News Watch

The US Department of State posts up-to-date travel advisories on every country and many territories, ranking each 1 (Exercise Normal Precautions), 2 (Exercise Increased Caution), 3 (Reconsider Travel) or 4 (Do Not Travel). Note: A country’s regions are also ranked and may have different rankings than the country as a whole. Visit travel.state.gov and click on “Travel Advisories” at the top of the page.

CONTINUE READING »

At press time, there had been more than 182.8 million cases of COVID-19 worldwide and, resulting from those, more than 3.9 million deaths.

The Delta variant of COVID-19, which originated in India, is becoming the dominant variant around the world. Delta is more infectious but not necessarily more deadly than other variants. At press time, most new cases of COVID in the UK, Russia and the EU were of the Delta variant, which was also becoming prevalent among new cases in the US. In...

CONTINUE READING »

In Ethiopia, government forces and rebel groups have been fighting in the northern Tigray region since late 2020. In that time, thousands of people have been killed and millions of people, displaced.

In late June 2021, Tigrayan forces claimed to have captured a number of significant towns, something that Ethiopia denied. On June 23, an Ethiopian fighter jet bombed a market in the town of Togoga, near Tigray’s capital, Mekelle. The number of casualties was not known at press time,...

CONTINUE READING »

A high-pressure weather system reaching from the US’ Pacific Northwest all the way up to the Arctic Circle caused a record-breaking heat wave in western Canada in late June, with temperatures reaching over 100º Fahrenheit in the Vancouver area on multiple days. At least 130 deaths were attributed to the heat.

The town of Lytton, British Columbia, broke the record for Canada’s highest heat three days in a row, peaking at 121.3ºF on June 29. On June 30, a fast-moving wildfire broke...

CONTINUE READING »

The US Department of State posts up-to-date travel advisories on every country and many territories, ranking each 1 (Exercise Normal Precautions), 2 (Exercise Increased Caution), 3 (Reconsider Travel) or 4 (Do Not Travel). Note: A country’s regions are also ranked and may have different rankings than the country as a whole. Visit travel.state.gov and click on “Travel Advisories” at the top of the page.

CONTINUE READING »

At press time, active COVID-19 infections had been confirmed in 192 countries and territories, with more than 173.4 million cases and, resulting from those, more than 3.7 million deaths.

On June 1, after a review of excessive deaths in the country, Peru more than doubled its official count of COVID-19-related deaths to more than 180,000, giving it the highest COVID death rate per capita in the world.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 1.5 billion people...

CONTINUE READING »

Israel exchanged rocket and artillery fire with Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza May 12-21. In the conflict, at least 243 people were killed in Gaza, more than 100 of whom were women or children. In Israel, 13 people, including two children, were killed. More than 4,300 rockets were indiscriminately fired toward Israeli cities from Gaza, while Israel struck more than 1,000 sites in Gaza.

The conflict began after Israeli police stormed the Al Aqsa Mosque during a Palestinian...

CONTINUE READING »

Cyclone Tauktae made landfall in western India on May 16 with sustained winds of more than 100 mph. On land, at least 120 people were killed and more than 150,000 people were evacuated to storm shelters.

On the water, three barges were damaged by the storm. One of the boats, carrying 261 people, sank, killing 66. Everyone from the other two boats was rescued.

On May 26, Cyclone Yaas made landfall in eastern India, killing 20 people. The cyclone also damaged the coastal region...

CONTINUE READING »