Briefly

UNITED STATES

30 Mississippi legislators test positive for virus

At least 30 Mississippi legislators and 11 other people who work in the state Capitol are now known to have tested positive for the new coronavirus, the state's top public health official said on Tuesday. That is an increase from last week, when officials initially said 26 legislators and 10 others had contracted the highly contagious virus. Thomas Dobbs, the state's health officer, had said the numbers could go up as more people received test results. Mississippi has the largest outbreak of COVID-19 among state legislators in the United States, according to numbers tracked by The Associated Press.

SOUTH CAUCASUS

Russia urges restraint as 12 killed in clashes

Seven soldiers and a civilian of Azerbaijan and four Armenian servicemen were killed on Tuesday in the third day of border clashes between countries that fought a war in the 1990s over the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region. The international community worries about clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan in part because of the threat to instability in the South Caucasus, a region that serves as a corridor for pipelines taking oil and gas to world markets. Azerbaijan and Armenia both accused the other of cease-fire violations and shelling. Russia urged the two sides to cease fire and show restraint, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Moscow was ready to act as a mediator.

INDIA

Lockdowns reimposed as cases near 1 million

India's coronavirus caseload is approaching 1 million with a surge of 29,429 in the past 24 hours, prompting authorities to reimpose lockdowns in high-risk areas in nearly a dozen states. The new confirmed cases took the national total to 936,181.The Health Ministry on Wednesday also reported another 582 deaths for a total of 24,309. A two-week lockdown was imposed on Wednesday in the eastern state of Bihar, where nearly 2.5 million migrant workers have returned home after losing jobs in other parts of the country and further spread the virus.

SOUTH KOREA

Allegations against late mayor to be probed

The city government of Seoul said on Wednesday that it will launch an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct surrounding late mayor Park Won-soon, who was found dead after a former secretary filed a complaint claiming yearslong abuse. City spokesman Hwang In-sik said the investigation committee will include civic activists and experts. Hwang also lamented "speculative" media reports and avoided specific answers when asked about the city's response to the allegations or Park's death, including whether city officials had ignored earlier complaints by the ex-secretary.

Agencies - Xinhua