Tornadoes rip across US south, 45 dead

Dozens of tornadoes ripped across southern US states causing severe damage and killing at least 45 people, officials said on Wednesday.
Twenty-four people were killed in Tennessee, thirteen in Arkansas, and seven in Kentucky, officials in the three states said. CNN reported one fatality in Alabama.
More than 50 tornadoes touched down as a series of thunderstorms rare for the winter season rolled through the region late Tuesday and early on Wednesday.
Tornado watches were in effect as of 1400 GMT in parts of Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, and the western Florida panhandle, the National Weather Service said.
“It took the whole house,” a woman told CNN. “I just got up and I thought it was a fire. We got up and there's no house left.”
Twisters knocked down a police radio tower, crushed the wall of a shopping mall and damaged a hangar at the Memphis airport, said Laura McPherson of the Tennessee Emergency Management Area.
“We're still trying to assess all the damage now that the sun is coming up,” she said, as storms continued to threaten the eastern part of the state, around Chattanooga.
Sixteen students were rescued from dormitories that collapsed at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, and three were critically injured, she said.
The Red Cross moved 50 people trapped at a retirement center in Madison County to a shelter.
-
Global Covid deaths drop by 9%, Omicron subvariant BA.5 remains dominant: WHO
The WHO said that the Omicron subvariant BA.5 continues to remain dominant worldwide, contributing nearly 70 per cent to all virus sequences shared with the world's biggest publicly available virus database. It added that other Omicron subvariants such as BA.4 and BA.2, appear to be decreasing in prevalence as BA.5 takes control.
-
First special business flight with over 100 Indian traders lands in China
A special flight with 107 Indian traders landed in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou on Tuesday, carrying many who were stuck in India since 2020 despite business interests in China because of the restrictions imposed by Beijing on international travel to contain Covid-19. This particular group of Indian merchants boarded the special China Southern Airlines flight from New Delhi and landed in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, on Tuesday.
-
Mexican President proposes peace commission led by 3 leaders including PM Modi
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is planning to submit a written proposal to the UN to create a commission, made up of three world leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to promote a world truce for a period of five years, MSN web portal reported. The Mexican President proposed that the top commission should include Pope Francis, the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, and Indian PM Narendra Modi.
-
In major policy shift, China says it will take Taiwan by force if necessary
China on Wednesday, in only its third white paper on Taiwan since 1993 and the first after President Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, said it will not “renounce” the use of military force to bring the self-governed island under its control as its armed forces concluded the largest ever exercises around the island but announced that it will conduct regular patrols in the region.
-
New zoonotic virus found in China, 35 known cases of infection: Study
A new animal origin virus, which could infect humans, has been discovered in two provinces in China, scientists from China and Singapore have said in a new study. At least 35 such cases have been recorded in eastern China's Shandong province and central China's Henan province, said the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on August 4.