Kim threatens to use nukes amid tensions with US, S. Korea

HONG KONG (AP) — China on Sunday reported two additional deaths from COVID-19 as some cities move cautiously to ease anti-pandemic restrictions following increasingly vocal public frustrations.

The National Health Commission said one death was reported each in the provinces of Shandong and Sichuan. No information was given about the ages of the victims or whether they had been fully vaccinated. China, where the virus first was detected in late 2019 in the central city of Wuhan, is the last major country trying to stop transmission completely through quarantines, lockdowns and mass testing

Flash flood kills nine at church gathering in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — At least nine people died and eight others were missing in South Africa after a flash flood swept away members of a church congregation along the Jukskei River in Johannesburg, rescue officials said Sunday. The dead and missing were all part of the congregation, which was conducting religious rituals along the river on Saturday, officials said. Rescue workers reported finding the bodies of two victims that day and another seven bodies when the search and recovery mission resumed Sunday morning.

Indonesia’s Mt. Semeru unleashes lava river in new eruption

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s highest volcano on its most densely populated island released searing gas clouds and rivers of lava Sunday in its latest eruption. Monsoon rains eroded and finally collapsed the lava dome atop 12,060-foot Mount Semeru, causing the eruption, according to National Disaster Management Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari. Several villages were blanketed with falling ash, blocking out the sun, but no casualties have been reported

2,500 dead seals found on Russia’s Caspian coast

MOSCOW (AP) — About 2,500 seals have been found dead on the Caspian Sea coast in southern Russia, officials said Sunday. Authorities in the Russian province of Dagestan said it was unclear why the mass die-off happened but that it was likely due to natural causes.

Regional officials initially reported Saturday that 700 dead seals were found on the coast, but the Dagestan division of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment later raised the figure to about 2,500.