Over 600 pilgrims in Iraq hospitalised due to chlorine gas leak
The pilgrims were on the route between two Shiite holy cities of Najaf and Karbala when the incident took place, AFP reported.
'621 cases of asphyxia have been recorded following a chlorine gas leak in Karbala,' Iraq's health ministry said in a statement.
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Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
Sudan refugees face cholera outbreak with nothing but lemons for medicine
Tawila: In the cholera-stricken refugee camps of western Sudan, every second is infected by fear. Faster than a person can boil water over an open flame, the flies descend and everything is contaminated once more. Cholera is ripping through the camps of Tawila in Darfur, where hundreds of thousands of people have been left with nothing but the water they can boil, to serve as both disinfectant and medicine. "We mix lemon in the water when we have it and drink it as medicine," said Mona Ibrahim, who has been living for two months in a hastily-erected camp in Tawila. "We have no other choice," she told AFP, seated on the bare ground. Adam is one of nearly half a million people who sought shelter in and around Tawila, from the nearby besieged city of El-Fasher and the Zamzam displacement camp in April, following attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war with Sudan's regular army since April 2023. - Surging through the camps - The first cholera cases in Tawila were detected in early June in the village of Tabit, about 25 kilometres south, said Sylvain Penicaud, a project coordinator for French charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF). "After two weeks, we started identifying cases directly in Tawila, particularly in the town's displacement camps," he told AFP. In the past month, more than 1,500 cases have been treated in Tawila alone, he said, while the UN's children agency says around 300 of the town's children have contracted the disease since April. Across North Darfur state, more than 640,000 children under the age of five are at risk, according to UNICEF. By July 30, there were 2,140 infections and at least 80 deaths across Darfur, UN figures show. Cholera is a highly contagious bacterial infection that causes severe diarrhoea and spreads through contaminated water and food. Causing rapid dehydration, it can kill within hours if left untreated, yet it is preventable and usually easily treatable with oral rehydration solutions. More severe cases require intravenous fluids and antibiotics. Ibrahim Adam Mohamed Abdallah, UNICEF's executive director in Tawila, told AFP his team "advises people to wash their hands with soap, clean the blankets and tarps provided to them and how to use clean water". But in the makeshift shelters of Tawila, patched together from thin branches, scraps of plastic and bundles of straw, even those meagre precautions are out of reach. - 'No soap, no toilets, no choice' - Insects cluster on every barely washed bowl, buzzing over the scraps of already meagre meals. Haloum Ahmed, who has been suffering from severe diarrhoea for three days, said "there are so many flies where we live". Water is often fetched from nearby natural sources -- often contaminated -- or from one of the few remaining shallow, functional wells. It "is extremely worrying," said MSF's Penicaud, but "those people have no (other) choice". Sitting beside a heap of unwashed clothes on the dusty ground, Ibrahim said no one around "has any soap". "We don't have toilets -- the children relieve themselves in the open," she added. "We don't have food. We don't have pots. No blankets -- nothing at all," said Fatna Essa, another 50-year-old displaced woman in Tawila. The UN has repeatedly warned of food insecurity in Tawila, where aid has trickled in, but nowhere near enough to feed the hundreds of thousands who go hungry. - 'Overwhelmed' - Sudan's conflict, now in its third year, has killed tens of thousands and created the world's largest displacement and hunger crises, according to the United Nations. In Tawila, health workers are trying to contain the cholera outbreak -- but resources are stretched thin. MSF has opened a 160-bed cholera treatment centre in Tawila, with plans to expand to 200 beds. A second unit has also been set up in Daba Nyra, one of the most severely affected camps. But both are already overwhelmed, said Penicaud. Meanwhile, aid convoys remain largely paralysed by the fighting and humanitarian access has nearly ground to a halt. Armed groups -- particularly the RSF -- have blocked convoys from reaching those in need. Meanwhile, the rainy season, which peaks this month, may bring floodwaters that further contaminate water supplies and worsen the crisis. Any flooding could "heighten the threat of disease outbreaks", warned UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric. The World Health Organization said last week that cholera "has swept across Sudan, with all states reporting outbreaks". It said nearly 100,000 cases had been reported across the country since July 2024. UNICEF also reported over 2,408 deaths across 17 of Sudan's 18 states since August 2024.
Economic Times
15 hours ago
- Economic Times
Monica Seles one of the richest tennis legends in the world? Her incredible net worth will shock you
Synopsis Tennis icon Monica Seles, diagnosed with myasthenia gravis three years ago, is now publicly sharing her experience with the neuromuscular autoimmune disease. Seles first noticed symptoms, like double vision and muscle weakness, while playing tennis. The youngest French Open winner at 16, she's partnering with argenx to raise MG awareness ahead of the US Open. AP The 51-year-old Seles, who won her first major trophy at age 16 at the 1990 French Open and played her last match in 2003 Tennis legend Monica Seles opened up about myasthenia gravis — a neuromuscular autoimmune disease during a recent interview with the Associated Press. She first noticed the symptoms while she was swinging a racket the way she'd done so many times. Monica Seles's career includes nine Grand Slam titles and a place in the International Tennis Hall of Fame.'I would be playing with some kids or family members, and I would miss a ball. I was like, 'Yeah, I see two balls.' are obviously symptoms that you can't ignore,' Seles said. 'And, for me, this is when this journey started. And it took me quite some time to really absorb it, speak openly about it, because it's a difficult one. It affects my day-to-day life quite a lot.'The 51-year-old Seles, who won her first major trophy at age 16 at the 1990 French Open and played her last match in 2003, said she was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis three years ago and is speaking publicly about it for the first time ahead of the US Open, which starts on Aug. 24, to raise awareness about what is known as MG. ALSO READ: Trump threatens Fed chair Jerome Powell with 'major lawsuit', says 'the damage he has done...' Monica Seles is a retired Yugoslav professional tennis player, who youngest player to win the French Open at the age of 16. Monica Seles was at one time ranked number one in the world and has a net worth of $50 million, according to Celebrity Net went on to win the Australian Open four times, the French Open three times, the US Open two times, and made it to the Finals at Wimbledon in 1992. She was the #1 female tennis player in the world in March of 1991 and retired in 2008. In 2014, Monica married multi-billionaire Paychex founder Tom Golisano. Tom is 32 years her senior, and the two have been dating since READ: US core inflation heats up in July amid Trump tariffs: Prices at your nearest grocery stores to increase? Over the course of her career, Monica earned $15 million in prize money—equivalent to about $25 million today—and brought in a similar sum through endorsement April 1993, while she was playing a match against Magdalena Maleeva in Hamburg, Germany, Monica Seles was stabbed by an obsessed fan of Steffi Graf. The fan, Gunter Parche, ran onto the court during a break in the game and stabbed Seles between the shoulder blades. She was rushed to the hospital. While her physical injuries healed within a few weeks, Seles did not return to competitive tennis for over two years. Monica Seles said she'd never heard of the condition until seeing a doctor and being referred to a neurologist after noticing symptoms such as double vision and weakness in her arms — 'just blowing my hair out … became very difficult,' she said — and legs. ALSO READ: Social Security payments worth up to $5,108 coming out tomorrow as SSA announces major change: Why benefit amounts might vary? 'When I got diagnosed, I was like, 'What?!'' said Seles, who is partnering with argenx, an immunology company headquartered in the Netherlands, to promote their Go for Greater campaign. 'So this is where — I can't emphasize enough — I wish I had somebody like me speak up about it.''The way they welcomed me … after my stabbing, I will never forget,' Seles said about the fans in New York. 'Those are the moments that stay with you.''I had to, in tennis terms, I guess, reset — hard reset — a few times. I call my first hard reset when I came to the U.S. as a young 13-year-old (from Yugoslavia). Didn't speak the language; left my family. It's a very tough time. Then, obviously, becoming a great player, it's a reset, too, because the fame, money, the attention, changes (everything), and it's hard as a 16-year-old to deal with all that. Then obviously my stabbing — I had to do a huge reset,' Seles said.'And then, really, being diagnosed with myasthenia gravis: another reset. But one thing, as I tell kids that I mentor: 'You've got to always adjust. That ball is bouncing, and you've just got to adjust,'' she added. 'And that's what I'm doing now.'
NDTV
21 hours ago
- NDTV
Man Blames Covid Vaccine For Depression, Fires 180 Bullets At US Centre
New York: The man who attacked the CDC headquarters in Atlanta on Friday fired more than 180 shots into the campus and broke about 150 windows, with bullets piercing 'blast-resistant' windows and spattering glass shards into numerous rooms, according to information circulated internally at the agency. It may take weeks or even months to replace windows and clean up the damage, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention personnel said. A Georgia man who had blamed the COVID-19 vaccine for making him depressed and suicidal opened fire late Friday, killing a police officer. No one at CDC was injured. The shooter was stopped by CDC security guards before driving to a nearby pharmacy and opening fire late Friday afternoon, a law enforcement official has told the AP. The official wasn't authorized to publicly discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity. The 30-year-old man, Mr Patrick Joseph White, later died, but authorities haven't said whether he was killed by police or killed himself. US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr toured the CDC campus on Monday. CDC security pointed out broken windows across multiple buildings, including the main guard booth, according to a US Department of Health and Human Services statement. HHS Deputy Secretary Mr Jim O'Neill and CDC Director Ms Susan Monarez accompanied him, according to the statement. Mr Kennedy also visited the DeKalb County Police Department, where he met with the police chief. Later. He also met privately with the widow of the fallen officer, Mr David Rose. Ms Monarez posted a statement on social media Friday night that said at least four CDC buildings were hit in the attack. We at @CDCgov are heartbroken by today's attack on our Roybal Campus, which remains on lockdown as authorities investigate the shooting. A courageous local law enforcement officer gave his life, and another was injured, after a gunman opened fire on at least four CDC buildings.… — CDC Director Susan Monarez (@CDCMonarez) August 9, 2025 The extent of the damage became clearer during a weekend CDC leadership meeting. Two CDC employees who were told about what was discussed at the meeting described details to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to reveal the information. Details were also in an agency memo seen by an AP reporter. Building 21, which houses Ms Monarez's office, was hit by the largest number of bullets. CDC officials did not say if her office was hit. CDC employees were advised to work from home this week. Mr Kennedy issued a statement Saturday that said 'no one should face violence while working to protect the health of others,' and that top federal health officials were 'actively supporting CDC staff." We are deeply saddened by the tragic shooting at CDC's Atlanta campus that took the life of officer David Rose. We stand with his wife and three children and the entire CDC family. We know how shaken our public health colleagues feel today. No one should face violence while… — Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) August 9, 2025 He did not speak to the media during his visit on Monday. In a call with the media on Monday night, some unionized CDC employees said they are calling for more heavily armed guards, bulletproof glass, a better alert system, and more extensive evacuation planning for disabled employees and other vulnerable staff. A retired CDC official, Mr Stephan Monroe, said he worried about the long-term impact the attack would have on young scientists' willingness to go to work for the government. 'I'm concerned that this is this is going to be a generational hit,' said Mr Monroe, speaking to a reporter near the corner where a poster had been set up in honor of Mr Rose. Mr Kennedy was a leader in a national anti-vaccine movement before President Donald Trump selected him to oversee federal health agencies, and he has made false and misleading statements about the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 shots and other vaccines. Years of false rhetoric about vaccines and public health was bound to 'take a toll on people's mental health,' and 'leads to violence,' said Mr Tim Young, a CDC employee who retired in April. Dr Jerome Adams, the US surgeon general during President Donald Trump's first administration, said Sunday that health leaders should appreciate the weight of their words. 'We have to understand people are listening,' Mr Adams told 'Face the Nation' on CBS. 'When you make claims that have been proven false time and time again about the safety and efficacy of vaccines, that can cause unintended consequences.' CDC employees are now taking steps to become less visible, including not wearing their public health service uniform to work, said Ms Yolanda Jacobs, president of Local 2883 of the American Federation of Government Employees. She recalled when CDC employees were happy to be approached by neighbors or others with public health questions. 'Now it's at the point we're afraid to have those types of conversations with anybody, because we don't know who they are and we don't know what rhetoric they've ingested,' she said.
