Global News

By Associated Press | Posted by TOE Yemen’s Houthis  said they attacked an oil facility Sunday in southwestern Saudi Arabia, the latest attack by the Iranian-backed rebels on the kingdom. Meanwhile,  Iran  has made new demands about the reopening of the  Strait of Hormuz , and the  Pentagon is pressing the U.S. defense industry  to accelerate production of weapons. Here’s a look at developments across the Middle East on Sunday. Full coverage can be found  here . Houthis target Aramco refinery Yahya Saree, a military spokesperson for the Houthis, said they targeted an Aramco refinery in the city of Jazan with a drone. The attack was in response to Saudi drones’ breaching Yemen’s airspace over the provinces of Hajjah and Saada, he said. Early on Sunday, the Saudi Energy Ministry reported a fire at a facility belonging to the Aramco refinery without casualties. The ministry said the fire was extinguished but it...

By Associated Press | Posted by TOE  Authorities in eastern China shut schools and tourist sites as Typhoon Dolphin made its way toward land on Saturday. The storm’s maximum sustained winds were estimated at about 162 kilometers per hour (101 mph). It will bring heavy rains, creating a risk of severe flooding as well as landslides and is expected to hit Zhejiang province and northern parts of neighboring Fujian province late Sunday. Shanghai is also in the path of the storm. Forecasters predicted that areas could see 200-400 mm (7.9–15.7 inches) of rainfall over the next few days. National authorities declared a level III emergency response, the second lowest level. Many tourist destinations in Zhejiang are shut Saturday and Sunday, as well as all water-based activities, including ferries and cruises. Authorities in the city of Ningbo, one of the province’s largest, ordered schools and other educational facilities shut this weekend and all water-related act...

By TIAN MACLEOD JI AP | Posted by TOE A student shot several people at a high school outside Bangkok on Friday, killing at least six people and wounding several others, police said. The shooting happened at the Debsirin Nonthaburi School in Nonthaburi province northwest of the national capital, Royal Thai Police spokesperson Trairong Piwpan told The Associated Press. A witness told reporters that students hid inside a classroom while they heard gunshots from another building before police officers knocked on the door and cleared a way for them to leave the building. About an hour after the shooting, people stood outside the school comforting one another and police and first responders walked around inside the school. Authorities gave conflicting information on the casualties that could not immediately be reconciled. Trairong told news broadcaster Channel 3 the shooter was being hospitalized in serious condition and 15 others were injured, with two in critical c...

By AFP | Posted by TOE Iran and Oman have agreed a route for ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz and were finalising arrangements for jointly managing the strategic waterway, Tehran said Wednesday, even as fresh security incidents highlighted continued risks for regional shipping. The agreement would be a step towards reopening the key energy route, but official sources briefing Iranian media stressed that any easing still hinged on Washington ending its own naval blockade of Iran’s ports. Iran has exercised de facto control of the waterway and threatened any vessels transiting routes it deems unauthorised ever since the United States and Israel launched their war against the country on February 28. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly insisted Tehran is keen for a deal to reopen Hormuz, but Iran has denied this and said it will instead make arrangements with its neighbour across the strait, Oman. “The geographical coordinates of the route env...

By Johan ORDÓÑEZ with Henry MORALES in Guatemala City | Posted by TOE Hundreds of people living on the slopes of Guatemala’s Fuego volcano evacuated their homes Tuesday after a huge eruption spewed lava and plumes of ash. Emergency services issued a red alert, the most severe warning, after Central America’s most active volcano erupted Monday morning, with conditions intensifying by nightfall. Rivers of lava streamed down the 3,763-meter (12,346-foot) volcano located less than 100 kilometers from Guatemala City, while ash rose some six kilometers into the red sky. “Since early morning it was active. That night, the alarm was raised that we needed to evacuate,” local resident Alejandro Garcia, 68, told AFP. Villagers left of their own accord out of fear, Garcia said, describing terrifying scenes of lava oozing down the mountainside. Firefighters said they transported at least 500 residents of the El Porvenir and Las Lajitas villages to the...

By Reuters | Posted by TOE More sunny weather is needed across most of Ivory Coast’s cocoa-growing regions to support the September-to-February main crop, farmers ‌said on Monday, after below-average rainfall and a cooling spell last week. • ‌The world’s top cocoa producer is currently in its rainy season, which typically runs from April to ​mid-November. • Several farmers across the country said the soil moisture content was still high enough to support tree development for several weeks. • Farmers said prospects at the moment were promising, but warned that without proper application of fertilisers and pesticides in plantations ‌this month, fruits would die ⁠and reduce the expectation of a good crop. • “It can get very cold at times. Now is the time to treat the crops, ⁠otherwise there will be significant losses,” said Kouassi Kouame, who farms near the western region of Soubre, where 0.6 mm of rain fell last week, 11.6 mm below ​the five-y...