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by Robbie COREY-BOULET Agence France Presse ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AFP) — Nearly 40 percent of people in Ethiopia’s Tigray are suffering “an extreme lack of food” in the face of an extended de-facto blockade of the war-hit region, a UN agency said Friday. The dire assessment published by the World Food Programme (WFP) comes as humanitarian groups are forced to increasingly curtail activities because of fuel and supply shortages, with aid having to be […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia’s population declined by more than one million people in 2021, the statistics agency Rosstat reported Friday, a historic drop not seen since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Ongoing demographic woes have been exacerbated by the pandemic with Rosstat figures showing more than 660,000 had died with coronavirus since health officials recorded the first case in the country. The new figures continue a downward trend from the previous year […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Moscow doesn’t want war but will not allow its interests to be ignored, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday as tensions continue to simmer over Ukraine. The West has accused Russia of massing 100,000 troops on the border with Ukraine and has threatened unprecedented sanctions if Moscow invades. “If it depends on Russia, there will be no war. We do not want wars,” Lavrov said in an interview with the […]
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Devastating floods that hit Malaysia in recent weeks caused about $1.4 billion in losses, with widespread damage to homes, businesses and factories, the country’s statistics department said on Friday. Heavy monsoon rains triggered the country’s worst flooding in years from mid-December to early January, with about 50 people killed and 125,000 forced from their homes. The disaster caused losses amounting to 6.1 billion ringgit ($1.45 billion), the government’s statistics […]
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Six rockets were fired at the Iraqi capital’s airport at dawn on Friday, causing damage but no casualties, two security sources said. The rockets landed on Baghdad airport’s runways or parking areas, one of the sources said. “One civilian plane has been hit and damaged,” the source said. © Agence France-Presse
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A Japanese man has been arrested for the attempted murder of a doctor he took hostage overnight, reports said Friday. The suspect also shot a nurse, who is severely injured, as he confined the doctor, who is feared dead after the attack, according to public broadcaster NHK. NHK said the 44-year-old doctor was in cardiorespiratory arrest — an expression often used in Japan before a death is confirmed — when he […]
by Cat BARTON / Kang Jin-kyu SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea test-fired two different weapons systems this week, state media said Friday, while highlighting Kim Jong Un’s inspection of an “important” munitions factory. Pyongyang has conducted six weapons tests in January, including firing hypersonic missiles, doubling down on Kim’s call to build “military muscle” with one of the most intense single-month barrages on record while ignoring US offers of talks. The official Korean […]
by Holmes CHAN HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hong Kong’s U-turn on its mandatory three-week quarantine for arrivals follows growing scrutiny of the strict policy after a coronavirus outbreak was traced to a woman infected during her hotel stay. Like mainland China, Hong Kong is one of the few places left in the world still pursuing a zero-Covid strategy that has largely kept the virus at bay but left the finance hub internationally isolated. On […]
by Robin MILLARD Agence France Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The World Health Organization vowed to take action Thursday following a slew of allegations from staff past and present against its Western Pacific regional director, including racist, abusive and authoritarian behaviour. Japanese doctor Takeshi Kasai, who denied the allegations, is accused presiding over a “toxic atmosphere” at the WHO regional office in Manila, with a culture of “systemic bullying and public ridiculing”. The staff, […]
MIAMI, United States (AFP) — The US Coast Guard said Thursday it will soon call off the search for dozens of people missing from a boat that capsized off Florida last weekend in a suspected human smuggling tragedy. Search teams have recovered five bodies, from around 40 people who were on the boat, according to the military branch. “If we don’t receive any additional information today that can refine our search or direct us towards […]
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AFP) — Sweden’s health authority said Thursday that it would not recommend Covid-19 vaccinations for all children aged five to 11, the country again choosing a different coronavirus policy than much of Europe. The Scandinavian country, which controversially opted against any form of lockdown or school closures during the pandemic’s early days, recommended jabs only for children who were at risk. “The vaccines are safe, there are very good vaccines but we […]
JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — Snow carpeted Jerusalem on Thursday as a rare wintry storm swept across Israel and the Palestinian territories as well as the wider Middle East. The cold snap, which has already caused major disruption in Athens and Istanbul, saw heavy snowfall in areas better known for their summer heat. In the alleyways of Jerusalem’s walled Old City, children pelted each other with slushy snowballs after the first flakes fell. By morning, snow […]
