International

BBC sport output in chaos as Lineker taken off air in asylum row

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Saturday 3/11/2023 by James PHEBY The BBC’s sport service was in meltdown on Saturday after pundits and commentators refused to work in support of presenter Gary Lineker, who was forced to “step back” after accusing the government of using Nazi-era rhetoric. Match of the Day presenter Lineker, England’s fourth most prolific goalscorer, sparked an impartiality row by criticising the British government’s new policy on tackling illegal immigration. The 62-year-old […]

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Indonesia’s Merapi volcano erupts, covers villages in ash

Yogyakarta, Indonesia | AFP | Saturday 3/11/2023 Indonesia’s Mount Merapi, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, erupted on Saturday, spewing out smoke and ash that blanketed villages near the crater. There were no immediate reports of casualties, the country’s disaster mitigation agency said. Images broadcast on local outlet Kompas TV showed ash-covered houses and roads at a village near the volcano, located on Java Island, near Indonesia’s cultural capital Yogyakarta. The Merapi Volcano Observatory […]

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Wagner says Russian fighters near central Bakhmut

Moscow, Russia | AFP | The chief of Russian mercenary group Wagner has said in a clip posted Saturday that his forces are close to the centre of the frontline hotspot of Bakhmut. In a video posted on messaging app Telegram, Yevgeny Prigozhin is seen standing on a roof of a high-rise building in what is said to be Bakhmut. “This is the building of the town administration, this is the centre of the town,” Prigozin said […]

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Li Qiang appointed Chinese premier as Xi asserts influence

Pekín, China | AFP | Li Qiang, one of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s most trusted allies, was confirmed as premier on Saturday, as Xi cements his influence on the country’s top leadership. Li, the former Shanghai party chief who oversaw the city’s gruelling two-month lockdown last spring, was named the successor of outgoing premier Li Keqiang at a meeting of the country’s rubber-stamp parliament. The 63-year-old received nearly every vote from the more than 2,900 […]

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‘Pineapple express’ storm wallops California

Dozens of evacuation orders were in place Friday as a powerful atmospheric river, known as a “Pineapple express,” surged into an already-sodden California, sparking warnings of widespread flash flooding. Up to nine inches (23 centimeters) of rain were expected in some parts of the state, with several feet of heavy, wet snow falling over mountains where a huge snowpack has built up over months of near-record storms. Forecasters said the Pineapple Express — so called […]

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Freddy may break tropical cyclone record: UN

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | by Robin MILLARD Tropical storm Freddy is on track to break the record as the longest-lasting cyclone of its kind, the United Nations said Friday, as the killer storm was set to hit Mozambique once again. “Freddy is continuing its incredible and dangerous journey,” Clare Nullis, spokeswoman for the UN’s World Meteorological Organization, told reporters in Geneva. Freddy has been a named tropical cyclone for 33 days since developing off […]

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First rains hit Mozambique as Cyclone Freddy inches closer, again

  Maputo, Mozambique | AFP | Intense rains and winds started to lash parts of Mozambique on Saturday as Tropical Cyclone Freddy bore down on the country for the second time in as many weeks, authorities said. Freddy, which is on track to become the longest-lasting cyclone on record, slowed its advance towards the southern African nation and was 60 kilometres (40 miles) off the coast on Saturday morning, according to the Mozambique National Meteorology […]

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North Korea’s Kim orders intensified ‘real war’ drills

  Kim Jong Un ordered North Korea’s military to intensify drills for a “real war”, state media reported Friday, as the leader oversaw a fire assault drill with his daughter in tow. Photographs showed Kim and his daughter, both wearing matching black jackets, accompanied by uniformed officers as they watched an artillery unit fire a volley of missiles on Thursday. The South Korean military said yesterday it had detected the launch of one ballistic missile and […]

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What to expect from Xi’s next five years as Chinese president

Xi Jinping on Friday sealed a historic third term as China’s president. AFP examines how he is expected to handle the key issues facing the country: – Slowing economy – China’s slowing economy will likely dominate Xi’s next five years but his decision to pack the Communist Party’s top leadership with loyalists has stoked concerns about him prioritising ideology at the expense of growth. The world’s second-largest economy expanded just three percent last year, widely […]

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Nearly 130,000 facing starvation in Horn of Africa: WHO

Nearly 130,000 people in the Greater Horn of Africa are “staring death in the eyes” from catastrophic hunger, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned Friday. Some 48 million people in the Greater Horn — Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda — are facing crisis levels of food insecurity, the WHO said. That means households skipping meals and depleting savings and assets in order to eat. Of those, six million are facing emergency […]

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Russian President Putin congratulates China’s counterpart Xi Jinping on new term, hails ‘strengthening’ ties

  Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday congratulated Xi Jinping on his third term as China’s leader, hailing the strengthening ties between the two countries. “Dear friend, please accept sincere congratulations on the occasion of your reelection,” Putin said in a statement released by the Kremlin. “Russia highly values your personal contribution toward the strengthening of ties… and strategic cooperation between our nations.” “I am certain that working together, we will ensure the development of […]

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China’s Xi handed historic third term as president

by Peter CATTERALL Xi Jinping was handed a third term as Chinese president on Friday, capping a rise that has seen him become the country’s most powerful leader in generations. His appointment by China’s rubber-stamp parliament comes after Xi locked in another five years as head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in October. Since then, the 69-year-old has weathered widespread protests over his zero-Covid policy and the deaths of countless people after its abandonment. […]

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