International

Ecuador investigates killing of four Galapagos giant tortoises

QUITO, Ecuador (AFP) — Prosecutors in Ecuador on Monday announced an investigation into the alleged hunting and killing of four giant tortoises on the Galapagos Islands, a unique and fragile ecosystem considered a world heritage site. The prosecutor’s office said on Twitter it was investigating the “suspected hunting and killing of four giant tortoises in the Galapagos National Park wetland complex.” A unit that specializes in environmental crimes is collecting testimonies from national park agents […]

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Shelling targets Baghdad’s Green Zone amid deadly chaos after Sadr quits politics

by Guillaume Decamme Agence France-Presse BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Shelling targeted Baghdad’s high-security Green Zone Monday, a security source said, after Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr said he was quitting politics, sparking chaos in which 15 of his supporters were killed. Tensions have soared in Iraq amid a political crisis that has left the country without a new government, prime minister or president for months, and escalated sharply after Sadr’s supporters stormed the government palace following […]

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Last member of Brazilian indigenous community found dead

BRASÍLIA, Brazil (AFP) — The last of his people, a Brazilian indigenous man known only as “the man of the hole” has been found dead, decades after the rest of his uncontacted tribe were killed off by ranchers and illegal miners, officials said. Having lived in complete isolation for 26 years, the man — whose real name was never known to the outside world — was found in a hammock in a hut in the […]

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18 die as Madagascar police shoot at albino kidnap protesters: medic

by Laure VERNEAU Agence France-Presse ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (AFP) — Eighteen people died Monday after police in Madagascar opened fire on what they called a lynch mob angered at the kidnapping of an albino child, a senior doctor told AFP. Dozens were wounded, some of them seriously. “At the moment, 18 people have died in all, nine on the spot and nine in hospital,” said doctor Tango Oscar Toky, chief physician at a hospital in southeastern […]

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IMF approves revival of massive Pakistan loan program

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The IMF board on Monday approved an agreement to revive a massive loan program for Pakistan, as the country grapples with devastating monsoon flooding that has worsened an economic crisis. The Washington-based crisis lender will release $1.1 billion to the country immediately, and has added an additional $500 million to the total size of the package, bringing it to about $6.5 billion. In addition, the International Monetary Fund agreed to […]

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Engine issue forces NASA to scrub launch of giant Moon rocket

by Lucie AUBOURG (AFP) NASA called off a test flight on Monday of its largest-ever rocket in a setback to the ambitious program to send humans back to the Moon and eventually to Mars. “We don’t launch until it’s right,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson said after an engine temperature issue forced liftoff from Kennedy Space Center to be scrubbed. “This is a very complicated machine,” Nelson said. “You don’t want to light the candle until […]

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Filipinos in Libya urged to stay home as deadly clashes kill 32

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Sunday night urged Filipinos in Libya to take shelter at home as deadly clashes in the capital killed 32. In a text message to reporters, DFA spokesperson Ma. Teresita Daza said no Filipino has been reported among the casualties. “The DFA strongly urges our kababayans to take shelter at home or in other safe places while the fighting is ongoing and to contact our Embassy through its hotline […]

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Kremlin urges ‘pressure’ on Ukraine over nuclear plant

Moscow, Russia (AFP) The Kremlin on Monday called for “pressure” on Kyiv to reduce tensions at the Moscow-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southeastern Ukraine that Moscow and Kyiv accuse each other of shelling. “All countries are obliged to put pressure on the Ukrainian side so that it stops endangering the European continent by shelling” the nuclear plant, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. His remarks came as International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi announced […]

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Zaporizhzhia mission ‘hardest in history of IAEA’: Ukraine FM

  Stockholm, Sweden (AFP) The UN atomic watchdog’s mission to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine will be the agency’s hardest to date, Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba warned Monday. “This mission will be the hardest in the history of the IAEA, given the active combat activities undertaken by the Russian Federation on the ground and also the very blatant way that Russia is trying to legitimise its presence,” Kuleba said during a visit […]

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UPDATE: Fire extinguished on ferry off Sweden with 300 aboard

  Stockholm, Sweden (AFP) A fire that broke out on a car ferry carrying 300 people off Sweden’s coast on Monday has been extinguished and the ship will be towed to port, Swedish maritime authorities said. The blaze appeared to have started on a refrigeration lorry on the car deck of the Stena Scandica, which was sailing from Sweden to Latvia. “The fire is out,” Swedish Maritime Administration spokeswoman Lisa Mjorning told AFP. “The ferry […]

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Heatwave-hit Chinese province resumes power to factories

Beijing, China (AFP) The southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan downgraded emergency energy supply measures on Monday, restoring power to some factories after weeks of rolling blackouts due to a heatwave-induced shortage. Parts of Sichuan province and neighbouring Chongqing saw rainfall and lower temperatures beginning Sunday, after weeks of record temperatures higher than 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) and a crippling drought that strained hydropower generators throughout the region. “Reservoir water levels are gradually increasing and the […]

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Tens of millions battle Pakistan floods as death toll rises

  Sukkur, Pakistan (AFP) by Ashraf KHAN Tens of millions of people across swathes of Pakistan were Monday battling the worst monsoon floods in a decade, with countless homes washed away, vital farmland destroyed, and the country’s main river threatening to burst its banks. Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman said a third of the country was under water, creating a “crisis of unimaginable proportions”. Officials say 1,061 people have died since June when the seasonal […]

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