100 Norway homes destroyed by massive fire
Drammen, July 18: A major fire in southern Norway destroyed more than 100 homes Friday and forced hundreds of people to evacuate the area, according to police and the country’s public broadcaster. The blaze started in a townhouse in the city of Drammen around 3:30 pm Friday, police said. It then spread through the area and into nearby forests. Firefighters continued their efforts Saturday morning to bring the blaze under control. NRK, Norway’s public broadcaster, said hundreds of people went to an evacuation centre. No residents have been reported missing, police said. It was not immediately clear what caused the fire.Drammen is roughly 34 km southwest of Oslo. (AP)
Women die in Africa amid anti-abortion push by US
Kenya, July 18: For decades, US anti-abortion groups have lobbied domestically and abroad for restricting access to abortion. Now, the Trump administration is delivering new momentum to the movement exporting “family values” to nations overseas. At anti-abortion activists’ annual March for Life demonstration in Washington, January, Vice President JD Vance told the crowd, “We’re going to start blocking every international NGO that performs or promotes abortion abroad from receiving a dollar of US money,”. The expanded restrictions build on the anti-abortion advocacy work carried out by conservative US nonprofits abroad, especially in Africa. The region has the world’s highest estimated proportion of unsafe abortions and highest maternal mortality rates, including the highest number of maternal deaths per 100,000 abortions. This is part of a series on maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. Around 180,000 pregnancy deaths are recorded every year across the continent. The new rules represent a radical expansion of earlier US policy that cut assistance to overseas groups providing abortion-related services. (AP)
Venezuela quake death toll rises to 5,069
CARACAS, July 18: The death toll from the June 24 earthquakes in Venezuela has risen to 5,069, National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez said. An official update released on Telegram, on Friday, by Rodriguez, said that the number of injured remained at 16,740, while 6,462 people were rescued. The update said 21,235 people were staying in 107 temporary camps set up in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas and the central states of La Guaira, Miranda and Aragua. Since the 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes struck more than three weeks ago, authorities have recorded 1,331 aftershocks. Earlier, Rodriguez said 94 temporary camps have been set up so far. La Guaira, the coastal state where the two quakes caused the most damage, has 10,981 people in shelters, while Caracas has 6,133 and the central state of Miranda has 1,323, he said. Earlier, Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez expressed gratitude for the humanitarian aid provided by 28 countries to support victims of the country’s recent quakes. She made the remarks after inspecting a collection centre in Caracas, where more than 2,000 tons of international aid are sorted for distribution to temporary camps. (IANS)
