World

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – Hackers suspected to be behind a mass extortion attack that affected hundreds of companies worldwide late yesterday demanded $70 million to restore the data they are holding ransom, according to a posting on a dark web site.

MANILA, (Reuters) – A Philippines Air Force troop plane crashed and broke up in flames on a southern island yesterday, killing at least 45 people after some jumped free, officials said, in the country’s worst military air disaster in nearly 30 years.

HAVANA,  (Reuters) – Tropical Storm Elsa yesterday arrived with force in eastern Cuba, whipping palms with strong winds and bringing a steady downpour along parts of the Caribbean island’s southern coast, as others in the region were still grappling with the fallout.

VATICAN CITY,  (Reuters) – Pope Francis is doing well following intestinal surgery, the Vatican said yesterday after the 84-year-old pontiff was hospitalised for the first time since his election in 2013.

SURFSIDE, Fla.,  (Reuters) – The partially collapsed Miami-area condo where 24 people are confirmed dead was demolished last  night, ahead of the possible arrival of Tropical Storm Elsa.

(Reuters) – The United States has administered 330,604,253 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of yesterday morning and distributed 383,068,740 doses, the U.S.

(Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden celebrated the nation’s 245th birthday yesterday by opening the gates of the White House and calling on Americans to do their part to end the COVID-19 pandemic once and for all.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – A Venezuelan court indicted Javier Tarazona, director of NGO FundaRedes, and two other activists for terrorism and other crimes, three days after the group held a news conference in Caracas alleging links between members of the government and illegal armed groups from Colombia, their lawyer said.

NKANDLA, South Africa, (Reuters) – South Africa’s ex-president Jacob Zuma lashed out yesterday at the judges who this week gave him a 15-month jail term for absconding from a corruption inquiry, comparing them to the white minority apartheid rulers he once fought.

Dear Editor, Last week I wrote His Excellency the President, offering some suggestions in connection with our flooding particularly in Georgetown and the contiguous areas.

SARASOTA, Fla.,  (Reuters) – Former U.S. President Donald Trump yesterday condemned New York prosecutors for bringing charges against his namesake company and longtime financial adviser, using a campaign-style rally to air a host of grievances.

STOCKHOLM, (Reuters) – One of the largest ransomware attacks in history spread worldwide yesterday forcing the Swedish Coop grocery store chain to close all 800 of its stores because it could not operate its cash registers.

VATICAN CITY, (Reuters) – A prominent Italian cardinal was among 10 people sent to trial in the Vatican yesterday charged with financial crimes including embezzlement, money laundering, fraud, extortion and abuse of office.

LIMA, (Reuters) – Peru’s government on Friday evening rejected a request by presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori to seek an international audit of its June 6 election, leaving her with few recourses to overturn the apparent lead over her rival candidate Pedro Castillo.

SANTO DOMINGO, (Reuters) – A slightly weakened Elsa was close to the southwestern peninsula of Haiti on yesterday, prompting tropical storm warnings for large swaths of Hispaniola, Cuba and Jamaica.

RIO DE JANEIRO/BRASÍLIA, (Reuters) – Protesters took to the streets in Brazil yesterday demanding the impeachment of President Jair Bolsonaro and more vaccines to fight the coronavirus pandemic, as the country faces the world’s second deadliest outbreak after the United States.

(MIT News) – Engineers at MIT and Harvard University have designed a novel face mask that can diagnose the wearer with Covid-19 within about 90 minutes.

(University of Colorado at Boulder) – Working out just five minutes daily via a practice described as “strength training for your breathing muscles” lowers blood pressure and improves some measures of vascular health as well as, or even more than, aerobic exercise or medication, new University of Colorado at Boulder research shows.

(Rockefeller University) – Scientists have long searched in vain for a class of brain cells that could explain the visceral flash of recognition that we feel when we see a very familiar face, like that of our grandmothers.

MANILA, (Reuters) – More than 10 billion pesos ($204 million) in pandemic aid intended for poor Philippine families is unaccounted for, boxer-turned-senator Manny Pacquiao said today, adding this was just one of the discoveries in his corruption investigation.