Briefly

UNITED STATES

Defense chief tests positive for 2nd time

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday. This is the second time that the defense chief has contracted the coronavirus. Austin said in a statement announcing the latest infection, adding that he is "experiencing mild symptoms". Austin, who is fully vaccinated and twice boosted, said his last in-person contact with US President Joe Biden was on July 29, and that he "will retain all authorities and plan to maintain my normal work schedule virtually from home".Austin tested positive for COVID-19 in early January.

SOUTH AFRICA

African penguins driven away by noise

The already endangered African penguin is being driven away from its natural habitat off the east coast of South Africa due to noise from ship refueling, a scientific study has found. The number of African penguins on St Croix Island in Algoa Bay, once the world's largest breeding colony of birds, has plummeted since South Africa started to allow ships in the area to refuel at sea, a process known as bunkering, six years ago, the study found. Algoa Bay is rich in marine and bird life where southern right whales roam in its sheltered waters.

ARMENIA

Fireworks warehouse blast deaths rise to 16

Rescuers have recovered more bodies from the site of a fireworks warehouse blast in Armenia, raising the death toll from Sunday's accident to 16, said Armenia's emergencies ministry on Tuesday. Seventeen people remain missing, it said in a statement, after blasts ripped through the warehouse in a shopping mall in the Armenian capital Yerevan on Sunday, injuring at least 60 people. Armenpress news agency cited the government as saying it would declare a day of mourning after the rescue operation is over.

Agencies via Xinhua