Niger junta meets Nigeria envoys ahead of summit with regional leaders
Niamey NigerReuters Niger’s military junta met with two Nigerian envoys on Wednesday, offering hope for dialogue before a summit with regional leaders that could result in military action to restore democracy. The talks took place as Niger accused France of violating its airspace, attacking a military camp and freeing “terrorists” to undermine the country. Paris […]
Maui wildfires kill six as “apocalypse” strikes Hawaiian paradise
Kahului, Hawaii, USReuters Wildfires fanned by winds of a distant hurricane killed at least six people and devastated much of Hawaii’s Maui island on Wednesday, forcing thousands to evacuate as some people fled into the ocean to escape the smoke and flames. Multiple neighbourhoods were burnt to the ground as the western side of the […]
Rainforest countries form pact to demand conservation cash from rich nations
Belem, BrazilReuters A dozen rainforest countries formed a pact on Wednesday at a summit in Brazil to demand developed countries pay to help poorer nations combat climate change and preserve biodiversity. The joint statement, titled “United for Our Forests,” was issued by Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Guyana, Indonesia, Peru, the […]
Forty-one feared dead in migrant shipwreck in central Mediterranean
Rome, ItalyReuters Forty-one migrants are thought to have died in a shipwreck last week in the central Mediterranean, Italian authorities and United Nations agencies said on Wednesday, citing survivors who have been taken to the Italian island of Lampedusa. Local public prosecutor Salvatore Vella and three UN agencies confirmed media reports that four people who […]
Eleven dead in fire at French holiday home for disabled
Wintzenheim, France Reuters Eleven people died in a fire that tore through a holiday home for disabled people in eastern France in the early hours of Wednesday, officials said. The blaze broke out around 6.30am as the holiday-goers with learning disabilities and their carers were still asleep in the two-storey building in the town of […]
US nurse, child safely released in Haiti two weeks after kidnapping
Reuters A US nurse and her child have been safely released after their kidnapping in Haiti two weeks ago, a faith-based humanitarian aid organisation where the nurse works said on Wednesday. View shows the “El Roi”, a Christian community site where the American nurse Alix Dorsainvil used to work before being kidnapped with her child, […]
China’s Beijing reports 33 deaths from flooding, 18 still missing; Japan’s north braces for another storm
Beijing, China/Tokyo, JapanReuters There have been 33 deaths from heavy floods in China’s capital of Beijing as of 8th August, with 18 still missing, Beijing Daily reported on Wednesday. The disaster has stricken nearly 1.29 million people, causing the collapse of 59,000 homes and seriously damaging 147,000 homes, the newspaper said. Passersby walk in a […]
Broken promises drive exiled hunter-gatherers back to Congolese gorilla refuge
Kahuzi-Biega National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo Reuters In the forested borderlands of eastern Congo, some members of an exiled hunter-gatherer community plan to move back into their ancestral land in a national park in protest over broken promises from the authorities they say put rare gorillas over their rights. An estimated 10,000 Indigenous Batwa live […]
StrangeSights: World’s youngest ref?; church attempts to set a new clapping record; and, buffalo racing…
DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
Organise or fight? Three years in exile, Belarus opposition divided about path
Warsaw, PolandReuters Pavel Maryeuski, 33, was an activist committed to peaceful politics who had never held a weapon, when he fled his native Belarus after President Alexander Lukashenko’s crackdown on protests following an election three years ago. Last year, when Russia invaded Ukraine, he felt the call to battle, and joined a Belarus volunteer unit fighting in support of […]