Global News

By AFP | Posted by TOE Iran passed another night without US airstrikes on Sunday, as Washington paused a war nearing its fifth month and reports emerged that concerns over dwindling munitions were restraining plans for further escalation. The lull has revived hopes of a return to negotiations after nearly two weeks of consecutive nightly US bombardments, although US media reported the pause could also reflect pressure on stockpiles of Patriot interceptors and other defensive weapons. Fighting over the strategic Strait of Hormuz derailed diplomatic efforts between Washington and Tehran, but the conflict then expanded beyond the vital energy corridor to include attacks on US bases, regional shipping and Gulf allies. Iran’s army warned on Sunday that the war would widen even further if the US chose to press ahead with attacks, ahead of a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington on Tuesday. “If the Americans once again fall for the Zi...

By AFP | Posted by TOE Ukrainian drones struck a Siberian oil refinery in a fresh wave of strikes Saturday, as Kazakhstan’s president told Russia’s Vladimir Putin the Ukraine war should end during a forum in Siberia’s Omsk.  In occupied Ukraine, Russian-installed authorities said a Ukrainian strike had killed 12 people at a seaside “tourist camp”, as well as one more in a Moscow-held town and two in Russian border villages. Kyiv said Russian attacks had killed five people in eastern and southern Ukraine, and two crew members were missing after a Russian strike on a cargo ship carrying corn. The deaths come as the UN has warned of civilians dying in larger numbers recently in the almost 4.5-year war.  Moscow said Ukraine — which has intensified its retaliatory strikes — launched more than 300 drones into Russia Saturday, including on far-flung regions.  The governor of Siberia’s Tyumen region said a l...

By Associated Press | Posted by TOE A  suicide bomber backed by gunmen attacked  a security checkpoint in northwest Pakistan, killing 15 members of the security forces, the military said Friday. In a statement, the military said troops repelled the overnight assault in Tank, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and killed 12 militants. The military blamed the attack on the  Pakistani Taliban , known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. The group is separate from but allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers. Pakistan has long accused Afghanistan’s Taliban government of providing sanctuary to TTP militants, an allegation Kabul denies. There was no immediate comment from the group. According to the military, the attackers attempted to storm the checkpoint but were pushed back by security forces before ramming an explosives-laden vehicle into the perimeter wall, triggering a powerful blast that severely damaged the checkpoint. The military said those ...

By Ahmed Kingimi Reuters Armed bandits riding motorcycles killed at least 24 farmers and ​wounded several others in an ‌attack on remote farming villages in northwest Nigeria’s Zamfara state, residents told Reuters on Thursday. The attackers stormed communities in the Sauna district ‌of ​the Talata Mafara local ⁠government area at ⁠about 1300 GMT on Tuesday and opened fire on people working on their farms, residents told Reuters. “They killed at ​least 24 innocent farmers. We are still counting the losses,” resident ⁠Auwal Sani said by ⁠phone. Zamfara is at the centre ​of a security crisis in Nigeria’s northwest, ​where armed gangs locally known as ‌bandits frequently raid villages, kidnap residents for ransom and steal livestock. Residents said the gunmen travelled nearly 50 km (31 ⁠miles) along the Mayanchi-Anka highway, a key trade route, before reaching Sauna without encountering security ⁠forces. Police and ‌military authorities were not ⁠immediately avai...

BY AP | POSTED BY TOE More than 1,000 people have died in the Ebola outbreak in Congo, according to Africa’s top health body, a grim toll in the fastest Ebola outbreak in history, as conflict, community resistance and an uneven response fuel its spread. Speaking at a health summit in Ghana on Wednesday, Dr. Jean Kaseya, director-general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said 1,031 deaths have been confirmed. “These are people dying. They are dying because we don’t have vaccines, we don’t have medicine, we don’t have funding,” he added. The latest update from Congo’s Ministry of Health showed that as of Monday, 2,473 cases had been recorded in the latest outbreak. At least 737 patients were in isolation or hospitalized, it said. The outbreak, which was declared on May 15, is unlike most previous Ebola outbreaks because the Bundibugyo virus responsible for it has no approved vaccines or treatments. It h...

BY HANNA ARHIROVA AP | POSTED BY TOE President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Tuesday named a young major general, Mykhailo Drapatyi, as the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s military after days of street protests, marking the biggest shake-up in the country’s military ‌leadership since its war with Russia began. President  Volodymyr Zelenskyy  on Tuesday fired Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi as commander-in-chief of  Ukraine’s armed forces  and named his replacement, following days of mass protests in Kyiv, the country’s capital, and other cities across the nation demanding his removal. It was the  second major change  Zelenskyy has made under street pressure, after protests last summer forced him to undo a law weakening Ukraine’s anti-corruption watchdogs. Zelenskyy appointed Mykhailo Drapatyi as  the new army chief , according to a statement on social media. “Our shared wish is one — victory over the enemy and conditions at the front a...