Morocco quake survivors pack donkeys with supplies to reach cut-off villages
Outside Agndiz, Morocco Reuters With many roads still blocked by landslides, some Moroccan villagers on Wednesday loaded donkeys with supplies to take to remote areas inaccessible by vehicle, as some earthquake survivors’ frustration mounted at the pace of official response. The 6.8 magnitude quake that struck the High Atlas Mountains late on Friday killed at […]
Ukraine says serious damage to Russian naval targets in Crimea attack
Kyiv, Ukraine Reuters Ukraine said it struck Russian naval targets and port infrastructure early on Wednesday in the Crimean city of Sevastopol, in what appeared to be the biggest attack of the war on the home of the Russian navy’s Black Sea Fleet. A Ukrainian intelligence official said a large vessel and a submarine struck […]
Catastrophic Libya flood kills thousands, desperate relatives search for survivors
Derna, Libya Reuters Residents of the devastated Libyan city of Derna desperately searched for missing relatives on Wednesday and rescue workers appealed for more body bags, after a catastrophic flood that killed thousands of people and swept many out to sea. Swathes of the Mediterranean city were obliterated by a torrent of water unleashed by […]
Fire at Vietnam apartment block kills 56
Hanoi, VietnamReuters A fire at an apartment block in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi has killed 56 people, among them children, and injured 37, police said on Wednesday. The fire broke out during the night in a nine-storey building, home to about 150 residents, according to the official Vietnam News Agency, which said the blaze was contained […]
Los Angeles names intersection in memory of woman who sparked Iran protests
Los Angeles, USReuters The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday voted to name a street intersection in memory of Mahsa Amini, whose death in the custody of the morality police in Iran nearly a year ago sparked months of nationwide protests there. Demonstrators display images of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman who died […]
Near UN in Geneva, giant fresco advocates for world without weapons
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters On the square across from the United Nations in Geneva, Swiss-French artist SAYPE has used eco-friendly paint to create a giant fresco intended to draw attention to the plight of civilians in armed conflicts. Working with the Handicap International charity, the 34-year-old painted a gigantic hand on a grass canvas using chalk and […]
StrangeSights: Montenegrins vie to be ‘Laziest Citizen’; Argentinian students celebrate Messi with bottle cap mural; and, Pope spars with Stallone…
DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
“This is betrayal”: Moroccan who lost parents in earthquake angry over government response
Talat N’Yaaqoub, Morocco Reuters A man who lost both parents in Morocco’s earthquake said he felt betrayed by the government’s response after it took four days for digging machinery to reach the remote town where his mother and father were buried under their collapsed four-storey home. Hoping they might still be alive, Jamal Rbaki desperately […]
Reports of forced retirement prompt defiance from embattled US Catholic bishop
United StatesRNS As rumours swirl that Pope Francis may ask for the resignation of US Catholic Bishop Joseph Strickland, the firebrand conservative who oversees the Diocese of Tyler in Texas said he has heard nothing from the Vatican but signaled he would not give up his post voluntarily. According to public Vatican records, Pope Francis met […]
Colombia was deadliest country for environmentalists in 2022 – advocacy group
Bogota, Colombia Reuters Colombia was the deadliest country for environmentalists in 2022, with at least 60 environmental and land rights defenders killed there, British advocacy group Global Witness said in a report on Tuesday. Global Witness found at least 177 environmentalists were killed globally last year. Latin America accounted for 88 per cent of the […]