Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is being moved to a prison hospital and the authorities there say his condition is “satisfactory”. He has been on hunger strike for 20 days, complaining of inadequate medical attention. He is in the Pokrov penal colony 100km (62 miles) east of Moscow. The FSIN prison service says he is being examined by a doctor daily and he has agreed to take vitamins. He was poisoned with a nerve agent last August and only narrowly survived. After his transfer to intensive care in Berlin, toxicologists concluded that the poison was Russian weapons-grade Novichok. Western governments blamed the Russian state for the attack, and Navalny blamed President Vladimir Putin directly. The Kremlin denied any involvement and disputed the conclusion about Novichok.(BBC)…[+]

Three people have died in what Danish health authorities say is a large outbreak of salmonella that has left 33 people ill. Nineteen people have been treated in hospital, according to Denmark’s SSI health agency. Those involved in the outbreak are aged between two and 92. All those affected ate Husk brand psyllium husk capsules from batches recalled by manufacturer Orkla Care. Authorities found traces of salmonella in the products at patients’ homes. The herbal products are generally used as a laxative. Luise Müller of Denmark’s Statens Serum Institut said it was the first time the agency had found a herbal medicine to be the cause of a salmonella outbreak.

It is not clear which ingredient could have caused the poisoning. Salmonella bacteria can be found in raw or undercooked meat, eggs or other food products. Infection can cause fever, diarrhoea, stomach pain, vomiting and in some cases death.(BBC)…[+]

Tropical cyclone Seroja has ripped across a 1,000km (621-mile) stretch of Western Australia, leaving a trail of damage. The category three storm made landfall near the town of Kalbarri on Sunday with gusts of up to 170km/h (105mph). The storm was later downgraded to a tropical low, though strong winds continue to move south-east. Residents reported smashed houses, fallen trees and downed power lines. Kalbarri resident Debbie Major said the storm, which hit the resort town around 19:00 local time (11:00 GMT), raged through the night and was “absolutely terrifying”. “You just thought, this is it. I would have thought that when we opened the door, that there would be nothing around us except that roof,” she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.(BBC)…[+]

Chile’s Health Minister Enrique Paris has been striking a gloomy note at his daily Covid news conferences in recent days. The number of daily cases reached a new record high on 9 April, going over 9,000 for the first time since the pandemic began and considerably higher than the previous peak of just under 7,000 cases in mid-June. ” It’s worrying,” he said last Friday. “We’re going through a critical moment of the pandemic… I urge you to take care of yourselves, of your loved ones, of your families.” Intensive care units are again overwhelmed, the country has for a second time closed its borders to everyone who is not a resident and most of its 18 million inhabitants are back in lockdown. “It feels like we’re going backwards,” says Santiago resident Sofía Pinto. “We need to download special permits online to be allowed out just twice a week for essential things like food shopping or doctor’s visits.”(BBC)…[+]

The humanitarian crisis caused by volcanic eruptions on the Caribbean island of St Vincent will last for months, a UN official has warned. Didier Trebucq said nearby islands including Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda could also be badly affected. He said the UN was setting up an international funding appeal. About 20,000 people have been evacuated from their homes since La Soufrière volcano began erupting last Friday. It had not previously erupted since 1979. Mr Trebucq, the UN co-ordinator for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, said clouds of ash and smoke were continuing to pour from the volcano every day. “We are expecting that continuous explosions and ash fall will continue over the coming weeks in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, but also in neighbouring islands such as Barbados, which has also been severely affected… as well as Saint Lucia and Grenada,” he told reporters.(BBC)…[+]

A group of school students in Texas have been disciplined for setting up a “Slave Trade” messaging group that assigned prices to their black peers. Messages shared on the Snapchat app at a school in Aledo said one student was worth a dollar and another “100 bucks”, the New York Times reported.  The school district conducted an inquiry and found “racial harassment and cyber bullying” had occurred. But some parents accused authorities of failing to respond appropriately. School students at the Daniel Ninth Grade Campus in Aledo had posted messages on a group Snapchat that was reportedly labelled with terms such as “farm” and “auction”. Ninth graders are typically 14 or 15. One message said the price set for one student “would be better if his hair wasn’t so bad”, according to the New York Times, which said it had seen screenshots of exchanges.(BBC)…[+]

France has urged all its citizens in Pakistan to leave the country temporarily amid violent anti-French protests across the country. The country’s embassy in Pakistan warned of “serious threats to French interests in Pakistan”, saying protests were increasing nationwide. Two police officers died this week in renewed clashes with protesters. The protests were sparked months ago after France defended the right to show cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. In October last year, French President Emmanuel Macron strongly defended freedom of expression after the beheading of a teacher who showed such cartoons during a class discussion. This prompted anger in parts of the Muslim world, including Pakistan, where there were calls for a boycott of French goods.(BBC)…[+]

The US will continue to support Afghanistan after withdrawing all US troops, but not “militarily,” President Joe Biden has pledged. “It is time to end America’s longest war,” he said in a speech from the White House room where US airstrikes there were first declared in 2001.  The pull-out is to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the 11 September 2001 terror attacks, officials say. At least 2,500 US troops are part of the 9,600-strong Nato Afghan mission. The number of US troops on the ground in Afghanistan fluctuates, and US media report the current total is closer to 3,500. US and Nato officials have said the Taliban, a hardline Islamist movement, have so far failed to live up to commitments to reduce violence in Afghanistan.(BBC)…[+]

Bernie Madoff, a Wall Street financier disgraced after he admitted to one of the biggest frauds in US financial history, has died in prison at age 82. His death was announced by the Bureau of Prisons. Mr Madoff had been serving a 150-year sentence after he pleaded guilty in 2009 to running a Ponzi scheme, which paid investors with money from new clients rather than actual profits. It collapsed during the 2008 financial crisis.

“Bernie, up until his death, lived with guilt and remorse for his crimes,” his lawyer Brandon Sample said in a statement. “Although the crimes Bernie was convicted of have come to define who he was – he was also a father and a husband. He was soft spoken and an intellectual. Bernie was by no means perfect. But no man is.”(BBC)…[+]