One-Minute Reads ... News from around the globe

SWITZERLAND

Children between six and 11 should wear masks - WHO

Just as millions of children are heading back to school, the World Health Organization (WHO) says those age six to 11 should wear masks in some cases to help fight the spread of the coronavirus.

The recommendations presented Monday follow the widespread belief that children under 12 are not considered as likely to propagate the virus as much as adults. Children in general face less severe virus symptoms than do adults, with the elderly the most vulnerable to severe infection and death.

Now, the WHO says decisions about whether children age six to 11 should wear masks and should consider factors like whether COVID-19 transmission is widespread in the area where the child lives; the child's ability to safely use a mask; and adult supervision when taking the masks on or off.

NEW ZEALAND

Families confront mass murderer in court

Families and survivors had their first chance to confront the white supremacist who slaughtered 51 worshippers in a mass shooting at two New Zealand mosques as his four-day sentencing hearing began Monday. "You killed your own humanity, and I don't think the world will forgive you for your horrible crime," said a tearful Maysoon Salama, the mother of 33-year-old Atta Elayyan, who was killed in March 2019 attacks. "You thought you can break us. You failed miserably."

The gunman, 29-year-old Australian Brenton Harrison Tarrant, pleaded guilty in March to 51 counts of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder and one count of terrorism -- the first terrorism conviction in New Zealand's history. He could become the first person in New Zealand to be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, the toughest sentence available.

THE PHILIPPINES

Bomb attacks rock country

Muslim militants allied with the Islamic State group set off a powerful motorcycle explosive followed by a suicide bombing that together killed 14 people on Monday, many of them soldiers, in the worst extremist attack in the Philippines this year, military officials said.

At least 75 soldiers, police and civilians were wounded in the midday bombings in Jolo town in southern Sulu province, regional military commander Lt Gen Corleto Vinluan said.

The bombings were staged as the government grapples with the highest number of coronavirus infections in Southeast Asia.

Vinluan said most of the victims, including children, were killed and wounded in the first attack, when a bomb attached to a motorcycle exploded near two parked army trucks in front of a grocery store and computer shop in Jolo. A second blast occurred about an hour later and killed the bomber, a soldier, a police commando and wounded several others, a military report said.

INDIA

Building collapse traps residents

At least 17 people were injured when a residential building collapsed Monday in the central Indian state of Maharashtra, media reports said.

Rescue workers were searching for about 70 people feared trapped inside the five-storey, 45-unit building, the Press Trust of India news agency said. No deaths were immediately reported.

It was not immediately clear what caused the apartment building in Mahad, about 170 kilometres (105 miles) from India's financial capital of Mumbai, to collapse.

About two dozen people were extracted from the wreckage and taken to a local hospital.

India's National Disaster Relief Force said it dispatched three teams of rescuers with tools to pry apart the debris, as well as a canine squad.

Building collapses are common in India, particularly during the heavy downpours of the monsoon season.

SOUTH KOREA

COVID numbers rising sharply

South Korea counted its 11th straight day of triple-digit daily jumps in coronavirus cases on Monday and health officials pleaded for people to follow guidelines or risk further restrictions or strains on hospitals. Most of the 266 new cases reported by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) were in the Seoul metropolitan area, home to half of the country's 51 million people. But new infections were also reported in other major cities, including Busan, Daejeon and Sejong.

KCDC Director Jeong Eun-kyeong said it's likely the country will continue to report huge infection numbers in the coming days as health workers scramble to trace and test contacts of virus carriers.