Nearly 100 people died during the height of the coronavirus outbreak at the Menlo Park Veterans Memorial Home in April, more than 10 times the number in a typical month. Among those who died were 84-year-old Isabella Kovacs and 86-year-old Joan Williams. Their stories provide a window into what went wrong at the New Jersey facility. Photo: Shari Davis/Julie Diaz
Hundreds of people demonstrated in Tunis on Sunday in support of President Kais Saied amid widespread criticism at home and abroad after a wave of arrests that included journalists, activists and lawyers. The European Union, France and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern at the arrests and at a police raid on the headquarters of the bar association this month in which two lawyers critical of the president were detained. Police this month arrested 10 people, including journalists, lawyers and officials of civil society groups, in what was described as crackdown by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, which called on Tunisia to respect free speech and civil liberties.
Taiwan's coast guard ramped up patrols over the weekend around outlying islands that have seen increased presence of Chinese vessels, the agency said Sunday, the day before Lai Ching-te's inauguration as Taiwan's new president.Taipei's Coast Guard Administration said Sunday it had sent personnel to "patrol all hours of the day and night" around Taiwan's three major outlying islands: Kinmen, Matsu and Penghu.
Didi Global Inc's co-founder Jean Liu has stepped down from her roles as president and board director of China's biggest ride-hailing firm to take on a new role, according to an internal company memo. Didi, which is seen as China's answer to Uber but has faced prolonged regulatory scrutiny, will no longer have a position of president, it said in the memo seen by Reuters. Liu, a former Goldman Sachs banker who has been at the helm of Didi for a decade, will take on a new role as "permanent partner" and will maintain her current duties including serving as chief people officer, Liu and CEO Will Cheng said in the internal letter sent to employees on Sunday.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, facing a tough reelection fight in one of the races that will determine control of Congress, has made protecting reproductive rights a cornerstone of her campaign, and she's willing to back that up by pledging to change the Senate filibuster rules if Democrats retain control of the chamber. The Wisconsin Democrat said taking that step is necessary to ensure that women in every state -– not the government -– can decide for themselves whether to have an abortion. As part of her campaign, she warns that Republicans might also target the filibuster to impose a national abortion ban if they prevail in November.
Testimony in the hush money trial of Donald Trump is set to conclude in the coming days, putting the landmark case on track for jury deliberations that will determine whether it ends in a mistrial, an acquittal — or the first-ever felony conviction of a former American president. Through witnesses including a porn actor, a veteran tabloid publisher and longtime Trump aides, the prosecution aimed to link the presumptive Republican nominee for the White House this year to a hush money scheme during the 2016 presidential campaign that resulted in the filing of phony business records to mask the alleged conspiracy.
Experts are revising their forecasts about mortgage rates and home prices for the rest of the year.
The stranglehold on aid reaching Gaza threatens an "apocalyptic" outcome, the UN's humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said on Sunday as he warned of famine in the besieged territory.Griffith, the UN's Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said some 50 trucks of aid per day could reach the hardest-hit north of Gaza through the reopened Erez crossing.
Using armored vehicles and backhoes to shove aside charred barricades, French security forces worked Sunday to retake control of the highway to the international airport in violence-scorched New Caledonia, shuttered because of deadly unrest wracking the French Pacific archipelago where indigenous people have long sought independence from France. An eventual reopening of the Nouméa-La Tontouta airport to commercial flights could allow stranded tourists to escape the island where armed clashes, arson, looting and other mayhem have prompted France to impose a state of emergency. The airport, with routes to Australia, Singapore, New Zealand and other destinations, closed Tuesday as protests against voting reforms opposed by pro-independence supporters degenerated into widespread violence, leaving a vast trail of destruction.
Slovakia’s populist prime minister, Robert Fico, remained in serious condition on Sunday but has been given a positive prognosis four days after he was shot multiple times in an assassination attempt that has sent shockwaves across the deeply polarized European Union nation, the defense minister said.
French forces smashed through dozens of barricades in a bid to retake the main road to New Caledonia's airport and a top official said Sunday that France would reclaim all of the Pacific territory from independence militants "whatever the cost".Le Franc said security forces would now stage "harassment" raids to reclaim other parts of the Pacific territory held by pro-independence groups.
Voters in the Dominican Republic head to the polls on Sunday to cast ballots for the next president and members of parliament in an election widely seen as a referendum on the hugely popular incumbent and anti-corruption crusader, Luis Abinader. Up to eight million eligible voters will decide which candidate is best suited to take on the fallout from the humanitarian crisis next door in Haiti, tackle graft in government and tame inflation and inequality in the Caribbean's top tourist destination. President Luis Abinader, a former businessman and leader of the Modern Revolutionary Party, has staked his claim on his adept handling of the COVID-19 crisis.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is no longer in immediate danger but still in a serious condition, his deputy said on Sunday, four days after an assassination attempt that sent shockwaves through Europe.
The former president is accusing Kennedy of being a “fake” anti-vaxxer.
President Joe Biden will deliver the Morehouse College commencement address Sunday, his most direct engagement with college students since the start of the Israel-Hamas war and a key opportunity for him to engage with a group of voters that data suggests is softening on him: young, Black men.
Vicious crackdowns have taken the small country’s democracy to the brink.
Taiwan continues to face tensions with China, which claims the island as its own.
More heavy rains in Afghanistan have triggered flash floods, raising the death toll to 47 in the country's north following weeks of devastating torrents that had already left hundreds dead and missing, a Taliban spokesman said Sunday. The new round of heavy rains and floods hit three districts in Faryab province Saturday night, destroying houses and farmlands, said Shamsuddin Mohammadi, the provincial director of information. Earlier reports from Faryab put the death toll at 18 but officials said those were still preliminary figures.
They were discussing what was described as the “semi-final” version of a wide-ranging security agreement.
In a no-man's land on Syria's border with Iraq and Jordan, thousands are stranded in an isolated camp, unable to return home after fleeing the government and jihadists years ago."We can't leave for (other areas of) Syria because we are wanted by the regime, and we can't flee to Jordan or Iraq" because the borders are sealed, he added.
Hundreds of opposition supporters rallied in Taipei to protest four more years of Democratic Progressive Party rule on Sunday, the day before Taiwan inaugurates president-elect Lai Ching-te.The TPP rally comes two days after a brawl broke out in Taiwan's parliament, as DPP lawmakers tried to stop the opposition parties from proposing reform bills that would effectively expand the powers of the legislature.
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