BANGKOK – A powerful earthquake has killed more than 1 600 people in war-torn Myanmar and neighbouring Thailand, and caused widespread damage. Here is what we know about relief efforts. China sent an 82-person team of rescuers to Myanmar on Saturday, Beijing said. A separate rescue team arrived in Myanmar’s commercial hub Yangon on Saturday,...
JERUSALEM – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday warned Hamas that Israel would seize territory in Gaza if the militants refused to release hostages still held in the Palestinian territory. Israel resumed intense air strikes across the densely-populated Palestinian territory last week, followed by ground operations, shattering the relative calm of a January ceasefire with Hamas....
SANAA – Huthi media said 19 strikes hit rebel-held parts of Yemen, mostly Saada, blaming the United States, with the group later announcing they targeted a US warship and Israel. Al-Masirah TV reported that “the US aggression launched 17 raids on the Saada governorate during the night”, and earlier said two raids hit Amran.The Iran-backed...
ISTANBUL – Protesters were defiant yesterday despite a growing crackdown and nearly 1 500 arrests as they marked a week since the start of Turkey’s biggest street demonstrations against the rule of president Recep Tayyip Erdogan since 2013. The protests erupted on 19 March after the arrest of Istanbul opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu as part...
LIBREVILLE – A Gabonese squadron halts to salute a French colonel at one of France’s last military bases in Africa, which is now “shared” with the host nation and focused on training. The “Academie militaire” (Military Academy) sign at the entrance of De Gaulle camp in the capital Libreville has replaced “6th Marine Infantry Battalion”,...
JUBA – The South Sudan opposition said one of its army bases near the capital Juba was bombarded late Monday as Washington warned it was “deeply concerned” by escalating violence between the rival factions. Clashes between forces allied to president Salva Kiir and his long-time rival, first vice president Riek Machar, have left their 2018...
JERUSALEM – The Israeli army yesterday said it had again struck two military bases in central Syria, a day after the European Union’s foreign policy chief warned strikes there and in Lebanon risked escalation. “A short while ago, the IDF struck military capabilities that remained at the Syrian military bases of Tadmur and T4,” the...
SANAA – The first US strikes against Yemen’s Huthis since Donald Trump took office killed 31 people, the rebels said yesterday, with the US president warning “hell will rain down upon” the Iran-backed group if it did not stop attacking shipping. The Huthis, who have attacked Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war,...
ADDIS ABABA – The African Union yesterday said the announcement of a parallel government in war-torn Sudan risked cleaving the country, already ravaged by nearly two years of unrest.The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has been locked in a brutal conflict with Sudan’s army (SAF) since April 2023 in a war that has claimed tens...
MAPUTO – The latest cyclone to hit northern Mozambique has claimed at least six lives and destroyed more than 900 homes, authorities said yesterday, as the storm weakened.Cyclone Jude hit the Indian Ocean country on Monday, bringing winds of up to 195 kilometres an hour and more than 250mm of rain within 24 hours, the...