Iran road accident kills 28 Afghan nationals
TEHRAN, Nov 14: Iran's semi-official ILNA news agency is reporting that a road accident in the country's southeast has killed 28 Afghan nationals. The report says 21 people were also injured when two vans collided near the town of Khash in Sistan and Baluchistan province early on Thursday. That's about 1,500 kilometers, or 930 miles, southeast of the capital, Tehran. The area is a frequent route used by traffickers to smuggle illegal Afghan migrants, usually in crammed vehicles in desperate conditions. — AP
NASA to hunt for microscopic fossils on Mars
WASHINGTON, Nov 14: NASA scientists have discovered a potential place for its Mars 2020 rover to look for signs of ancient life in Jezero Crater where the rover will land in February of 2021. The study published Tuesday in the journal Icarus showed the existence of distinct deposits of minerals called carbonates along the inner rim of the crater, the site of a lake more than 3.5 billion years ago. The hardy structures of carbonates can survive in fossil form for billions of years on Earth. Those fossils include seashells, coral and some stromatolites, which are rocks formed by ancient microbial life along ancient shorelines. — AFP
Italy to declare emergency over flood damage
VENICE, Nov 14: Italy is set to declare a state of emergency in Venice after the Italian city was engulfed by 1.87m (6ft) high water levels, flooding its historic basilica and cutting power to homes. More than 80 pc of the city, a Unesco world heritage site, was under water when tides were at their highest. Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte described the flooding as "a blow to the heart of our country". He said the government would now act quickly to provide funds and resources. — BBC
Spanish king grants honour to Havana historian
HAVANA, Nov 14: Spain's visiting King Felipe VI on Wednesday granted the historian of Havana Eusebio Leal his country's highest civilian honour. Leal received the Grand Cross of the Royal and Distinguished Spanish Order of Charles III at a formal ceremony at the former Palace of the Spanish Governors. The royal couple also presented Leal, a key figure behind Havana's restoration of colonial-era monuments, with a hand-woven banner bearing the shield of Havana. — Xinhua
Second Ebola vaccine introduced in DR Congo
GOMA, Nov 14: Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo Thursday began using a second vaccine to fight the deadly Ebola virus in the east of the country, the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity said. It said the new vaccine is aimed at about 50,000 people over a period of four months. More than 250,000 people in the region have already received doses of another anti-Ebola vaccine since August 2018. — AFP
UN to launch regional plan for Venezuelan refugees
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 14: Two UN agencies are launching a 1.35-billion-U.S. dollar plan to aid millions of people who have fled Venezuela, as well as their host communities, a UN spokesman said on Wednesday. The UN Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration regional plan includes actions in nine key sectors: health, education, food security, integration, protection, nutrition, shelter, relief items and humanitarian transport, as well as water, sanitation and hygiene, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. —Xinhua
Indonesia bus collision leaves seven dead
BANDUNG, Nov 14: Seven people were killed as two passenger buses collided on a busy toll road in Indonesia on Thursday, authorities said. The fatal accident, which also left 16 people injured - some seriously - happened shortly after midnight on a route in West Java that connects to the capital Jakarta. One bus driver lost control of his vehicle, which crossed a road median before slamming into another bus travelling in the opposite direction, killing seven including its driver and injuring more than a dozen onboard. — AP
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