Senegal disputes reports 300 migrants lost at sea, migrant group disagrees
Dakar, Senegal/Madrid, Spain Reuters Authorities in Senegal have disputed reports that 300 people travelling on three migrant boats from Senegal to Spain’s Canary Islands disappeared last week as “unfounded” and said hundreds had been rescued in Moroccan territorial waters. But the migrant aid group that originally reported the missing boats, Walking Borders, said it believed […]
With 735 million people hungry, UN says world is “off track” to meet its 2030 goal
Reuters About 735 million people worldwide faced chronic hunger in 2022, a figure much higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic and which threatens progress towards a global goal to end hunger by 2030, said the United Nations on Wednesday. A multi-year upward trend in hunger rates leveled off last year as many countries recovered economically […]
NATO allies offer Ukraine security assurances as Biden hits out at “craven” Putin
Vilnius, LithuaniaReuters President Joe Biden accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of having a “craven lust for land and power” at the end of a NATO summit on Wednesday where Ukraine won new security assurances from the US and its allies for its defence against Moscow. Members of the world’s most powerful military bloc offered the […]
Number of displaced by Sudan war surpasses three million – IOM
Reuters The number of people uprooted by a conflict between military factions in Sudan that erupted nearly three months ago has surpassed three million, according to estimates from the International Organization for Migration. More than 2.4 million people have been displaced internally and more than 730,000 have crossed into neighbouring countries, data published late on […]
ASEAN ministers call for unity in tackling Myanmar conflict
Jakarta, Indonesia Reuters ASEAN foreign ministers on Wednesday called for regional unity in addressing an intensifying conflict in Myanmar, amid doubts over the bloc’s capability to implement a two-year-old peace process that has yet to get off the ground. The gathering of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Jakarta comes as patience wears thin […]
Israel occupation makes Palestinian territories “open-air prison” – UN expert
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters A United Nations expert on Tuesday said Israel had transformed the occupied Palestinian territories into an “open-air prison” through widespread detentions of Palestinians, an assertion swiftly dismissed by Israel. Damaged streets are seen after Israeli army’s withdrawal from the Jenin camp, in Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on 5th July,2023. PICTURE: Reuters/Yosri […]
StrangeSights: A screaming woman?; a new pancake record; and, snail racing…
DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
Iraq’s ancient sites, fragile stability spur new trickle of tourists
Baghdad, IraqReuters When Jacob Nemec’s family heard he was planning to go on holiday in Iraq, they pleaded with the 28-year-old American to reconsider. “I got a text from my grandma for the first time in five years saying – being your grandmother and to respect me – I would appreciate if you don’t go. […]
Migration pushes EU population back to growth in 2022
Reuters The European Union’s population rose for the first time in three years in 2022, boosted by migration into the bloc even as more people died than were born, the EU’s statistics office Eurostat said on Tuesday. People wait at the accommodation centre for refugees from Ukraine at former Tegel airport in Berlin, Germany, on […]
Wanted Hong Kong activist’s relatives taken for questioning by police
Hong Kong, ChinaReuters Hong Kong national security police on Tuesday took away exiled activist Nathan Law’s parents and brother for questioning, local media reported, one week after the police issued an arrest warrant and a bounty on Law’s head. Local media, citing unnamed sources, said Law’s relatives were taken away from their homes in Hong […]