US COVID-19 cases surpass 2 million

Wearing face masks of the colleges they will attend in the fall, Bishop O’Connell High School graduates Michael Gallo, Daniel Cahill and Rafael Ruiz are seen during a front yard drive-in graduation ceremony at a home in Falls Church, Virginia, the United States, on Saturday. The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States has surpassed the 2-million mark by May 10, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.. SD-Agencies

Chile president replaces health minister

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera on Saturday replaced Health Minister Jaime Manalich amid controversy over the country’s figures for deaths from the coronavirus outbreak.

Pinera said Manalich had spared “no effort” in carrying out his “difficult and noble duty” to protect Chileans’ health. He replaced him with Oscar Enrique Paris, an academic and medical doctor.

The sudden reshuffle comes as Chile faces its toughest month in the pandemic so far, with spiraling active cases and deaths rates.

Africa’s cases top 225,000

As COVID-19 cases surpassed 225,105 on Saturday across the African continent, 43 African countries are now under full border closure due to the rapid spread of the coronavirus.

The death toll from the pandemic has reached 6,040, while some 102,846 people have recovered, according to the latest data from the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).

The Africa CDC said that the northern African region is the most affected area across the continent both in terms of positive COVID-19 cases and the number of deaths. The highly affected African countries include South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Djibouti, Nigeria and Algeria, said the specialized healthcare agency of the African Union (AU) Commission.

Confidante of deposed S. Korea leader jailed for 18 yrs

South Korea’s Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a previous court decision on Choi Soon-sil, a longtime friend of jailed former President Park Geun-hye who was called “non-taxable tax” at the time of the Park administration, in an influence-peddling and corruption case, Yonhap reported.

The highest court confirmed the previous ruling by the Seoul High Court in February that sentenced Choi, 64, to 18 years in prison on a string of corruption charges linked to a massive influence-peddling scandal that ultimately led to Park’s removal from office in early 2017.

The court also ordered her to pay a fine of 20 billion won (US$16.9 million) and forfeit 6.3 billion won.

Italy PM questioned over virus response

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said he was questioned by prosecutors on Friday over the way the coronavirus outbreak was handled in the northern Italian city of Bergamo, one of the areas worst hit by the epidemic.

The prosecutors want to know why those badly hit areas around Bergamo were not closed down early in the outbreak, and they have already questioned the regional governor of Lombardy, which includes Bergamo, and Lombardy’s health chief.

Seven Minneapolis police officers resign

At least seven Minneapolis police officers have resigned and more than half a dozen others are in the process of leaving, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported as anti-racist protests continue to rock the United States.

The report said the officers from the Minneapolis Police Department are feeling misunderstood and stuck in the middle of a state probe, after the death of an unarmed black man during arrest last month.

Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields stepped down on Saturday after an officer fatally shot Rayshard Brooks, an African American, on Friday night in the U.S. city in Georgia State.(SD-Agencies)