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GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Nearly 4.2 million Ukrainians have fled their country since Russia’s invasion began on February 24, with almost 40,000 pouring into neighbouring countries in the past 24 hours, UN numbers show. The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, said Sunday that 4,176,401 Ukrainians had fled in just over five weeks, up 38,559 from the figure given a day earlier. Women and children account for 90 percent of those who have left […]
by John BIERS Agence France Presse Citing the need to counteract the “Putin price hike” following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, President Biden has announced a sweeping plan to make unprecedented use of US emergency oil stockpiles. Under Biden’s plan, the United States will release up to a million barrels a day every day for six months from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). On Friday, the International Energy Agency announced that a group of 30 […]
by Aymeric Vincenot © Agence France-Presse ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AFP) — The first aid convoy in three months reached Ethiopia’s war-stricken Tigray region on Friday, the UN said, a week after the government and Tigrayan rebels agreed to a conditional humanitarian truce. The UN’s World Food Program said on Twitter that 13 trucks had “arrived safely” in Tigray’s capital Mekele, adding: “More trucks & fuel will follow in morning.” The 17-month war between government forces […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US military could have done more to limit civilian casualties and damage during the battle for the Syrian city of Raqqa that marked the Islamic State’s fall in 2017, according to a report commissioned by the Pentagon. At the end of the nearly five-month battle to free the city from IS, “60 to 80 percent” of it was “uninhabitable” and resentment of the population was directed at the liberators, […]
by Danny Kemp © Agence France-Presse IRPIN, Ukraine (AFP) — The last survivors in the ruins of Irpin have just one word to describe the Russians who have retreated after one of the pivotal battles of the war in Ukraine. “Fascists!” rages Bogdan, 58, as he and his friends walk a dog through a deserted town center that is free of shelling for the first time in a month. His friends nod in agreement. […]
by Joe Stenson © Agence France-Presse LVIV, Ukraine (AFP) – At a secret location in the Ukraine city of Lviv, the windows taped up to ward off unwanted attention, underground hobbyists improvise deadly drones bound for the front line of the war against Russia. On a cluttered table the x-shaped frame of one drone stands among bundles of plastic propellers and sachets of minuscule screws. Soon it will take flight with its payload: a wine […]
SINGAPORE (AFP) — Singapore fully reopened its borders to all vaccinated visitors Friday after a two-year coronavirus closure, with arrivals saying it felt “wonderful” to travel again without onerous restrictions. The aviation hub, a key gateway for people arriving in Asia, joins other countries in the region that have recently dropped travel curbs as they shift to living with Covid-19. Previously, only travellers from a handful of places could enter Singapore without quarantining but […]
SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — Shanghai residents voiced growing frustration on Friday at confusion over a week of snap Covid lockdowns, taking to social media to complain about food shortages and bewildering stay-at-home orders. After initially vowing they would avoid a city-wide lockdown, officials changed tack this week and announced a phased shutdown which divided China’s financial centre in two so authorities can test its 25 million residents. A four-day lockdown of the Pudong area […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Ukrainian helicopters have carried out a strike on a fuel storage facility in Russia’s western town of Belgorod, the local governor said on Friday. “There was a fire at the petrol depot because of an air strike carried out by two Ukrainian army helicopters, who entered Russian territory at a low altitude,” Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on his Telegram channel. Two employees at the storage facilities were injured as a result […]
by Julien GIRAULT with Patrick BAERT in Beijing © Agence France-Presse BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — The EU holds a virtual summit with China on Friday amid increasing alarm over Beijing’s growing proximity with Moscow and its reluctance to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold the videoconference with EU leaders Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen, carrying through on an annual exercise that was skipped last year as tensions simmered. […]
by Danny Kemp © Agence France-Presse KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) Russia threatened Thursday to turn off its gas taps to Europe, opening up a new front in its war in Ukraine amid growing skepticism over Moscow’s claim it is scaling back its onslaught. Over a month into Russia’s invasion of its neighbor, Vladimir Putin’s troops have devastated cities like Mariupol with shelling, killing at least 5,000 people in the port city alone. But they have struggled […]
KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Russian troops on Tuesday vacated Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear power plant after weeks of occupation, but took an unspecified number of captive Ukrainian servicemen with them, officials in Kyiv said on Thursday. “As they ran away from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the Russian occupiers took members of the National Guard, whom they had held hostage since Feb 24, with them,” the state nuclear agency Energoatom said in a statement on Telegram, […]
