Hantavirus possibly transmitted human to human on stranded cruise ship, WHO says

CBS/AP

The World Health Organization said Tuesday it believes there was rare human-to-human transmission of the hantavirus on a cruise ship at the center of the outbreak, with three people now dead after coming down with the illness.

"We do believe that there may be some human-to-human transmission that's happening among the really close contacts [on board]," Maria Van Kerkhove, an epidemiologist with the WHO, said at a press conference Tuesday. "The husband and wife, people who've shared cabins, etc. So, again, our assumption is that has happened."

MV Hondius, a Dutch ship with nearly 150 people aboard, had been awaiting help off the coast of Cape Verde in the Atlantic Ocean after the African island refused to let it dock over public health concerns. However, the Spanish government said Tuesday the ship could sail to the Canary Islands for a "full investigation" and "full disinfection."

UAE comes under Iranian attacks for second consecutive day: Ministry

Iran says the country’s forces ‘have not carried out any missile or drone operations against the UAE in recent days’.

By Al Jazeera Staff

The United Arab Emirates has come under attack from Iranian missiles and drones for the second day in a row, according to its Defence Ministry, while Iran denied being behind the aggression.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said late on Tuesday that the country’s forces “have not carried out any missile or drone operations against the UAE in recent days”.

China: Explosion at fireworks factory kills at least 26

Dharvi Vaid with AFP, AP, Reuters and DPA

A blast at a fireworks factory in China has killed 26 people and wounded 61 others. President Xi Jinping has called for a thorough probe.

An explosion ripped through a fireworks plant in the central Chinese province of Hunan, leaving at least 26 people dead, state media reported Tuesday.

A total of 61 people are reported to have been injured in the incident.

Romania’s pro-European coalition collapses after prime minister fails a no-confidence vote

By STEPHEN McGRATH and VADIM GHIRDA

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania’s pro-European coalition collapsed Tuesday after lawmakers voted against Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, less than a year after he was sworn in, triggering fresh turmoil in the European country.

The no-confidence vote was a blow to Bolojan, who came to power with the aim of ending one of Romania’s worst political crises in its post-communist history.

The Social Democratic Party, or PSD, and the nationalist opposition Alliance for the Unity of Romanians party, or AUR, jointly submitted the motion to Parliament on April 28. PSD withdrew from the coalition last month. On Tuesday, 281 lawmakers voted in favor and four voted against.

Lawmakers from Bolojan’s National Liberal Party, or PNL, and coalition partners, Save Romania Union party and the small ethnic Hungarian UDMR party, abstained.

‘Defending from the goal line isn’t enough’: IDF entrenches grip in southern Lebanon

Israeli flags line Lebanon’s southern coastal road, as military razes structures deep inside ‘security zone’; Hezbollah launches drone during journalists’ visit

Emanuel Fabian

RAS AL-BAYADA, Lebanon — Israeli flags and razed structures dotted the coastal road in southern Lebanon, as journalists were taken to one of the army’s deepest positions in its new “security zone.”

The tranquillity of the stormy waves crashing into the rocky coast amid a downpour was broken by an alert of a Hezbollah drone attack targeting the Israeli military in the Ras al-Bayada headland, located around eight kilometers (5 miles) north of Israel’s border, and just south of the coastal Lebanese city of Tyre.

“Air Hammer,” the Israel Defense Forces’ code for a drone attack, was heard over the radio. “There’s an enemy drone here,” one soldier said, as reporters were rushed into the lightly armored vehicles that brought us into Lebanon and escorted back to Israel.