Other News

Covid lowered life expectancy by 1.6 years worldwide: study

By Daniel Lawler PARIS, March 11, 2024 (AFP) – Covid-19 caused the average life expectancy of people worldwide to fall by 1.6 years during the first two years of the pandemic, a more dramatic decline than previously thought, a major study said Tuesday. This marked a sharp reversal during a decades-long rise in global life expectancy, according to hundreds of researchers sifting through data for the US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). “For […]

TikTok dragged into US election as Trump opposes ban

By Alex Pigman Agence France-Presse (AFP) — In a major reversal, former US president Donald Trump on Monday said he was against a ban of TikTok as the fate of the popular video-sharing app was dragged into the US election campaign. Years of on-and-off attempts of banning the Chinese owned app have resurged in the United States with the introduction of a bill in Congress that could see the app forced to cut ties with […]

European arms imports nearly double over Ukraine: study

By Johannes LEDEL STOCKHOLM, March 11, 2024 (AFP) – Weapons imports to Europe nearly doubled over the past five years, partly due to the war in Ukraine, while exports from Russia halved, researchers said on Monday. Ukraine has become the world’s fourth largest arms importer, while France has replaced Russia as the world’s second largest exporter behind the United States. Arms imports to Europe rose by 94 percent in 2019-2023, compared to the preceding five-year […]

China, Russia, Iran holding joint naval drills

BEIJING, March 11, 2024 (AFP) – The navies of China, Russia and Iran are staging joint drills in the Gulf of Oman this week, Beijing said Monday. The military activities — to be conducted from Monday through Friday — are aimed at “jointly maintaining regional maritime security”, according to a statement published on social media platform WeChat by China’s defence ministry. “China will send… guided-missile destroyer Urumqi, guided-missile frigate Linyi and comprehensive supply ship Dongpinghu […]

NATO prepares for Russian threat in harsh Arctic

By Max DELANY BADDEREN , Norway, March 11, 2024 (AFP) – Finnish conscript Atte Ohman readied himself aboard a US landing ship to storm a snow-swept Norwegian beach as part of a rapid response unit pushing out an invading enemy. “There is a saying that ‘if you want to keep the peace, you need to prepare for war’,” the 19-year-old corporal told AFP, clutching his automatic rifle. “That’s what we’re doing.” The simulated assault on […]

India tests missile capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads

  NEW DELHI, March 11, 2024 (AFP) – India has successfully test-fired a domestically developed ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads for the first time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Monday. Modi said he was “proud” the launch of “the first flight test of indigenously developed Agni-5 missile with Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) technology”, in comments on social media platform X. The MIRV technology enables the Agni-5 to carry several nuclear […]

Former senior UK Tory, suspended by PM Sunak, defects to fringe right-wing party

LONDON, March 11, 2024 (AFP) – Embattled UK leader Rishi Sunak suffered a fresh blow Monday when a former ally defected to a right-wing populist party that is worrying the ruling Conservatives ahead of this year’s general election. Lee Anderson announced that he was joining Reform UK, weeks after he was suspended from Sunak’s Conservative party over comments widely condemned as racist and Islamophobic. The 57-year-old former deputy chair of the Tories becomes the first […]

Princess of Wales apologises over edited photograph

By Joe JACKSON LONDON, March 11, 2024 (AFP) – Catherine, Princess of Wales on Monday apologised and admitted to editing an official portrait of her released by the palace, after AFP and other agencies withdrew the image. Kate, 42, has not been seen in public since attending a December 25 church service, and underwent abdominal surgery in January, fuelling speculation about her health, particularly online. Her Kensington Palace office on Sunday sought to dispel rumours […]

Sweden joining NATO shows Putin ‘failed’: Stoltenberg

By Marc BURLEIGH and Olivier BAUBE BRUSSELS, Belgium, March 11, 2024 (AFP) – NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Monday that Sweden’s accession to the US-led alliance showed Russian President Vladimir Putin had “failed” in his Ukrainian war strategy of weakening it. The Kremlin’s invasion not only prompted formerly non-aligned nations Sweden and Finland to come under NATO’s defence umbrella, but now “Ukraine is closer to NATO membership than ever before,” Stoltenberg said. His comments, made […]

EU says all diplomatic personnel evacuated from Haiti

BRUSSELS, Belgium, March 11, 2024 (AFP) – The European Union has evacuated all its diplomatic personnel from Haiti because of “the dramatic deterioration of the security situation” there with armed gangs taking control of much of its capital, a spokesman said Monday. “Currently we have removed and evacuated all the EU staff from Haiti,” said European Commission spokesman Peter Stano. The European Union is “extremely concerned” about developments in Haiti over recent days, he added. […]

Deadliest jihadist attacks in Europe since 2004

On March 11, Spain marks 20 years since Europe’s worst Islamist attack when militants claiming to be acting on behalf of Al-Qaeda bombed commuter trains in Madrid, killing 192 people and wounding nearly 2,000 others. The perpetrators said the attack was revenge for Spain’s role in the US-led invasion of Iraq. A decade later, jihadists invoked the West’s intervention against the Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq and Syria to unleash a new wave of […]