Global News

By Emma Farge and Clement Bonnerot Reuters | Posted by TOE Thousands of displaced residents at an Ebola-hit camp in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have fled after soldiers entered ​the site, UN and Congolese officials said on Thursday, raising concern about ‌the disease’s spread. Security forces went to the Kigonze camp looking for weapons and clashes ensued, causing camp residents to flee over the last week, according to Congolese and health officials The camp for ​some 19,000 displaced residents in Ituri province now lies abandoned, UN Senior ​Ebola Coordinator Julien Harneis said in a statement Reuters reported in June ⁠that more than 30 people had died in the camp in just over a ​month, many from Ebola Two health officials with knowledge of the situation said that about ​1,000 Ebola contacts were resident in the camp. Only about a fifth of those have since been traced, one of the sources added “The enormous challenge of halting the spread...

By Lili Bayer and Mark Trevelyan Reuters | Posted by TOE Russia has warned NATO it would be ready to resort to nuclear weapons if the Western alliance attempted to cut off Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave that borders the Baltic Sea. In a document sent to NATO and seen by Reuters, Moscow accused the ‌alliance of a “dangerous and reckless course” that entailed “high risks of the outbreak of a direct armed conflict”. The document said this included the possibility of “Russian strikes against decision-making centers ‌in the alliance’s member states right from the outset”. “Russia will be ready to use the entire arsenal of forces and capabilities at its disposal, including nuclear weapons, in order to defend its territory should NATO countries undertake any attempt aimed ​at isolating the Kaliningrad Region from the rest of the country,” the diplomatic note said. The warning highlighted Moscow’s urgent concern at...

By Nir Kafri AFP | Posted By TOE Israel’s leader credited the Indian pilot of a Dubai-Tel Aviv flight, as well as the aircraft’s passengers, with averting catastrophe Wednesday after the man was attacked by his co-pilot, sparking a fight for control of the aircraft and forcing an emergency landing. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the co-pilot of the flydubai jet had been trying to crash it and kill all its passengers, with Israel’s foreign ministry denouncing the incident as “an attempted terrorist attack” aimed at damaging the country’s relationship with one of its key Middle Eastern partners. Passengers gave a similar account of the incident, describing rushing the cockpit after the plane suddenly plummeted, losing around 17,000 feet of altitude in the span of a minute, according to the Flightradar24 website. Flydubai said all the passengers — of whom 166 out of 174 were Israeli, according to media reports — were ...

By Reuters | Posted By TOE Somali pirates killed five crew members of the hijacked MT Honour 25 petroleum products tanker before it was rescued by security ‌forces, Somalia’s semi-autonomous state of Puntland said on Tuesday. Puntland’s authorities said they also ‌rescued a second vessel on Tuesday that had been hijacked in May. The deaths aboard the Palau-flagged ship appear ​to be the first at the hands of Somali pirates in over a decade. The ship with 17 crew members was seized by pirates in April during a resurgence of Somali piracy that experts have attributed, in part, to impacts of the Iran war, including elevated oil prices ‌that make tankers more attractive targets. Puntland’s ⁠information ministry said in a statement that a rescue mission had successfully freed the ship and captured 16 pirates. “Before the operation begun, the ⁠pirates on board the ship killed five of the crew. Among those killed were three from Pakistan, one fr...

By Ahmed Rasheed Reuters | Posted by TOE US forces are set to pull out from their last bases in Iraq by Wednesday, a departure celebrated as a victory by Iran and its allies who now have deep influence in the country where 4,500 Americans died during more than two decades of war. Iraqi security experts say the withdrawal — agreed in 2024 under President Joe Biden and carried ‌out by Donald Trump’s administration even as it wages war against Iran — could give Tehran and its powerful allies free rein, while also allowing other US enemies to stage a comeback, including Islamic State. “Iran stands ‌to benefit strategically from the coalition’s departure because it removes a military presence that for years acted as a counterweight to Tehran’s influence in Iraq,” said Jasim al-Bahadli, an Iraqi security analyst specialising in studying armed Shi’ite groups aligned with Iran. He predicted that the pro-Iranian militia groups would ​not only ...

By Javier TOVAR AFP | Posted by TOE Hurricane Polo made landfall on Mexico’s Baja California peninsula on Tuesday, cutting power and causing flooding as the sea breached coastal defenses. The Category 3 storm is the latest in a busy storm season turbo-charged by the El Nino weather phenomenon which has caused unprecedented warming in the equatorial Pacific. Polo hit just south of Las Barrancas, a small fishing village in Baja California Sur state on Mexico’s west side, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said, warning of life-threatening winds and flash flooding. As Polo approached, strong winds churned the sea and waves off Puerto San Carlos, a fishing port of nearly 6,000 people in Baja California Sur. AFP reporters noted that the sea had already breached several sections of a sand barrier, causing water to pour into the street. The town’s power supply was cut, palm trees swayed violently in the wind and Mexican authorities ordered residen...