Author: AFP
At least 17 people were killed and 74 others injured on Sunday in a series of explosions that struck four gas stations in Yemen’s southern Al-Bayda province, according to the Health Ministry under the internationally unrecognized Houthi-led government. As many as 50 others are in critical condition, the ministry said in a statement. Late Saturday, the Interior Ministry’s media platform said the explosions occurred in the Nassefa area of Al-Zahir district. Houthi government spokesperson Hashem Sharafuddin said security forces are actively investigating the incident, though no further details were provided. The group extended “deepest condolences and sympathy to the families…
Landslides caused by torrential rains in southeast Brazil have left at least seven people dead and four others missing, rescue services in Minas Gerais state said Sunday. Six people died in the city of Ipatinga, where 80 millimeters (3.1 inches) of rain fell in the space of one hour on Saturday night, the mayor’s office said. Firefighters pulled the body of an eight-year-old boy from the rubble of a house destroyed by a landslide. Two bodies were found in other parts of the city and rescuers were searching for three other people buried under a mudslide. A body was also…
Landslides caused by torrential rains in southeast Brazil have left at least seven people dead and four others missing, rescue services in Minas Gerais state said Sunday. Six people died in the city of Ipatinga, where 80 millimeters (3.1 inches) of rain fell in the space of one hour on Saturday night, the mayor’s office said. Firefighters pulled the body of an eight-year-old boy from the rubble of a house destroyed by a landslide. Two bodies were found in other parts of the city and rescuers were searching for three other people buried under a mudslide. A body was also…
At least 17 people were killed and 74 others injured on Sunday in a series of explosions that struck four gas stations in Yemen’s southern Al-Bayda province, according to the Health Ministry under the internationally unrecognized Houthi-led government. As many as 50 others are in critical condition, the ministry said in a statement. Late Saturday, the Interior Ministry’s media platform said the explosions occurred in the Nassefa area of Al-Zahir district. Houthi government spokesperson Hashem Sharafuddin said security forces are actively investigating the incident, though no further details were provided. The group extended “deepest condolences and sympathy to the families…
Ukraine is not currently in a strong enough position for peace talks with Russia, NATO chief Mark Rutte said Monday, as US president-elect Donald Trump gears up to take power. “At this moment, clearly Ukraine is not there, because they cannot at this moment negotiate from a position of strength,” Rutte told EU lawmakers. “We have to do more to make sure by changing the trajectory of the conflict that they can get to that position of strength.” Trump will be sworn into office next Monday after vowing on the campaign trail to bring a swift end to Russian President…
Landslides caused by torrential rains in southeast Brazil have left at least seven people dead and four others missing, rescue services in Minas Gerais state said Sunday. Six people died in the city of Ipatinga, where 80 millimeters (3.1 inches) of rain fell in the space of one hour on Saturday night, the mayor’s office said. Firefighters pulled the body of an eight-year-old boy from the rubble of a house destroyed by a landslide. Two bodies were found in other parts of the city and rescuers were searching for three other people buried under a mudslide. A body was also…
NATO chief Mark Rutte told the European Union on Monday not to create barriers that would prevent companies from NATO countries that are outside the EU from taking part in its defence industrial push. The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, last year proposed spending 1.5 billion euros to give countries incentives to buy jointly from European firms and encourage industry to raise capacity. EU countries have yet to agree on how much of the pot should be reserved for EU companies. Speaking at a European Parliament committee session, Rutte said he applauds the plan, called the European Defence Industry…
South Korea’s intelligence service on Sunday backed up Ukraine’s account of having captured two wounded North Korean soldiers in Russia, after Kyiv said they were being questioned. Ukraine, the United States and South Korea have accused nuclear-armed North Korea of sending more than 10,000 soldiers to help bolster Russian forces. Seoul’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) told AFP it has “confirmed that the Ukrainian military captured two North Korean soldiers on January 9 in the Kursk battlefield in Russia”. On Saturday, Ukrainian intelligence (SBU) released a video showing the two men in hospital bunks, one with bandaged hands and the other…
Faced with plunging temperatures and heavy rain in war-battered central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah, displaced Palestinian father Tayseer Obaid resorted to digging for a modicum of domestic comfort. In the clay soil of the encampment area that his family has been displaced to by the war, Obaid dug a square hole nearly two metres deep and capped it with a tarpaulin stretched over an improvised wooden A-frame to keep out the rain. “I had an idea to dig into the ground to expand the space as it was very limited,” Obaid said. “So I dug 90 centimetres, it was okay and…
President Joe Biden’s administration said Friday that nearly one million immigrants from El Salvador, Sudan, Ukraine and Venezuela will be allowed to legally remain in the United States for another 18 months. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it was extending the so-called “temporary protected status” (TPS) of 232,000 Salvadorans, 1,900 Sudanese, 600,000 Venezuelans and 103,700 Ukrainians. The move comes less than 10 days before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, who has pledged to carry out a mass deportation of migrants after taking office. TPS is granted to foreign citizens who cannot safely return home because of war,…