Briefly

UNITED STATES

Biden names team to tackle climate

US President-elect Joe Biden on Saturday introduced key members of his environmental team and said his administration would make the fight against global warming a pillar of his drive to rebuild the pandemic-hit US economy. Biden told an event in Wilmington, Delaware, that a "unified national response to climate change" is needed. The nominees include Representative Deb Haaland of New Mexico for interior secretary. Overseeing the nation's natural resources, Haaland, if confirmed by the Senate, would be the first Native American to hold a Cabinet position. For other jobs, Biden said he has picked Gina McCarthy to lead a new White House Office of Climate Policy. She is a former Environmental Protection Agency administrator.

TURKEY

10 COVID-19 patients die in hospital fire

At least 10 coronavirus patients died on Saturday after an oxygen tank explosion triggered a fire at a hospital in southeastern Turkey, the health ministry said. The blaze in an intensive care ward of the hospital in Gaziantep broke out when a tank on an artificial respirator exploded. "We are profoundly saddened by this tragedy," Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said before a planned visit to the hospital. All the victims were patients who had been hospitalized with the coronavirus. Other patients affected by the fire were transferred to other hospitals. Images in local media showed the ward destroyed by the fire, with charred beds. Turkey has recorded more than 1.9 million cases of COVID-19 and more than 17,600 deaths.

FRANCE

'Ice man' sits out record-breaking feat

Frenchman Romain Vandendorpe on Saturday set a world record for sitting immersed in ice cubes for the longest time, enduring the extreme challenge to raise money for childhood cancers. The 34-year-old health worker remained buried up to his neck in ice in a plexiglass cabin for two hours, 35 minutes and 43 seconds, breaking the previous record by 40 minutes in the northern French town of Wattrelos. He aims to donate the money raised through the effort to an association named after a four-year-old girl, Augustine, who died from brain cancer two years ago. "Everyone can donate one euro for every minute Romain remained immersed in ice," said the head of the Wonder Augustine group.

Agencies via Xinhua