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By Hashem Osseiran DUBAI, Dec 19, 2023 (AFP) – The United States pushed Tuesday to build up a multinational naval task force to protect a key global shipping lane from Yemen’s Huthi rebels, who pledged to keep up their attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea. The Iran-backed Huthis say their missile and drone strikes on passing container ships are in support of Palestinians in the Gaza war raging between Israel and militant group […]
By Jeremie RICHARD REYKJAVIK, Dec 19, 2023 (AFP) – An Icelandic volcano that erupted and spewed lava into the sky overnight near a power plant was less active Tuesday evening, after weeks of intense seismic activity southwest of Reykjavik. The eruption, only three kilometres (1.8 miles) from the evacuated fishing port of Grindavik on the Reykjanes peninsula, began Monday at around 10:17 pm (2217 GMT) after a “swarm” of small tremors, the Icelandic Meteorological Office […]
NEW YORK, Dec 19, 2023 (AFP) – Meta’s independent oversight board on Tuesday criticized the social media titan of removing posts that showed human suffering in the Middle East conflict. The board, set up by Meta in 2020 as a supreme court of sorts for the social media titan, overturned two post removal decisions, and urged the company to respond more quickly to changing circumstances in the war between Hamas and Israel. One case involved […]
By Emmanuel PEUCHOT NEAR BAKHMUT, Ukraine, Dec 19, 2023 (AFP) – After 22 months of war with a horrific human cost, the Ukrainian army is struggling to find recruits to battle Russian forces that are once again on the offensive. Some Ukrainians who joined the fighting at the February 2022 start are still in combat and exhausted, while volunteers to replace those killed or wounded are becoming rarer. “Our units are understaffed. We need young, […]
PARIS, Dec 19, 2023 (AFP) – French sports retail giant Decathlon has secretly continued selling clothes in Russia despite officially pulling out in protest at Russia’s war in Ukraine, a media report published Tuesday said. The multinational retailer, which posted sales of 15.4 billion euros ($16.9 billion) last year, announced within weeks of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that it would withdraw from the Russian market. In October of this year, it sold its 60 […]
SEOUL, Dec 19, 2023 (AFP) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to accelerate his country’s nuclear build-up and warned Washington against making a “wrong decision” after overseeing the launch of the country’s most powerful ballistic missile, state media said Tuesday. Monday’s test launch of the solid-fuel Hwasong-18 came a day after the nuclear-powered submarine USS Missouri made port in Busan and followed a US-South Korea warning that a nuclear attack by Pyongyang […]
SEOUL, Dec 19, 2023 (AFP) – Troops on the South Korean side of the Joint Security Area on the border with the North have been authorised to carry guns, the UN Command said Tuesday, after Pyongyang’s soldiers reportedly started carrying weapons there last month. Soldiers from both countries face off at the JSA north of Seoul, which is overseen by the US-led United Nations Command. North and South Korea agreed to disarm their troops on […]
By Sébastien RICCI DAHEJIA, China, Dec 19, 2023 (AFP) – Rescuers in remote villages of northwest China dug through the rubble of collapsed homes in freezing conditions on Tuesday after the country’s deadliest earthquake in years killed at least 127 people. State media said the shallow tremor just before midnight had caused the deaths of at least 113 and injured more than 530 in impoverished Gansu province, as of Tuesday afternoon. A further 14 died […]
DUBAI, Dec 19, 2023 (AFP) – The United States condemned “unprecedented” attacks by Yemeni rebels on Red Sea shipping as the Huthis pledged Tuesday to continue military operations despite the announcement of a new maritime protection force. The flurry of drone and missile attacks by the rebels, the latest of which targeted two vessels on Monday, threaten to upend global trade flows, with major shipping firms halting traffic through the Bab al-Mandeb strait. Pentagon chief […]
BEIJING, Dec 19, 2023 (AFP) – At least 111 people were killed when an earthquake collapsed buildings in northwest China, state media reported Tuesday, as rescue workers raced to start digging through rubble. About 100 were killed and scores more injured in Gansu province after the strong, shallow tremor struck, state broadcaster CCTV said, citing the provincial earthquake relief headquarters. According to CCTV, 11 others were killed and 100 injured in the city of Haidong […]
REYKJAVIK, Dec 19, 2023 (AFP) – A volcano in Iceland was still erupting Tuesday hours after geysers of molten lava shot into the night sky after weeks of intense seismic activity southwest of Reykjavik. The eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula began Monday at around 10:17 pm (2217 GMT) after an earthquake swarm, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said, referring to a series of small shakes. Live-streamed footage of the eruption showed glowing orange jets of lava […]
BANGKOK, Dec 18, 2023 (AFP) – Thai soldiers killed 15 suspected drug smugglers in a shootout in a remote northern district near the Myanmar border, an army official said Monday. The clash on Saturday evening took place in Chiang Rai province’s Mae Fah Luang district, close to the “Golden Triangle” where Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet, which has long been a hub for smuggling. After the clash, officers found 17 bags containing more than two […]
