International

Singapore police investigate bomb threats at 18 locations

SINGAPORE, Aug 23, 2023 (AFP) – Singapore police have launched an investigation into bomb threats allegedly made at more than a dozen locations around the city-state, including government buildings and embassies, police said Wednesday. Authorities were alerted to the threats at around 09:10 am local time (0110 GMT) on Wednesday, the Singapore Police Force said in a statement. It added that the threats were reported at “18 locations around Singapore, including government buildings, embassies and […]

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BRICS leaders to debate expanding membership at summit

JOHANNESBURG, Aug 23, 2023 (AFP) – BRICS leaders on Wednesday will debate admitting new members to their five-nation bloc as it pursues a bigger role in shaping world affairs it sees as dominated by western powers. China is seeking to rapidly grow the club of large emerging economies amid rising competition with the United States, and more than 40 nations are lining up to join. But the BRICS other major power, India, is wary of […]

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French heatwave sets new late-summer record

PARIS, Aug 23, 2023 (AFP) – Temperatures in France hit an all-time high for late summer on Tuesday, the weather authority said, as the country continues to swelter under a punishing heatwave. The nationwide average temperature over 24 hours hit 27.1 degrees Celsius (81 Fahrenheit), Meteo France announced Wednesday — ahead of an expected peak in the August hot spell expected in the second half of the week. Such continuously high temperatures have never been […]

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Climate change could bring year-round heatwaves: UN researcher

GENEVA, Aug 23, 2023 (AFP) – As Europe and other regions swelter, a UN researcher cautioned that climate change was enabling increasingly intense and long-lasting heatwaves, which in some areas could soon begin to hit year-round. Extreme heat has dominated the headlines in recent weeks, from the current “heat dome” cooking much of Europe, to heat-fuelled wildfires raging in Greece, Spain, Canada and Hawaii, and soaring temperatures in the middle of the South American winter. […]

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India becomes first nation to land spacecraft near Moon’s south pole

BENGALURU, India, Aug 23, 2023 (AFP) – India on Wednesday became the first nation to land a craft near the Moon’s south pole, a historic triumph for the world’s most populous nation and its ambitious, cut-price space programme. The unmanned Chandrayaan-3, which means “Mooncraft” in Sanskrit, touched down at 6:04 pm India time (1234 GMT) as mission control technicians cheered wildly and embraced their colleagues. Its landing comes days after a Russian probe crashed in […]

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Greek firefighters battle major blazes on multiple fronts

ATHENS, Aug 23, 2023 (AFP) – Greek firefighters on Wednesday struggled to contain uncontrolled fires throughout the country for a fifth day, several of them bordering an acrid, smoke-filled Athens. In the last two days nineteen people believed to be migrants — including two children — have been killed in forest fires. A fire fanned by strong winds ripped through the foothills of Mount Parnitha, the largest forest adjoining the capital, burning near the outskirts […]

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At least 18 killed in Indian railway bridge collapse

NEW DELHI, Aug 23, 2023 (AFP) – At least 18 labourers working on a railway bridge being built across a ravine in India’s northeastern Mizoram state were killed when it collapsed on Wednesday, police said, with several others missing. Video footage posted by Mizoram chief minister Zoramthanga showed a metal frame that had toppled off towering columns into a wooded valley below. “Under construction railway over bridge at Sairang, near Aizawl collapsed,” Zoramthanga, who uses […]

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India lunar spacecraft lands safely on Moon: space agency

BENGALURU, India, Aug 23, 2023 (AFP) – India’s lunar spacecraft landed safely near the Moon’s little-explored south pole on Wednesday, sparking wild celebrations and applause among technicians guiding the mission. “Chandrayaan-3 has successfully soft-landed on the Moon,” the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced at its headquarters.  India Moon landing is “historic day”, says PM Narendra Modi. This is a developing story.  

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Civilians killed in Russia and Ukraine, Moscow hit by more drones

KYIV, Ukraine, Aug 23, 2023 (AFP) – Civilians were killed in attacks in both Russia and Ukraine Wednesday, while Moscow was hit by drones for the sixth night in a row as the war — which is now hitting Russian territory daily — dragged into its 19th month. Kyiv, which vowed this summer to “return” the war to Russia, has regularly hit Moscow and other cities deep inside Russia with drone attacks. The latest attacks […]

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Eight people rescued from cable car over Pakistan valley

THAKOT, Pakistan, Aug 22, 2023 (AFP) – Military helicopters and zipline experts on Tuesday rescued eight people, including six school boys, trapped for hours in a stricken cable car high above a remote Pakistan valley. The daring rescue began with a helicopter plucking two children to safety after almost 12 hours in the air as daylight faded, but the chopper was forced back to base in the dark. Then rescuers used the cable keeping the […]

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Athens district evacuated as Greek fire death toll hits 20

ALEXANDROUPOLI, Greece, Aug 22, 2023 (AFP) – Thousands of people in an outer district of Greece’s capital Athens were under evacuation orders Tuesday as firefighters battled a steadily growing wave of wildfires around the country that has left 20 dead. Civil protection ordered the evacuation of Ano Liosia in northwest Athens, a district of over 25,000 people while at the neighbouring community of Fyli an AFP journalist saw homes on fire. Over 60 fires had […]

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Hong Kong top court affirms mandatory sentences under security law

HONG KONG, Aug 22, 2023 (AFP) – Hong Kong’s top court on Tuesday issued a landmark ruling affirming mandatory minimum sentences for people convicted of national security crimes, potentially affecting dozens of pro-democracy figures standing trial or appealing jail terms. The national security law Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in 2020 after months of democracy protests sets out minimum jail terms for serious offences, a feature rarely seen in the former British colony’s criminal justice […]

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