Man dies in shark attack
Sydney, Nov 22: A man died Sunday after being attacked by a shark in Western Australia, the eighth fatality in the county this year. Police were called to Cable Beach, a popular tourist spot on Australia’s Indian Ocean coast, at about 8:40 a.m. The 55-year-old was pulled from the water with serious injuries and treated by police before paramedics arrived. He died at the scene, police said. Park rangers immediately closed the beach. The man was the eighth to die in a shark attack in Australia this year, the highest toll since 1929 when nine died. The introduction of shark nets at popular beaches in the 1930s led to a significant fall in fatal attacks. (AP)
More mass testing in China
Beijing, Nov 22: Authorities are conducting mass testing and shutting down schools after China reported three new domestically transmitted cases in the past 24 hours — two in northern Inner Mongolia province and one in Shanghai. The city of Manzhouli, in Inner Mongolia, will start testing all its residents for COVID-19 on Sunday, a day after the two cases were discovered. The city has suspended classes and shut public venues, telling residents to not gather for dinner banquets. Local authorities in Shanghai found one more case on Saturday after testing 15,416 people following recent locally transmitted cases. (AP)
Pope cheers Lisbon youth jamboree plans
Vatican City, Nov 22: With no papal travels abroad this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pope Francis is cheering efforts for a youth jamboree, traditionally attended by pontiffs, in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2023. Francis on Sunday presided over a handover ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica involving young people gearing up for the next World Youth Day, which draws huge crowds of Catholics from around the globe. When Francis attended the last such event in Panama in 2019, organisers announced that the next jamboree would be held in Lisbon in 2022. But pandemic concerns postponed the event to August 2023. Francis applauded after youths from Panama symbolically slid across the basilica’s floor a towering wooden cross to counterparts from Portugal as part of preparations for Lisbon. (AP)