Remote town of Exmouth plunges into darkness for 58 seconds in the kind of eclipse that occurs only once a decade.Some 20,000 people gathered under a cloudless sky in the northwest Australian coastal town of Exmouth to enjoy a rare total solar eclipse that plunged the region into darkness for 58 seconds as the moon blocked out the sun. The remote town with fewer than 3,000 residents was one of the best vantage points in Australia to see the eclipse that also crossed Indonesia and East Timor. An international crowd had been gathering at Exmouth for days, camping in tents…
Author: National Tone
UN children’s agency says some 67 million children missed routine shots, raising risk of measles and polio outbreaks.Some 67 million children around the world partially or completely missed routine vaccinations between 2019 and 2021 because of lockdowns and the disruption to healthcare caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the United Nations children’s agency. “More than a decade of hard-earned gains in routine childhood immunization have been eroded,” UNICEF warned in its annual State of the World’s Children report which was released on Wednesday, warning that getting back on track would be “challenging”. Of the 67 million children whose vaccinations…
The vote comes as Cuba struggles with an economic crisis that has pushed hundreds of thousands out of the country.Cuba’s National Assembly has ratified another five-year term for incumbent President Miguel Diaz-Canel, in a move expected to result in few changes as the country struggles with an economic crisis and an exodus of citizens. “We must assume this gigantic challenge without slowing down,” Diaz-Canel, 62, said in a speech following his victory on Wednesday. He called upon his cabinet to “face up to obstacles and resolve inefficiencies” over the next five years. Diaz-Canal won reelection with votes from 459 of…
The Washington Wizards have dismissed general manager Tommy Sheppard after missing the post-season the past two seasons. Sheppard had been with the Wizards organization since 2003 and served as the team’s general manager since April of 2019 having taken over for longtime executive Ernie Grunfeld. .acf-block-preview .instagram-twitter-container width: 340px; margin: 0 auto; The Wizards reached the post-season just once during the four seasons Sheppard helmed the club, falling in five games to the Philadelphia 76ers during the shortened 2020-21 campaign. More significantly, he also was the architect of Bradley Beal’s five-year, $251 million supermax extension last summer in a highly…
The head of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) has decried a lack of transparency from United States agencies that he said has made it impossible to determine if aid allocated to the people of Afghanistan is instead “currently funding the Taliban”. During a fiery testimony on Wednesday to the US House Oversight Committee, Special Inspector John Sopko accused the State Department and other agencies of failing to provide legally mandated information that would allow the watchdog to perform its oversight duties. SIGAR is charged with overseeing about $8bn that the US has “provided or otherwise made available”…
Forward Alexandre Texier will re-join the Columbus Blue Jackets for the 2023-24 season, the team announced Wednesday. .acf-block-preview .instagram-twitter-container width: 340px; margin: 0 auto; The second year of Texier’s two-year contract will be tolled to next season, and he will be a restricted free agent in the summer of 2024. Texier, 23, hasn’t played for the Blue Jackets since breaking his finger in January of 2022 and was granted a leave of absence in March of that year. In August of 2022, the Blue Jackets announced Texier would not return for the 2022-23 season for personal reasons. He instead played…
The sanctions come as the government of President Daniel Ortega faces ongoing allegations of silencing dissent.The United States has announced sanctions against three Nicaraguan judges for their role in stripping hundreds of activists and political dissidents of their citizenship, as the Nicaraguan government faces allegations of stifling opposition. In a press release on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the judges had helped facilitate “government repression” and the removal of the citizenship of more than 300 Nicaraguans. “The United States is taking further action to hold accountable perpetrators of the Nicaraguan regime’s repressive actions,” Blinken said in…
MILWAUKEE — Giannis Antetokounmpo’s status has been updated to questionable for Game 2 of Milwaukee’s Eastern Conference first-round series with the Miami Heat on Wednesday night. Tuesday’s injury report listed the two-time MVP as doubtful for Game 2, but an updated injury report released Wednesday afternoon had Antetokounmpo as questionable. Coach Mike Budenholzer said Antetokounmpo didn’t practice Tuesday. Antetokounmpo left the Bucks’ 130-117 Game 1 loss on Sunday with a bruised lower back. The star was was driving to the basket with a little over four minutes left in the first quarter when he collided with Miami’s Kevin Love, who…
The $550-million lawsuit in the US compares the Nichols beating to that of Emmett Till, a Black boy murdered in 1955.Lawyers for the family of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black father who was brutally beaten by police and died shortly afterward, have filed a lawsuit against officials and law enforcement in the United States city of Memphis. The lawsuit alleges that the city’s police officers acted as a “modern-day lynch mob” as they kicked and punched Nichols following a traffic stop on January 7. “The savage beating of Tyre Nichols was the direct and foreseeable product of the unconstitutional policies,…
Leading former jockey Barry Geraghty thinks Jonjo O’Neill’s Monbeg Genius – third behind Grand National winner Corach Rambler – is the one to beat in Saturday’s Scottish Grand National. The seven-year-old won three consecutive chases prior to an excellent third in the Ultima Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, a race that saw the form boosted by Saturday’s National hero Corach Rambler. And that run, given how prominently the horse was ridden, has given Geraghty hope that he could improve for that effort in the Ayr feature this weekend. “Kitty’s Light was very impressive the last day and has been…