India’s virus tally reaches 6m cases

A health worker in personal protective equipment (PPE) collects a swab sample from a girl during a testing campaign for the COVID-19 in Ahmedabad, India, in this file photo. India’s confirmed coronavirus tally reached 6 million cases on Monday, keeping the country second to the United States in number of reported cases since the pandemic began.SD-Agencies

Trump nominates Barrett for Supreme Court

U.S. President Donald Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court on Saturday, capping a dramatic reshaping of the federal judiciary that will resonate for a generation and that he hopes will provide a needed boost to his reelection effort.

If confirmed by the Senate, Barrett, 48, would fill the seat vacated by liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg. It would be the sharpest ideological swing since Clarence Thomas replaced Justice Thurgood Marshall nearly three decades ago and give the conservative wing a solid 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court.

With the Republicans holding a 53-47 advantage in the Senate and only two senators of the party voicing opposition in moving forward the process, Trump appears to have a clear path to have his third Supreme Court pick confirmed.

Ukraine plane crash death toll rises to 26

Searchers combing the area where a Ukrainian military aircraft crashed found two more bodies on Saturday, bringing the death toll to 26. One person survived.

The plane, a twin-turboprop Antonov-26 belonging to the Ukrainian air force, was carrying a crew of seven and 20 cadets of a military aviation school when it crashed and burst into flames on Friday night while coming in for landing at the airport in Chuhuiv, about 400 kilometers east of the capital Kyiv.

Two people initially survived the crash, but one later died in a hospital. No cause for the crash has been determined.

Van accident in Pakistan’s Sindh leaves 13 dead

Thirteen people were killed and seven others injured when a passenger van caught fire in Pakistan’s south Sindh province on Saturday night, police said.

The van carrying around 20 people was on its way to the port city of Karachi from Hyderabad district when it caught fire after flipping over on the Karachi-Hyderabad motorway, Turab Hussain, a spokesman of the motorway police, told media.

He said the accident happened when the tie rod of the poorly maintained vehicle broke down and it flipped over on the road before catching fire.

Second COVID wave hits Canada

Canadan Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last week that the second wave of COVID-19 epidemic has already begun in the country amid concerns over a possible national lockdown.

“In our four biggest provinces (British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec), the second wave isn’t just starting, it’s already under way. We’re on the brink of a fall that could be much worse than the spring,” said Trudeau in his address to the nation.

COVID-19 cases have jumped nationally in Canada, from about 300 cases per day in mid-August to 1,248 on September 22.

Judge temporarily blocks US ban on TikTok

U.S. President Donald Trump’s ban on TikTok was temporarily blocked by a federal judge, dealing a blow to the Trump administration in its showdown with the popular Chinese-owned app it says threatens “national security.”

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols granted a preliminary injunction against the ban on the widely used video-sharing network after an unusual Sunday morning hearing. The judge refused to grant an injunction against a November deadline for a sale. (SD-Agencies)