Editor’s Note: This listicle is part of a weekly series by The Ball State Daily News summarizing five stories from around the world. All summaries are based on stories published by The Associated Press.
Stories related to the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. secretary of state’s visit to Kabul, North Korea test firing missiles, the hanging of four men convicted for a fatal gang rape in India and the death of the last surviving German honored for saving Jews during the Holocaust make up this week’s five international stories.
What you need to know today about the virus outbreak
The death toll from the global coronavirus pandemic has surpassed 14,600 people worldwide, and it has sickened more than 335,000. Italy’s coronavirus infections continue to soar, with 59,000 cases and 5,476 deaths, Iran, with an officially reported 21,600 cases of the new coronavirus, snubbed U.S. offer of help, the Canadian Olympic Committee said it won’t send athletes to the Tokyo Games unless they’re postponed for a year, and other stories.
Read more: Virus outbreak
Pompeo in Kabul in effort to revive flagging peace process
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in Kabul on an urgent visit Monday to try to move forward a U.S. peace deal signed last month with the Taliban, a trip that comes despite the coronavirus pandemic, at a time when world leaders and statesmen are curtailing official travel. Since the signing of the deal, the peace process has stalled amid political turmoil in Afghanistan, with the country’s leaders squabbling over who was elected president.
Read more: Afghanistan
N Korea test fires missiles, Seoul slams it as inappropriate
North Korea on Saturday fired two presumed short-range ballistic missiles into the sea, South Korea’s military said, as it continues to expand military capabilities amid deadlocked nuclear negotiations with the Trump administration and a crippling global health crisis. South Korea and the U.S. were analyzing the launches. Seoul’s military urged the North to immediately stop its “very inappropriate” military demonstrations amid the global coronavirus pandemic.
Read more: North Korea
India hangs 4 men convicted for fatal New Delhi gang rape
Four men sentenced to death for the gruesome gang rape and murder of a woman on a New Delhi bus in 2012 were hanged Friday, concluding a case that exposed the scope of sexual violence in India and prompted horrified Indians to demand swift justice. The four stood trial relatively quickly in India’s slow-moving justice system, their convictions and sentences handed down less than a year after the crime.
Read more: India
Last German honored for saving Jews during Holocaust dies
Gertrud Steinl, the last surviving German honored for saving Jews during the Holocaust, died Monday, on the eve of her 98th birthday. According to an entry on the Yad Vashem website, Steinl was an overseer in the Polish town of Stryj during World War II when a worker confided in her that she was Jewish. Steinl sent the woman, Sarah Shlomi, to live with her parents — likely ensuring she wasn’t deported to a Nazi concentration camp.
Read more: The Holocaust
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