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MELBOURNE, Feb 14, 2024 (AFP) – Storms packing powerful winds toppled trees, killed one person and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in eastern Australia, officials said Wednesday. The wild weather hit large swathes of Victoria on Tuesday, dumping torrents of rain and unleashing some gusts of more than 150 kilometres per hour (90 miles per hour), officials said. A 50-year-old dairy farmer was killed in the storm, apparently struck […]
The northeastern United States was engulfed by snow Tuesday as a powerful winter storm battered the region, blanketing New York for the first time in two years and causing flight cancellations and school closures. Airlines cancelled more than 1,220 flights, including 43 percent of flights at New York’s domestic LaGuardia airport as well as one in five flights at the city’s main air hub JFK, according to aviation tracker Flight Aware. Schools were forced to […]
LOS ANGELES, Feb 14, 2024 (AFP) – Officials in the US state of Oregon have said they are dealing with a rare human case of bubonic plague that was likely transmitted by a pet cat. The disease, which killed at least a third of Europe’s population in the Middle Ages during a pandemic known as the “Black Death,” is uncommon in developed countries and can now be treated, but remains potentially dangerous. The identity of […]
By Camille CAMDESSUS WASHINGTON, Feb 14, 2024 (AFP) – The Republican leader of the US House of Representatives on Tuesday blocked war aid for Ukraine, ignoring President Joe Biden’s plea that passing the bill was vital for standing up to “Russian dictator” Vladimir Putin. Speaker Mike Johnson, who works closely with Biden’s likely challenger in the November election Donald Trump, told reporters he has no intention even of allowing a vote on the bill. “I […]
By Adek Berry with Dessy Sagita in Jakarta TIMIKA, Indonesia, Feb 13, 2024 (AFP) – Indonesians began voting for a new president Wednesday with Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto the frontrunner despite concerns over his human rights record and claims of improper support from outgoing leader Joko Widodo. Polls project Subianto, a military chief during the Suharto dictatorship a generation ago, is on course to secure a majority that would avoid a second-round run-off. The 72-year-old […]
STOCKHOLM, Feb 13, 2024 (AFP) – Swedish rescue services said Tuesday they were still battling a major blaze at the country’s largest amusement park, more than 24 hours after it broke out. One person was still missing after the fire erupted on Monday at the Oceana water park that was still under construction at the Liseberg amusement park in the western city of Gothenburg. Firefighters had indicated earlier on Tuesday that the blaze was […]
NEW YORK, Feb 13, 2024 (AFP) – One person was killed and five others injured in a shooting at a New York subway station just ahead of the busy rush hour Monday afternoon, officials said. Authorities were alerted just after 4:30 pm (2130 GMT) and six people were taken to hospital, the fire department said. “We don’t believe this was a random shooting… We believe this shooting all stems from a dispute between two groups […]
KYIV, Ukraine, Feb 13, 2024 (AFP) – The Kremlin on Monday rejected Ukraine’s claims that Russian troops fighting on the frontline were using Starlink internet terminals. Kyiv’s GUR military intelligence agency said it had evidence that the terminals were being used on a “systematic” basis by Russian troops, accusing Moscow of “smuggling” them into the country. Starlink, owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, is a network of satellites in low Earth orbit that can provide internet […]
By Danny KEMP Jordan’s King Abdullah II appealed for a full ceasefire to end the Gaza war after talks with Joe Biden, striking a discordant note with the US president who is seeking a shorter six-week pause to give Israel time to defeat Hamas. Speaking at the White House, the two leaders both warned however against any indiscriminate Israeli ground incursion into Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians are trapped. […]
By Paavan MATHEMA Nepali mercenaries are fighting for Russia in Ukraine, lured to kill far from their Himalayan homeland by promises of a passport and cash, but wounded returnees warn anyone tempted to join the war: “Do not come.” While Nepali soldiers-for-hire can bank in a month nearly double what they could earn in a year back home, conditions are brutal and many have been killed or wounded. “I watched my friends die in front […]
By Emmanuel PEUCHOT KYIV, Ukraine, Feb 12, 2024 (AFP) – Ahead of the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian army is increasingly on the defensive against more numerous and better armed Russian forces, but hoping that a recent military leadership change can make a difference. After last year’s failed counter-offensive, President Volodymyr Zelensky last week named Oleksandr Syrsky as the new military commander-in-chief with the task of setting out a “realistic and […]
GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Feb 12, 2024 (AFP) – Israel announced on Monday the rescue of two hostages in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where the Hamas-run health ministry said 52 Palestinians including children were killed in heavy overnight air strikes. Israel is preparing for a ground incursion into the teeming city along the border with Egypt, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought refuge from fighting further north. The precarious humanitarian […]
