World

New York, Sep 14 (IANS) The number of new cases of monkeypox in the US has slowly decreased in the recent weeks, with instances recorded in the first week of September being roughly half as high as they were at their peak one month ago, the media reports said.

But the recent death of a Los Angeles County resident was a tragic reminder that the outbreak is ongoing and still poses risks, reported CNN.

"There is some hope around these cases leveling off. That should not be anybody's solace that this outbreak is done," David Harvey, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors, was quoted as saying at a briefing.

"We still have to ramp up our efforts to respond to this outbreak. And there are many, many data questions, clinical care questions, research questions that remain to be answered about this very unusual outbreak of a known virus over the decades that is presenting itself very differently in the US," Harvey added.

This week, a media report said that the Los Angeles County authorities were looking into a second probable monkeypox-related death.

Chief Medical Director Rita Singhal of the county's Public Health Department had said details were unavailable at this early stage of the investigation.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), a total of 52,997 people have been infected with the monkeypox virus.

Of the cases registered in the last four weeks, 70.7 per cent came from the US and 28.3 per cent from Europe.

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New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS) An Air India Express flight B737 IX-442 MCT-COK (Muscat-Cochin) VT-AXZ witnessed smoke and fire in its engine number two at Muscat airport on Wednesday.

The plane was carrying 145 passengers, including four infants, the officials said, adding that all of them were safe and no injuries have been reported.

"A DGCA official said that during taxiing for takeoff, the engine number two experienced smoke and fire. Appropriate Checklist was completed after the incident. Slides were deployed and all passengers and Crew were evacuated on taxiway and all of them were safe and no injuries reported," said the official, adding that passengers have been transported to the terminal building.

As per local reports, there was scare among the passengers after the smoke was detected in the engine of the plane.

The official said that another relief flight will be organised for the passengers. The aircraft was currently parked on the taxiway and further probe was on.

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Shanghai, Sep 14 (IANS) Shanghai on Wednesday upgraded its typhoon emergency response to Level III, the third-highest, as Muifa, the 12th typhoon this year, moves closer.

The municipal flood control and typhoon and drought relief headquarters raised the response level at 7 a.m. Wednesday, according to the flood control office of Shanghai.

As of Wednesday morning, more than 1,900 ships had returned to port, and two tourist attractions and two parks had been temporarily closed, reports Xinhua news agency.

The city had also assigned personnel to inspect dikes, construction sites and other areas as Shanghai braced for the typhoon.

In China's Zhejiang province, the local flood control and typhoon and drought relief headquarters upgraded the emergency response to Level I, the highest level,on Tuesday afternoon.

A total of 11,680 fishing boats had returned to port in the province by Tuesday noon.

More than 719,800 people had been evacuated to safe places by Wednesday morning.

Muifa was observed over the ocean 185 km southeast of Xiangshan county in Zhejiang province at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

It is expected to move northwestward at a speed of 20 to 25 km per hour, China's National Meteorological Centre said in a statement.

The typhoon will make the first landfall in coastal areas between Sanmen county and Zhoushan, Zhejiang province around nightfall.

The second landfall is expected between the coastal areas of Jiaxing city in Zhejiang and Shanghai's Pudong district on Wednesday evening, according to the forecast.

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Mexico City, Sep 14 (IANS) The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) called on regional countries to strengthen cooperation to identify undocumented migrants who died on their journey to the north.

"Every year thousands of people lose their lives on migratory routes as a result of accidents, violence or hostile terrain," the ICRC delegation for Mexico and Central America tweeted.

The organization said collaboration among origin, transit and destination countries is essential to recovering the remains of migrants, restore their identity and return them to families.

"This includes the exchange, management and analysis of information for identification," it added.

There are efforts to uncover the magnitude of the tragedy, and the already-known figures represent only a minimum number, the ICRC said.

Mexico and the US are transit and destination countries for a large number of migrants, many of whom disappear each year and die without being identified.

In June, 53 migrants were found dead inside an abandoned 18-wheeler in San Antonio, a major city in Texas, becoming one of the deadliest migrant-smuggling operations in recent US history.

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Washington, Sep 14 (IANS) The US has alleged that Russia covertly spent more than $300 million since 2014 to influence politicians in over 24 countries, the media reported on Wednesday.

The Department of State's allegation is based on a declassified intelligence assessment released on Tuesday, the BBC reported.

According to a senior official from President Joe Biden's administration, "this is just the tip of the iceberg".

American intelligence "assesses that these are minimum figures and that Russia likely has transferred additional funds covertly in cases that have gone undetected", the official said during a phone briefing.

The intelligence assessment released in a cable did not name specific countries or officials believed to have been targeted by Russia, but said they spanned four continents, reports the BBC.

The administration official said the intelligence community was now privately briefing select countries on the alleged Russian covert financing, adding that the briefings would remain confidential.

Fictitious companies were said to be used to fund European parties and to buy influence elsewhere.

The Russian authorities have so far made no public statements on the US claim.

Moscow has previously blamed America's CIA intelligence agency for interfering in other countries' affairs, including by backing various coups around the globe, BBC reported.

The US has meddled in foreign elections more than 80 times worldwide between 1946-2000, not including coups or attempts at regime change, according to a database kept by Carnegie Mellon University researcher Dov Levin.

On Tuesday, State Department spokesman Ned Price called Russia's alleged covert funding an "assault on sovereignty".

Last year, US intelligence officials assessed in a report that Russian President Vladimir Putin was likely to have authorised attempts to influence the 2020 election in favour of former President Donald Trump.

But it said no foreign government had compromised the final results.

Russia called the allegations "baseless".

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United Nations, Sep 14 (IANS) The 77th session of the UN General Assembly was declared open by its new President Csaba Korosi.

In his opening remarks on Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for solidarity among member states to address common challenges, reports Xinhua news agency.

The many challenges that defined the 76th session of the General Assembly are still very much around as the new session starts, he said.

"We face a world in peril across our work to advance peace, human rights and sustainable development, from conflicts and climate change to a broken global financial system that is failing developing countries, to poverty, inequality and hunger, to divisions and mistrust.

"Addressing common challenges will require continued solidarity as we demonstrate the great promise and potential of this organization," he added.

The US is the home of cooperation. And the General Assembly is the life within that home. The months ahead will continue testing the strength and durability of the multilateral system this organization represents, he told delegates.

"And the world is looking to the members of the assembly to use all of the tools at your disposal to negotiate and forge consensus and solutions: debate, deliberation, diplomacy. These eternal tools represent the best pathway to a better, more peaceful world."

In his opening remarks, Korosi called for solutions through solidarity, sustainability, and science.

The only way to achieve better outcomes is to transform, he said. "The contours of the transformation we need are already known. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Sendai Framework (for disaster risk reduction), the Paris Agreement (on climate change), and Our Common Agenda (proposed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres ), all point us in the right direction. What remains to be seen is whether we will deliver."

The world is looking to the UN for answers. As the world body's chief deliberative body, the General Assembly bears a special responsibility, he said.

"Having begun my tenure as president, I aim to harness the great talents of this community of member states in forging the systemic solutions needed to transform our world. In accepting this privilege, I vowed to serve as an agent of multilateralism, multiculturalism, and multilingualism," said the president.

"I pledge that impartiality would be the hallmark of our operation. My team and I will do our best to push for 'Solutions Through Solidarity, Sustainability and Science,' the motto I've chosen for this presidency."

He vowed to stand firm on the principles of the UN Charter, which brought member states together 77 years ago and hold them together today.

"Encoded in international law, they (the principles of the UN Charter) provide us with a solid foundation from which to build. From here, I wish to pursue integrated approaches and enhance the role of science in our decision-shaping. I will work to foster measurable progress in the sustainability transformation and cultivate solidarity we need to achieve breakthroughs or to avert further crises and disasters," he said.

He promised to engage closely with the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, and other relevant UN bodies to further the critical revitalization process, and pursue the ongoing key reforms led by Guterres to make the General Assembly and the United Nations as a whole fit-for-purpose.

The UnS was created out of the ashes of war and destruction, with the intention of being a well of solutions, said Korosi.

"Responding to humanity's most pressing challenges demands that we work together and that we reinvigorate inclusive, networked and effective multilateralism, and focus on what unites us. It is our mission to come together when there are disagreements, and to build bridges when there are deep divides.

"This (General Assembly) hall was created as a place to build trust, to bring about peace and security, development, and human rights. We owe it to our 8 billion constituents -- the people we are here to serve -- to succeed in our aims," he said.

Korosi was sworn in on Monday at the closing of the 76th session of the General Assembly.

Apart from the General Debate, the high-level week will also see a high-level meeting to mark the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities on September 21, and a high-level meeting to commemorate and promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on September 26.

On September 19, two high-level events convened by UN Secretary-General Guterres -- the Transforming Education Summit and the Sustainable Development Goals Moment -- will be held.

The start of the high-level week coincides with the planned funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, which is scheduled for September 19.

A UN spokesman said he does not anticipate any changes in the schedule of the UN meetings even though many world leaders will be in London on Monday for the funeral.

"There may be impact on the speakers' list of who speaks when. But the meetings are going on as scheduled," said Stephane Dujarric, the chief UN spokesman, on Tuesday.

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Beijing, Sep 14 (IANS) China's national observatory on Wednesday issued a red alert, the highest warning level, as typhoon Muifa is expected to make landfall twice later in the day.

The China Meteorological Administration also upgraded the typhoon emergency response to Level II, the second-highest, reports Xinhua news agency.

Muifa, the 12th typhoon this year, was observed over the ocean 185 km southeast of Xiangshan county in Zhejiang province at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

It is expected to move northwestward at a speed of 20 to 25 km per hour, the National Meteorological Centre said in a statement.

The typhoon will make the first landfall in coastal areas between Sanmen county and Zhoushan city in Zhejiang around nightfall.

It will make the second landfall in coastal areas between Jiaxing city in Zhejiang and Shanghai's Pudong district on Wednesday evening.

Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shandong are expected to experience gales and downpours from Wednesday to Thursday afternoon, according to the forecast.

The Centre has advised the aforementioned regions to make emergency preparations for the typhoon and to take precautionary measures against possible geological disasters, while ships and boats have been asked to take shelter in harbours.

China has a four-tier colour-coded system for severe weather, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

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Bangkok, Sep 14 (IANS) A shooting incident at a Thai army college in Bangkok on Wednesday claimed the lives of two people and injured another person, a military spokesperson said.

The gunman, a 59-year-old staff worker at the Royal Thai Army War College, shot at his colleagues at around 8.55 a.m., Xinhua news agency quoted deputy army spokesperson Sirichan Ngathong as saying.

The perpetrator was taken into custody after he surrendered to the police and the motive for the shooting is still unclear, he said.

According to the spokesperson, the injured person is hospitalised and the army will set up a special team to investigate the incident.

In the past year, there have been at least two other cases of shooting murders by serving soldiers, according to the Bangkok Post.

In 2020, in one of the country's deadliest incidents in recent years, a soldier gunned down 29 people in a 17-hour rampage and wounded scores more before he was shot dead by commandos.

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Washington, Sep 14 (IANS) Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has introduced a legislation that would ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy across the country.

The bill would prohibit doctors from performing abortions after 15 weeks gestation except in situations involving rape, incest, or risks to the life and physical health of the mother, reports Xinhua news agency.

Graham told reporters on Tuesday that the measure "will put the United States abortion policy in line with other developed nations".

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded by issuing a statement that "this bill is wildly out of step with what Americans believe."

In June, the Supreme Court overturned the 50-year-old landmark Roe v. Wade legislation, which eliminated the constitutional protection of abortion rights for women.

Without Roe v. Wade, states are able to impose their own legislation on the medical procedure.

Abortion has been one of the most divisive issues in the US.

According to a Pew Research Center survey last month, a majority of American voters said the issue of abortion would be very important in their midterm vote.

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Paris, Sep 14 (IANS) Wildfires have burned over 3,200 hectares of land in France's southwestern department of Gironde, forcing 840 people to be evacuated, the local government announced in a statement.

"More than 900 firefighters from Gironde and other departments will be mobilized, thanks to the arrival of reinforcements from other departments in the coming hours. Two Canadairs, one Dash (plane) and three water bomber helicopters have been deployed since this morning," Xinhua news agency quoted the statement issued late Tuesday as saying.

The local government said emergency accommodations are being offered to evacuees in Le Porge and other municipalities.

No further evacuations are planned at this time, it added.

More than 30,000 hectares of land had been burned in the department of Gironde this summer due to dry weather and heatwaves, according to media reports.

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