International

Finland sees asylum surge before Russia border crossings shut

NUIJAMAA, Finland, Nov 17, 2023 (AFP) – Dozens of asylum seekers arrived at four Finnish border crossings with Russia on Friday, just hours before they were to close, a border guard captain told AFP. Finland is to shut half of its eight crossings along its eastern land border with Russia from midnight (2200 GMT). Authorities have accused Russia of seeking to destabilise Finland by letting undocumented migrants — mainly from the Middle East and Africa […]

Kyiv reports increase in Russian overnight drone attacks

KYIV, Ukraine, Nov 18, 2023 (AFP) – Ukraine’s air force said Saturday Russia fired 38 drones at its territory overnight — the highest reported number in more than six weeks. Both Kyiv and Moscow have used attack and reconnaissance drones extensively throughout the 21-month war. Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 29 of the 38 Iranian-made Shahed drones — also known as “kamikaze drones” because they are packed with explosives to detonate upon reaching […]

Tanzania says student abducted by Hamas is dead

DAR ES SALAAM, Nov 18, 2023 (AFP) – Tanzania’s foreign ministry has confirmed the death of one of two citizens who have been missing since Hamas’s October 7 attacks across southern Israel. The Israeli government had named two students from Tanzania — 22-year-old Clemence Felix Mtenga and 21-year-old Joshua Loitu Mollel — among those missing since the militant attack six weeks ago. “It’s with great sadness we confirm the death of Clemence Felix Mtenga,” a […]

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman ousted in shock firing

By Glenn CHAPMAN SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 18, 2023 (AFP) – Sam Altman, the tech titan behind ChatGPT, was abruptly fired Friday by OpenAI, the company that launched the revolutionary artificial intelligence chatbot. The news of his dismissal caught Silicon Valley by surprise, as the 38-year-old had been hailed as a pioneer and one of the leading figures in the high-stakes world of AI. He said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that his time […]

Hundreds flee as Israel orders Gaza’s main hospital evacuated

By Adel Zaanoun GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Nov 18, 2023 (AFP) – Hundreds of people fled on foot Saturday after the director of Gaza’s main hospital said Israel’s army ordered evacuation of the facility where more than 2,000 patients, medics and displaced people were trapped by the war between Israel and Hamas. Columns of sick and injured — some of them amputees — displaced people, doctors and nurses, were seen making their way out of […]

41 Thais trapped by Myanmar fighting repatriated: army

BANGKOK, Nov 18, 2023 (AFP) – Forty-one Thais trapped in Myanmar for three weeks by an upsurge in fighting between the junta and an alliance of ethnic minority armed groups returned to the kingdom on Saturday, the Thai army said. Fighting has raged since October 27 across northern Shan state near the Chinese border after the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Arakan Army (AA) launched attacks on the […]

Rejected Rohingya boat sighted off Indonesia coast: official

JAKARTA, Nov 18, 2023 (AFP) – A boat carrying Rohingya refugees that was forced back to sea earlier this week was sighted Saturday several miles off the coast of Indonesia’s westernmost region, according to a local commander. The group of around 250 people from the persecuted Myanmar minority arrived off Aceh province on Thursday, but residents told them not to land. The boat travelled to another location in Aceh where a second group of residents […]

Philippine quake death toll rises to seven

MANILA, Nov 18, 2023 (AFP) – The death toll from a strong earthquake off the southern Philippines rose to seven on Saturday, while rescuers also searched for two people feared buried beneath a landslide. The 6.7-magnitude quake that struck the Mindanao region mid-afternoon on Friday caused part of a shopping mall ceiling to collapse, triggered power cuts and sent people fleeing into the streets. Falling debris from the mall in General Santos City crushed a […]

Colorado judge lets Trump stay on ballot but says he incited riots

WASHINGTON, Nov 18, 2023 (AFP) – A Colorado state judge on Friday ruled that Donald Trump can remain on the state’s presidential primary ballot, finding that while he incited political violence during the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, he did not violate his oath of office by doing so. Colorado District Judge Sarah Wallace’s ruling follows similar court decisions in several other states that have left Trump on the ballot. The ruling […]

Chinese sonar pulses ‘likely’ injured divers: Australia defence chief

SYDNEY, Nov 18, 2023 (AFP) – Australian navy divers were “likely” injured by sonar pulses emitted by a Chinese warship this week, the country’s defence minister said Saturday, accusing Beijing of “unsafe and unprofessional” conduct at sea. Richard Marles said the HMAS Toowoomba — a long-range frigate — had been supporting United Nations sanctions enforcement efforts within Japan’s exclusive economic zone. The divers had plunged into the water to clear fishing nets from the ship’s […]

Biden-Xi talks to boost stability in Taiwan Strait: envoy

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 18, 2023 (AFP) – Talks between US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week — and agreement to restore military communications — will likely improve stability in the Taiwan Strait, Taipei’s chief delegate to an economic summit said Friday. “I really think it was a good meeting, it was good news that they resumed military communications,” said Morris Chang, who is in San Francisco as Taiwan’s envoy for the […]

News anchors targeted by deepfake scammers on Facebook

By Rob Lever WASHINGTON, Nov 18, 2023 (AFP) – In a Facebook video viewed by thousands, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer appears to hawk a diabetes drug. In another, “CBS Mornings” host Gayle King seems to endorse weight loss products. But the clips are doctored — the latest in a rash of deepfakes that hijack images of trusted news personalities in spurious ads, undermining confidence in the news media. Similar social media posts in recent months have […]