International

Cyclone Batsirai kills six, displaces tens of thousands in Madagascar

by Adele Dhayer Cyclone Batsirai killed at least six people and displaced nearly 48,000 when it struck Madagascar overnight, the national disaster management agency said on Sunday. Cyclone Batsirai weakened overnight but not before wreaking havoc in the poor Indian Ocean island nation which is still reeling from a deadly tropical storm earlier this year. The eastern district of Mananjary was lashed with heavy rains and wind before the cyclone made landfall, forcing local residents […]

Thousands of dead fish found in the Bay of Biscay

Images from the Sea Shepherd NGO shows tens of thousands of dead fish floating on the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, 300 km from the French city of La Rochelle in the Bay of Biscay, allegedly discarded by the “Margiris”, one of the largest fishing vessels in the world. An administrative investigation has been opened.

UN’s Guterres says expects China to let rights chief visit Xinjiang

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told leaders in Beijing he expects them to allow UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet to make a “credible” visit to China including a stop in the troubled Xinjiang region, his spokesman said Saturday. Guterres met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the Winter Olympics, according to a readout of their talks. The UN chief “expressed his expectation that the contacts between the […]

Olympic men’s downhill postponed because of high winds

The Beijing Olympics men’s downhill, one of the Games’ signature events, was postponed Sunday because of high winds. “The jury together with the organisers have decided in the best interest of safety and fairness for the racers to delay,” organisers said. “More information on a new date and start time will be communicated as soon as it is confirmed.” The blue riband event of alpine skiing had been scheduled to start at 11:00am (0300 GMT), […]

Morocco in shock after tragic death of ‘little Rayan’

IGHRANE, Maroc, Feb 6, 2022 (AFP) – Morocco was in shock Sunday after emergency crews found a five-year-old boy dead at the bottom of a well in a tragic end to a painstaking five-day rescue operation that gripped the nation and the world. The ordeal of “little Rayan” since he fell down the well on Tuesday afternoon gained global attention and sparked an outpouring of sympathy online, with the Arabic hashtag #SaveRayan trending. Throughout the […]

New Covid infections in Hong Kong reach record high

Like mainland China and much of East Asia, Hong Kong has long followed a strategy of fighting the virus through contact tracing, targeted lockdowns and lengthy quarantines. And as much of the world has chosen to open up and live with Covid-19, the city has dug in its heels, with Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam insisting she was still committed to achieving “zero-Covid” even as infections mount. On Saturday the city recorded 351 confirmed cases, […]

Myanmar’s Suu Kyi back in court after health no-show

Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi returned to a junta court on Friday after skipping a previous hearing because she felt unwell, a source with knowledge of the case said. Suu Kyi has been detained since her civilian government was ousted in a coup last year that triggered mass protests and a bloody military crackdown, with more than 1,500 civilians killed, according to a local monitoring group. Cut off from the world except for […]

US death toll from Covid-19 surpasses 900,000: tracker

The US death toll from the Covid-19 pandemic surpassed 900,000 on Friday, according to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus tracker. The toll had hit 800,000 dead in mid-December, just a month and a half ago. New cases linked to the Omicron variant are falling, but daily deaths are still rising, with an average of 2,400 now, according to government figures. “Hospitalizations remain high, stretching our healthcare capacity and workforce to its limits in some areas […]

Cyclone Batsirai closes in on eastern Madagascar

As powerful Cyclone Batsirai closed in on eastern Madagascar on Saturday people sought shelter in more secure concrete buildings while others reinforced their roofs with large sandbags. Batsirai is expected to lash the eastern parts of the cyclone-prone Indian ocean island with powerful winds and torrential rains on Saturday. The Meteo-France weather service warned of winds of up to 260 kilometres per hour (162 miles per hour) and waves as high as 15 metres (50 […]

Turkish President Erdogan tests positive for Covid-19

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday he had tested positive for Covid-19 but was not experiencing severe symptoms. “After experiencing light symptoms, my wife and I tested positive for Covid-19. We have a mild infection thankfully, which we learned to be the Omicron variant,” the 67-year-old president said in a tweet. “We remain on duty. We will continue our work from home. We hope for your prayers,” Erdogan added. “God willing we will shake […]

Rescuers enter tunnel to free Moroccan boy trapped in well

Morocco held its breath as rescue workers on Saturday entered a tunnel leading to a pocket where a five-year-old boy has been trapped for days after falling into a well, AFP correspondents said. For five days the complex and risky earth-moving operation has gripped residents of the North African kingdom and beyond, also sparking sympathy in neighbouring Algeria, a regional rival. A medical team was with the rescuers, who still hope to find young Rayan […]

Record heat, forest fires in Colombia’s Amazon in January

January of this year was the hottest month in the Colombian Amazon in a decade, leading to an increase in forest fires in the southeastern region and very likely impacting air quality in the capital Bogota, according to an Environment Ministry report seen by AFP Friday. It said the month of January recorded the “highest hot spot values in the last 10 years” in the Colombian Amazon. The phenomenon occurs, the ministry said, when the […]