WASHINGTON, D.C., United States (AFP) – US President Joe Biden on Thursday urged American citizens to leave Ukraine immediately, and warned about potential major conflict with Moscow should US and Russian troops engage each other on the ground. “American citizens should leave, should leave now,” Biden said in an interview with NBC News. “We’re dealing with one of the largest armies in the world. This is a very different situation and things could go crazy […]
Other News
Australia warns koalas ‘endangered’ as numbers plunge
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) – Australia officially listed koalas across a swathe of its eastern coast as “endangered” on Friday, with the marsupials fighting to survive the impact of bushfires, land-clearing, drought and disease. Conservationists said koala populations had crashed in much of eastern Australia over the past two decades, warning that they were now sliding towards extinction. Environment Minister Sussan Ley said she had designated koala populations as “endangered” to offer them a higher level […]
US calls for talks with Mexico on endangered porpoise
WASHINGTON, D.C., United States (AFP) – Washington has invoked the environmental provisions of the North American free trade pact to urge Mexico to do more to protect the critically endangered vaquita porpoise, officials announced Thursday. The office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) said it is requesting consultations with Mexico under the Environment Chapter of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA. While Mexico last year put in place measures to protect the world’s most endangered […]
Musk to give rare presentation on ambitious Starship rocket
WASHINGTON, D.C., United States (AFP) – Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk is set Thursday night to deliver an eagerly-awaited update on SpaceX’s Starship, a prototype rocket the company is developing for crewed interplanetary exploration. The tycoon will make his presentation at SpaceX’s Starbase facility near Boca Chica, south Texas, at 8:00 pm local time (0200 GMT Friday), against the impressive backdrop of the spacecraft in its fully-stacked configuration, standing 394 feet (120 meters) tall. It will […]
NBA Nets trade Harden to 76ers in deal for Simmons, others: reports
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Three-time NBA scoring champion James Harden was traded by the Brooklyn Nets to the Philadelphia 76ers in a deal for Australian Ben Simmons and others, according to multiple reports Thursday. ESPN and The Athletic reported the deal will deliver the Sixers a backcourt dynamo in Harden as well as Paul Millsap in exchange for Simmons, who has sat out the 2021-22 season, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and two first-round […]
California sizzles in February heatwave
by Paula RAMON LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — A heatwave was bringing unseasonably high temperatures to California on Thursday, sending sun-worshippers to the beach, but also sparking a brushfire. Forecasters issued a heat warning for the most populous US state through to Sunday, warning the mercury could hit a height-of-summer 90 Fahrenheit (32 Celsius) in Los Angeles, well above the average for winter. California, in common with much of the western United States, is […]
Macron says France to build up to 14 new nuclear reactors
BELFORT, France (AFP) – President Emmanuel Macron called Thursday for a “renaissance” for the French nuclear industry, saying he wanted up to 14 new reactors to power the country’s transition away from fossil fuels. “What we have to build today, because it’s the right moment, is the renaissance of the French nuclear industry,” Macron said at a strategic turbine factory in Belfort, northeast France. “I want six EPR2s to be built and we will launch […]
US approves $14 billion sale of F-15 fighter jets to Indonesia
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US State Department on Thursday approved the potential $14 billion sale to Indonesia of 36 F-15 fighter jets and other assorted military equipment. The proposed sale will improve “the security of an important regional partner that is a force for political stability, and economic progress in the Asia-Pacific region,” said a statement, adding that it “will not alter the basic military balance in the region.” © Agence France-Presse
Humpback whale washes up on Channel beach in France
CALAIS, France (AFP) – A female humpback whale nearly 10 metres long (31 feet) was found dead after washing up on a beach near Calais in northern France early Thursday, a rare occurrence on the Channel coastline according to specialists. “It’s an exceptional event for the region,” said Jacky Karpouzopoulos, president of the CMNF mammal preservation association and head of its “marine stranding” team. He said tractors would pull the massive animal, weighing 20 to […]
At least 20 dead, 30 injured in Peru bus crash
LIMA, PERU, At least 20 people, including a four-year-old girl, died and another 30 were injured when a bus crashed off a road into a ravine in northern Peru, authorities said Thursday. The bus rolled down a 100-meter (328-foot) slope in the remote northern Libertad region on Wednesday afternoon, the local government said. News of the crash took hours to filter out due to the remoteness of the region. The bus was traveling from Tayabamba […]
Novavax says Covid vaccine more than 80% effective among teens
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Novavax said Thursday its Covid vaccine was 82 percent effective among adolescents during the period when the Delta variant was dominant, and the US biotech now plans to submit for regulatory approval in this age group. The two-dose vaccine, which is based on synthetic proteins that mimic the spikes that dot the surface of the virus, was found to be safe and effective among more than 2,200 adolescents aged […]
Dozens of SpaceX internet satellites lost to geomagnetic storm
Up to 40 SpaceX high-speed internet satellites have been knocked out of orbit by a geomagnetic storm shortly after launch, but pose little threat to Earth as they burn up in the atmosphere, the company said. Geomagnetic storms are caused by ejections of the solar corona into space, resulting in disturbances to the Earth’s upper atmosphere and increased drag on objects in low orbits. The latest 49 satellites from the Starlink network launched from the […]





