that capacity since 2017. Mir-Mohammadi had previously represented Iran's Qom Province in the Islam

In a report released in The New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday, scientists studying patients in Zhuhai in China's Guangdong Province reported that the newly emerged SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, may spread in a manner similar to influenza — suggesting, experts noted, that this outbreak, which began in the city of Wuhan in Hubei Province in December 2019, may call for containment measures similar to those for influenza. Researchers used polyester swab samples from the noses and throats of eighteen infected voluntee

On Friday, researchers at Imperial College London posted findings estimating the number of people infected with a new coronavirus may considerably exceed 1000. The SARS-like virus first appeared in December in Wuhan, China. As of today, Chinese officials confirmed it has infected over 200 people mostly in Wuhan and killed three people. Reported cases also appeared in Thailand, South Korea, and Japan. The study was conducted by Imperial College London's MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis pursuant to a strange case of pneumonia in

On Wednesday morning, a magnitude 5.2 earthquake hit the already rattled United States commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico has experienced dozens of earthquakes over magnitude 4.5 since late December, including a 6.4 quake that hit on January 7 and caused an island-wide blackout. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) placed the epicenter of the quake about eight kilometers (five miles) southwest of the town of Guenica. One resident told Paul Rivera of WESH 2 news, "We're used to it." Seismologists have buried sensors in the ground

At about 15:30 local time (1430 UTC) on Tuesday a fire was reported in the "Kiss & Fly" section of a parking structure at Stavanger Airport, Sola in Norway. The structure has over 3000 parking spaces; reports said more than half of those were filled. The airport was quickly closed to air traffic. It was initially reported the fire started in an electric vehicle, but news broadcaster NRK later reported the fire started in a recalled 2005 Opel Zafira. The car was recalled after a similar fire in Cork, Ireland in August last year, causing damage

In findings published on Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE, an international team of scientists report ancient Egyptians captured sacred ibises (Threskiornis aethiopicus) from the wild for use in ritual sacrifice rather than domesticating the birds. Millions of mummified ibis birds have been found in Egyptian tombs and catacombs in Saqqara and Tuna el-Gebel, and Egyptologists have reported they were sacrificed to the god Thoth, who is often depicted with the head of an ibis, the way Horus is shown with the head of a falcon and Bast with the he

The Lost 52 Project announced on Sunday that a sunken World War II-era submarine wreck they found last June was the remains of the U.S.S. Grayback. The wreck was located about 50 miles (80 km) south of Okinawa, Japan at a depth of over 1400 feet (about 430 meters), far from where the Navy's records initially predicted it would be. The United States Navy confirmed the discovery. The Lost 52 Project, named after the number of U.S. Navy submarines sunk during World War II, has previously located several of those vessels — three or four by varyin

On Friday, the Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve released a statement saying an attack that day on an Iraqi air base housing U.S. military personnel near Mosul produced no casualties. A spokesperson told the Military Times the attack took place at about 7:45 p.m. "No Coalition troops were injured. We appreciate the Iraqi Security Forces immediate response and investigation. Coalition forces are in Iraq at the invitation of the Government of Iraq to defeat ISIS remnants;" read the statement; "we will not be deterred by these

Yesterday, former United States Representative John Conyers died in his sleep, according to a family spokesperson. Conyers, the former Democratic Dean of the House of Representatives, was 90. John James Conyers Jr., first elected to Congress in 1964, was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1929. After serving in the Korean War, he attended Wayne State University, receiving both a bachelor's degree and a law degree. He worked for three years for Representative John Dingell as an aide. Conyers ran for Congress in 1964, winning by a margin of 108 vote

On Friday, the United States Department of Transportation announced new restrictions on flights to Cuba. The new policy, which is to take effect on December 10, prohibits all flights to Cuba, with the exception of flights to the international airport in Havana. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sent a letter requesting the new rules to Elaine Chao, the Secretary of Transportation; the new rules were released later the same day. In the letter, Pompeo cited the Cuban government's "ongoing repression of the Cuban people and its support for Nicolá

On Saturday, aftershocks of a powerful earthquake with reported magnitude 6.3 that struck southern Philippines on Wednesday night have increased the death toll of the extended event from five people to six due to a massive landslide following a 5.0 magnitude aftershock on Saturday. On Wednesday, the strong tremor left five dead and, by early reports, at least 30 injured. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) of the Philippines increased the previous death toll to six following the landslide caused by the 5.0 eart