KATHMANDU, Nov 4, 2023 (AFP) – More than 60 people were killed when a shallow 5.6-magnitude earthquake hit a remote pocket of Nepal, officials said early Saturday. The tremor hit the far west of the Himalayan country late Friday and was measured by the US Geological Survey at just 18 kilometres (11 miles) deep. Videos and photos posted on social media showed locals digging through rubble in the dark to pull survivors from the wreckage […]
International
Developing story: At least 26 dead in Nepal earthquake: district official
KATHMANDU, Nov 3, 2023 (AFP) – At least 26 people were killed in an earthquake that hit a remote part of Nepal, a district official said early Saturday. “In our district, 26 people have died and many are injured,” Suresh Sunar, the chief of Jajarkot in the far west of the Himalayan country, told AFP after the 5.6 magnitude quake struck late Friday. A shallow 5.6-magnitude earthquake hit a remote pocket of western Nepal on […]
Magnitude 5.6 quake brings injuries, damages in western Nepal: officials
KATHMANDU, Nov 3, 2023 (AFP) – A shallow 5.6-magnitude earthquake hit a remote pocket of western Nepal on Friday, injuring people and damaging homes, officials said. Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal expressed “his deep sorrow over the human and physical damage caused by the earthquake”. Writing on X, Kamal said the quake struck at 11:47 pm local time (1747 GMT) in the village of Ramidanda in the Jajarkot district in western Nepal. Kamal said he […]
Musk’s xAI to release first AI model to ‘select group’
WASHINGTON, Nov 3, 2023 (AFP) – Elon Musk said his new artificial intelligence company would release a new AI model on Saturday to a “select group” of users as he looks to rival industry leaders OpenAI and Google. The release would be the first from Musk’s new startup, xAI, that he launched in July after hiring researchers from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Tesla and the University of Toronto. “Tomorrow, xAI will release its first AI to […]
Blinken says Israel has ‘right’ and ‘obligation’ to defend itself
TEL AVIV, Nov 3, 2023 (AFP) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that Israel has the right and obligation to defend itself as it pummels the Gaza Strip with an air and ground assault. “Israel has not only the right but the obligation to defend itself… to make sure that this October 7 never happens again,” Blinken told journalists as he met Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv. Israel launched a […]
US urges Hezbollah not to ‘take advantage’ of Gaza war
WASHINGTON, Nov 3, 2023 (AFP) – The United States called on Friday for Hezbollah not to “take advantage” of the Israel-Hamas war after the Lebanese militants’ leader said “all options” were open. “We and our partners have been clear: Hezbollah and other actors — state or non-state — should not try to take advantage of the ongoing conflict,” a spokesperson from the National Security Council said. In his first speech since war broke out last […]
Canada slams China over second ‘unsafe’ aircraft intercept in two weeks
OTTAWA, Nov 3, 2023 (AFP) – Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair on Friday slammed Chinese fighter jets’ second “significantly unsafe” intercept in two weeks of Canadian aircraft patrolling the Pacific. Blair said at a news conference that a Chinese fighter jet on October 29 twice flew close to a Canadian Cyclone helicopter near the Paracel Islands, in the South China Sea, and on the second flyby fired flares “directly in front” of the helicopter. There […]
Hezbollah chief tells US ‘we are ready to face your fleet’
BEIRUT, Nov 3, 2023 (AFP) – Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said Friday that his Iran-backed group was not afraid of US warships and “all options” were open for an expansion of the Israel-Hamas conflict into Lebanon. In his first speech since war broke out last month between Hamas militants and Israel, the head of the powerful Lebanese Shiite movement said the United States was responsible for the Gaza war and that Washington could prevent a […]
Myanmar ethnic minorities claim gains in junta offensive
YANGON, Myanmar, Nov 3, 2023 (AFP) – An alliance of Myanmar ethnic minority groups said it made more gains in its offensive against the ruling junta on Friday, with the regime vowing it would hit back at the biggest military challenge it has faced since it seized power. Fighting has raged for a week across a wide area of northern Shan state near the China border, forcing more than 23,000 people from their homes, according […]
Myanmar’s Shan state: What we know
YANGON, Nov 3, 2023 (AFP) – An alliance of Myanmar ethnic minority groups is waging a lightning offensive against the military which analysts say is the biggest battlefield challenge to the junta since it seized power. The fighting across northern Shan state has displaced more than 23,000 people according to the UN, and seen dozens of military outposts fall. The rugged jungle region has long been a bitterly contested theatre of conflict between ethnic armed […]
Ukraine reports ‘massive’ Russian drone attack
KYIV, Ukraine, Nov 3, 2023 (AFP) – Russia launched 40 drones overnight in a “massive” attack on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure but over half of them were downed, officials said on Friday. “Last night there were about 40 ‘Shaheds’. More than half of them were shot down,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on social media. Russia has used hundreds of Iranian-made self-detonating Shahed drones to attack targets across Ukraine since the start of […]
Australian PM Albanese visits China as relations emerge from deep freeze
SYDNEY, Nov 3, 2023 (AFP) – Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese flies to China on Saturday for a landmark visit, a sign that icy relations have thawed with the trading giant and strategic rival. His four-day trip to Beijing and Shanghai is the first by an Australian leader in seven years and is widely seen as recognition that relations are on a surer footing after a diplomatic breakdown that hit billions of dollars in trade. […]





