International

Russia strikes near Lviv airport as bombardment expands across Ukraine

  by Joe Stenson with Danny Kemp and Dmytro Gorshkov in Kyiv Agence France Presse LVIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Russian missiles struck near Lviv’s airport in the far west of Ukraine early Friday, as Moscow expanded a countrywide aerial bombardment campaign that has intensified allegations of war crimes and deliberate targeting of civilians. Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said Russian forces had destroyed an aircraft repair plant — which sits near the Polish border. Ambulance and […]

13-year-old was driving truck in Texas crash that killed nine

HOUSTON, Texas (AFP) — A 13-year-old boy was driving a pickup truck that collided with a van carrying a college golf team in west Texas, killing nine people, officials said Thursday. Six members of the New Mexico-based University of the Southwest golf team were killed in Tuesday night’s crash along with their coach, according to police. The 13-year-old boy and his 38-year-old father who was riding in the pickup truck also died in the accident, […]

Biden to press Xi to get in line over condemnation of Russia

by Sebastian Smith WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Joe Biden will warn his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Friday that he will face “costs” if Beijing rescues fellow authoritarian ally Russia from intense Western sanctions aimed at punishing Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The two leaders’ 9:00 am (1300 GMT) scheduled phone call, their first since a video summit in November, will be a chance to air differences as the United States spearheads an […]

Samoa locks down after first community Covid-19 case

APIA, Samoa (AFP) — The Pacific island nation of Samoa sealed its borders Friday as it prepares to enter a nationwide lockdown after recording its first case of Covid-19 in the community. The government issued an emergency order suspending all international travel by air and sea in the wake of the positive case, which was detected Thursday on the main island of Upolu. The nation of about 200,000 has been one of the few places […]

Zelensky urges US help against Russia — and gets $1 bn more weaponry

  by Sebastian Smith and Frankie Taggart Agence France Presse Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky made a desperate appeal for help against Russia to the US Congress on Wednesday, and within hours of the speech, President Joe Biden responded by promising $1 billion in new weapons to fight “war criminal” Vladimir Putin’s invading army. The Ukrainian president’s video address from embattled Kyiv, bolstered by a montage of horrific TV footage of Ukrainian civilians under Russian assault, […]

Oil surges back up on Russia tensions

  LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Oil prices soared Thursday on tensions surrounding key producer Russia, as equities diverged with traders tracking interest rate decisions, the Ukraine conflict and China’s pledge to support volatile markets. The price of benchmark oil contract, Brent North Sea crude, jumped more than five percent to return above $100 per barrel after Russia rejected a ruling from the UN’s top court to suspend its Ukraine offensive. “Russia’s invasion is still […]

Mozambique cyclone death toll rises to 53

  JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — The death toll from a cyclone that lashed northern Mozambique last week has risen to 53, authorities in the northern Nampula province said. The last official toll was 22 but 31 more bodies have been found in Mossuril district in the wake of Cyclone Gombe, local authorities said late Wednesday. The area on the Indian Ocean coast is largely inaccessible now as road links have been disrupted by felled […]

Residents survey damage after powerful Japan quake

  by Harumi OZAWA / Charly TRIBALLEAU Agence France Presse SOMA, Japan (AFP) — People in northeast Japan were cleaning up and surveying the damage on Thursday after a powerful 7.4-magnitude quake derailed a bullet train, opened cracks in highways and initially cut power to over two million homes. At least one death was directly caused by the overnight quake, government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno said, but the toll is still being finalised after two suspected […]

US donates more than 500 million Covid vaccines to other countries

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States (AFP) – The United States has given more than 500 million coronavirus vaccines to other countries since the jabs were developed, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday in a statement obtained by AFP. “The United States has now shared over 500 million safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine doses, free of cost, to more than 110 countries and economies around the world — for the sole purpose of saving lives,” Blinken said. Washington aims […]

British-Iranians reunited with family in UK after Tehran release

by Charles ONIANS Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) – Two British-Iranians imprisoned for years in Iran were reunited with their families in the early hours of Thursday, tears of joy and long hugs marking the culmination of years of campaigning and earlier false hopes. Their release on Wednesday came as the British government confirmed it had paid a longstanding debt over a cancelled defence contract, and as major powers inch closer to renewing the […]

Honduran judge grants extradition of ex-president Hernandez to US

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AFP) – A judge in Honduras on Wednesday granted the extradition of former president Juan Orlando Hernandez to the United States where he is wanted for alleged drug trafficking, the Central American country’s Supreme Court of Justice said on Twitter. A judge “decided to accept the request for extradition presented by the Court of the Southern District of New York against ex-president of the republic Juan Orlando Hernandez Alvarado,” the court said. The […]

Ukrainian theatre sheltering ‘more than 1,000’ civilians bombed

KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) – Ukraine claimed Thursday that Russia had destroyed a theatre harbouring more than a thousand people in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, with the toll as yet unknown. Officials posted images that appeared to show the once gleaming whitewashed three-storey theatre hollowed out and ablaze, with bricks and scaffolding piled high. “The invaders destroyed the Drama Theatre. A place where more than a thousand people found refuge. We will never […]