News in Brief (2023-11-28)

China says surge in respiratory illnesses

caused by flu, other known pathogens

BEIJING, Nov 27: A surge in respiratory illnesses across China that has drawn the attention of the World Health Organization is caused by the flu and other known pathogens and not by a novel virus, the country's health ministry said Sunday. Recent clusters of respiratory infections are caused by an overlap of common viruses such as the influenza virus, rhinoviruses, the respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, the adenovirus as well as bacteria such as mycoplasma pneumoniae, which is a common culprit for respiratory tract infections, a National Health Commission spokesperson said. The ministry called on local authorities to open more fever clinics and promote vaccinations among children and the elderly as the country grapples with a wave of respiratory illnesses in its first full winter since the removal of COVID-19 restrictions. — AP

Canada shooting claims three lives

OTTAWA, Nov 27: Three people were killed and two critically injured after a shooting in Winnipeg, the capital city of Manitoba in central Canada, local police said on Sunday. Winnipeg police arrived at the scene and found five victims "with injuries consistent with being shot," said the local police in a news release. An adult male and an adult female were pronounced dead at the scene, it said, adding that three of the victims were taken to a hospital, and one of those victims later died while the other two remained in critical condition. No arrests have been made, it said, and the homicide unit continues to investigate. The victims' identities are still being confirmed and further details will be shared as the investigation evolves, it added. — Xinhua

Indian army digs by hand to free 41 workers

SILKYARA TUNNEL , Nov 27: Indian military engineers were preparing to dig by hand Monday to reach 41 workers trapped in a collapsed road tunnel for 16 days, a rescue operation hit by repeated setbacks. Soldiers plan to use a so-called "rat-hole mining" technique, digging by hand to clear the rocks and rubble over the remaining nine metres (29 feet), with temperatures plummeting in the remote mountain location in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand. Last week, engineers working to drive a metal pipe horizontally through 57 metres (187 feet) of rock and concrete ran into metal girders and construction vehicles buried in the earth, snapping a giant earth-boring auger machine. — AFP

Luxon takes oath as NZ prime minister

WELLINGTON, Nov 27: Former airline boss Christopher Luxon formally took office as New Zealand's prime minister Monday, vowing to tame inflation and bring down interest rates. Luxon took over six weeks after his conservative National Party won national elections, ending a six-year Labour Party reign ushered in by Jacinda Ardern. Luxon, 53, once chief executive of Air New Zealand, was sworn in as head of a new coalition government by New Zealand's governor-general in a ceremony in the capital Wellington. "It is an honour and an awesome responsibility," Luxon told reporters. "The number one job is to fix the economy. We have to reduce the cost of living and get inflation under control so we can lower interest rates and make food more affordable." — AFP

Irish author wins 2023 Booker Prize

LONDON, Nov 27: Irish author Paul Lynch won the 2023 Booker Prize for fiction on Sunday for his novel "Prophet Song," a dystopian work about an Ireland that descends into tyranny. The 46-year-old pipped five other shortlisted novelists to the prestigious award at a ceremony in London He becomes the fifth Irish writer to win the high-profile literary prize, which has propelled to fame countless household names, including past winners Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood and Hilary Mantel. "This was not an easy book to write," Lynch said after collecting his award, which comes with o50,000 (around $63,000) and a huge boost to his profile. "The rational part of me believed I was dooming my career by writing this novel. Though I had to write the book anyway. We do not have a choice in such matters," he added. — AFP