India’s coronavirus cases jump by 96,000 China sends warning with big show of air power in Taiwan Strait. Cyclone batters Greek Islands as it makes landfall.

NEW DELHI » India’s coronavirus cases jumped by an additional 96,424 in the past 24 hours, showing little sign of leveling.

The Health Ministry on Friday raised the nation’s total cases to 5.21 million, or 0.37% of its nearly

1.4 billion people. It said 1,174 more people died in the past 24 hours, for a total of 84,372 fatalities. Experts say India’s death toll may be a significant undercount.

India is expected to have the highest number of confirmed cases within weeks, surpassing the United States, where more than 6.67 million people have been infected.

Pope seeks to “liberate” Virgin Mary from the Mafia.

ROME » Pope Francis is giving his blessing to a new Vatican think tank that is seeking to prevent the Mafia and organized crime groups from exploiting the image of the Virgin Mary for their own illicit ends.

The Vatican’s Pontifical Marian Academy launched the think tank Friday at a conference titled “Liberating Mary from the Mafia.” It was a reference to the historic relationship between the Italian mob and the Catholic Church, and the popular displays of Marian devotion by mobsters in Italy and beyond.

The Catholic Church in Italy has long been associated with the Mafia, thanks in part to their post- war common cause against Communists. While some Catholic priests have opposed the mob — and paid for it with their lives — others have been called to explain their celebration of funerals, weddings and other sacraments for Mafia dons, acceptance of their donations and participation in their religious processions.

China sent 18 fighter jets and bombers into the Taiwan Strait on Friday in a robust show of force that a military official in Beijing said was a warning to Taiwan and the United States about their increasing political and military cooperation.

“Those who play with fire are bound to get burned,” Senior Col. Ren Guoqiang, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of National Defense, said at a briefing in Beijing, warning the United States and Taiwan against what he called “collusion.”

Taiwan, the self- governing democracy that Beijing claims as part of a unified China, has become an increasingly tense issue in the deteriorating relations between China and the United States.

A rare, powerful cyclone slammed into the western Ionian Islands of Greece and other parts of the country Friday, bringing lashing rain, strong winds and flooding as it tore into the coastline.

Such storms — which some meteorologists call Medicanes, or Mediterranean hurricanes — were virtually unheard- of before the 1990s but in recent years have become more regular because of rising sea temperatures.

Greece issued its highestlevel weather alert with the landfall of the hurricane- strength storm. Local authorities advised the islands’ residents and tourists trapped there to remain indoors as the storm brought winds of at least 75 mph.