UNITED STATES
Hawaii in ‘crisis’ mode
A new wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has Hawaii in “crisis” mode, with the state recording its highest single bump in cases and hospitals putting together overflow plans, Hawaii Governor David Ige said. Nearly 1,170 new infections were reported on Friday, he said at a news conference. That includes a small number of cases from previous days that were delayed because of a technical glitch, but still represents the largest single increase since the start of the pandemic. “Friday the 13th has never been so frightening. It is real and it is terrifying,” Ige said. “And tragically, it’s preventable.”
MALAYSIA
Muhyiddin’s plea shunned
Opposition parties and a key ally have rejected a plea for support from Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin in exchange for political and electoral reforms, urging him to resign immediately. Muhyiddin’s grip on power has been shaky since coming to office in March last year with a slim majority and unstable coalition. He has defied mounting calls to quit, with the pressure reaching fever pitch this month after some lawmakers in his ruling coalition withdrew support. In a televised address on Friday, Muhyiddin acknowledged for the first time that he lacks a majority and urged opposition lawmakers to back him in a confidence vote to shore up his government and prevent an election during a COVID-19 resurgence.
UNITED STATES
Field hospital set up
The crush of new COVID-19 infections in Mississippi has become so dire that the state has turned to efforts reminiscent of the earliest days of the US outbreak. With an overload of COVID-19 patients and a shortage of healthcare workers in the state, the University of Mississippi Medical Center on Friday morning opened up a 20-bed field hospital in its parking garage. It plans to open a mobile hospital tent early next week, staffed by a medical team sent by the Department of Health and Human Services. The hospital opened a similar triage center in its parking garage in the spring of last year.
UNITED STATES
Student killed in shooting
New Mexico’s largest district is reeling from a shooting that left one student dead and landed another in custody. The gunfire at Washington Middle School during the lunch hour on Friday marked the second shooting in Albuquerque in less than 24 hours. With the city on pace to shatter its homicide record this year, top state officials said they were heartbroken by what they described as a scourge. “These tragedies should never occur. That they do tells us there is more work to be done,” New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said. Albuquerque Police Deputy Commander Kyle Hartsock described the shooting as an isolated incident between two students who were believed to be about 13 years old.
GUATEMALA
Emergency declared
The country has declared a new state of emergency and is to impose an overnight curfew from today to contain a surge in COVID-19 infections due to the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, President Alejandro Giammattei said. The 30-day state of emergency is being implemented due to a rebound in cases attributed to the “more aggressive” Delta variant, Giammattei said in a televised address on Friday. Guatemala, with about 17 million inhabitants, has been recording more than 4,000 new infections a day, with 407,564 cases and 11,006 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
‘EYE FOR AN EYE’: Two of the men were shot by a male relative of the victims, whose families turned down the opportunity to offer them amnesty, the Supreme Court said Four men were yesterday publicly executed in Afghanistan, the Supreme Court said, the highest number of executions to be carried out in one day since the Taliban’s return to power. The executions in three separate provinces brought to 10 the number of men publicly put to death since 2021, according to an Agence France-Presse tally. Public executions were common during the Taliban’s first rule from 1996 to 2001, with most of them carried out publicly in sports stadiums. Two men were shot around six or seven times by a male relative of the victims in front of spectators in Qala-i-Naw, the center
Incumbent Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa on Sunday claimed a runaway victory in the nation’s presidential election, after voters endorsed the young leader’s “iron fist” approach to rampant cartel violence. With more than 90 percent of the votes counted, the National Election Council said Noboa had an unassailable 12-point lead over his leftist rival Luisa Gonzalez. Official results showed Noboa with 56 percent of the vote, against Gonzalez’s 44 percent — a far bigger winning margin than expected after a virtual tie in the first round. Speaking to jubilant supporters in his hometown of Olon, the 37-year-old president claimed a “historic victory.” “A huge hug
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is leaning into his banking background as his country fights a trade war with the US, but his financial ties have also made him a target for conspiracy theories. Incorporating tropes familiar to followers of the far-right QAnon movement, conspiratorial social media posts about the Liberal leader have surged ahead of the country’s April 28 election. Posts range from false claims he recited a “satanic chant” at a campaign event to artificial intelligence (AI)-generated images of him in a pool with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “He’s the ideal person to be targeted here, for sure, due to
DISPUTE: Beijing seeks global support against Trump’s tariffs, but many governments remain hesitant to align, including India, ASEAN countries and Australia China is reaching out to other nations as the US layers on more tariffs, in what appears to be an attempt by Beijing to form a united front to compel Washington to retreat. Days into the effort, it is meeting only partial success from countries unwilling to ally with the main target of US President Donald Trump’s trade war. Facing the cratering of global markets, Trump on Wednesday backed off his tariffs on most nations for 90 days, saying countries were lining up to negotiate more favorable conditions. China has refused to seek talks, saying the US was insincere and that it
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