International News: 06/08/2020

ASIA

-Coronavirus

New Cases: 83,608

Total Cases: 4,685,852

New Deaths: 1425

Total Deaths: 103,854

-India: India sees the highest number of COVID-19 deaths marking over 900 in the last 24 hrs. 

-Lebanon: Lebanon faces devastation after massive Beirut (Lebanon's capital) explosion, killing at least 135 people and wounding thousands. The blast have been caused by a fire igniting 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate, an odourless crystalline substance commonly used as fertilizer.

[Note: A shipment of 2,750 metric tones of ammonium nitrate has been present for six years in a warehouse(where explosion occurs) without any preventive measures.]

-China: China's economy has rebound better than expected. The economy grew 3.2% in the second quarter of the year following a 6.8% contraction in the first quarter, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

-UAE: A massive fire broke out in a fruits and vegetables market in Ajman on Wednesday evening. The fire broke out in emirate's industrial area. Other information is yet to come.

NORTH AMERICA

-Coronavirus

New cases:66,703

Total Cases: 5,842,498

New Deaths: 2,290

Total Deaths: 226,862

-USA: US election will be on Nov 3 as planned. Trump on Thursday suggested delaying the US elections, an idea immediately rejected by both Democrats and his fellow Republicians. Officials are working to ensure millions of ballots can reach voters in time to be cast and returned in time to be counted.

-USA: US posted a second quarter GDP drop of 9.5% from the same period a year ago, the worst it had ever recorded.

SOUTH AMERICA

-Coronavirus

New Cases: 85,710

Total Cases: 4,454,040

New Deaths: 2,169

Total Deaths: 152,724

-Brazil: President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday said everyone will probably end up catching the new coronavirus, urging Brazilians to 'face up to it' and saying there was nothing to fear.

(Note: So far 97,418 people have died due to COVID-19 in Brazil leading the second highest COVID-19 deaths in the world after USA)

-Peru: Peru has more than  440,000 cases of coronavirus cases and its health service has been struggling. So, Peruvian President Marzin Vizcarra signed a decree which allows hospital to hire foreign doctors who are not on Peru's medical register.

(Note: More than 5 million people from Venezuela have arrived in Peru in recent years due to ongoing political and economic crisis in Venezuela. These people say they were met with xenophobia from Peruvians who fear that the Venezuelans are taking their jobs away. Peru's PM say this decree would allow qualified Peruvians and foreign doctors to practice medicine during the pandemic even if they are not registered with Peru's medical council.)

EUROPE

-Coronavirus

New Cases: 19,247

Total Cases: 2,963,487

New Deaths: 399

Total Deaths: 204,877

-France: French President Emmanuel Macron announced he would fly to Beirut (Lebanon's capital) with two planeloads of French rescue workers.

-Germany: Germany plans to dim lights at night to save insects. Insects play an important role in the ecosystem....but in Germany their numbers and their diversity has severely declined in recent years. So, the country's environment ministry present a draft law where number of measures has drawn up to protect insects.

(Note: The ministry hopes the draft law will get cabinet approval by October. The changes put forward in the law include:

1. stricter controls on both lightning and the use of insecticides.

2. light traps for insects are to be banned outdoors.

3. searchlights and sky spotlights would be outlawed from dusk to dawn for ten months of the year.

4. any new streetlights and other outdoor lights be installed in such away as to minimize the effects on plants, insects and other animals.

5. the use of weed-killers and insecticides would also be banned in national parks and water bodies area.)

AFRICA

-Coronavirus

New Cases: 15,383

Total Cases: 997,602

New Deaths: 540

Total Deaths: 21,683

-South Africa: South African's health minister Zweli Mkhize has said the recent surge of coronavirus in South Africa might be over by the end of August.

(Note: South Africa has been the hardest hit in the Africa's continent and ranks fifth in the world in the number of coronavirus cases.)

-Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe's Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga has been appointed as new health  minister because the former health minister is charged over corruption related to 20 million US dollars.

(Note: Zimbabwe has confirmed nearly 4,200 coronavirus cases, including 81 death, but the actual number of cases is thought to be higher.)

OCEANIA

-Coronavirus

New Cases: 755

Total Cases: 21,279

New Deaths: 15

Total Deaths: 272

-Australia: Australian PM Scott Morrison has called on the United States and China to respect international laws and settles their disputes peacefully, as tensions between the two powerful countries intensify. He said both Washington and Beijing had a 'special responsibility' to uphold international rules.

(Note: The two superpowers are involved in disputes over espionage, trade and China's military build-up in the South China Sea.

Espionage- the practice of spying typically by government to obtain political and military information)