News in Brief (2022-04-27)

Malaysia reports 8 Covid deaths
KUALA LUMPUR, Apr 26: Malaysia recorded 2,478 new COVID-19 infections as of midnight Monday, bringing the total tally to 4,433,551, according to the health ministry. They were seven new imported cases and 2,471 local transmissions, data released on the ministry's website showed. A further eight deaths have been reported from the pandemic, bringing the death toll to 35,507. The ministry reported 9,215 new recoveries, bringing the total number of people cured and discharged to 4,330,037. Currently there are 68,007 active cases, with 98 of them held in intensive care and 63 of them in need of assisted breathing. — Xinhua
One dead, 26 missing after boat capsize
MADRID, Apr 26: At least one person drowned and 26 were missing after a boat carrying migrants capsized in the Atlantic Ocean off Spain's Canary Islands, the Spanish coastguard said Tuesday. The boat departed from Cap Boujdour in Western Sahara with 61 people on board and rescuers overnight only found 34 alive, a spokeswoman for the coastguard said. Two minors and 10 women were among the survivors rescued off the island of Gran Canaria and transported to safety, she added. — AFP
Wildfires tear across several US states
OMAHA, Apr 26: Firefighters across the country are battling multiple wildfires as tinder-dry conditions and high winds whip up flames from Arizona to Florida - including a prairie fire in rural southwestern Nebraska that has killed one person, injured at least 15 firefighters and destroyed at least six homes. A break in the weather in parts of the Midwest and West allowed crews to make progress Monday on some of the nearly dozen new large fires that were reported in recent days across the nation - four in New Mexico, three in Colorado and one each in Florida, Nebraska, South Dakota and Texas. With more than 1,350 square miles burned so far this year, officials at the National Interagency Fire Center said the amount of land singed to date is outpacing the 10-year average by about 30%. — AP