Global News

By Conor Humphries and Padraic Halpin Reuters Protesters calling for further government help to lower the cost of fuel clogged up busy thoroughfares and motorways ‌with parked lorries and tractors across Ireland on Wednesday, disrupting commuters and public transport ‌for a second successive day. Convoys of vehicles began converging on Dublin’s city centre and other towns and cities on ​Tuesday, with protesters, including hauliers and farmers, complaining that a 250 million euro package to temporarily cut taxes on petrol and diesel did not go far enough to cushion the knock-on cost of the Middle East conflict. “With the price we’re paying for fuel, I’m probably two months away from my ‌business folding,” said Christopher Duffy, ⁠46, an agricultural contractor who was part of a group blocking Dublin’s main thoroughfare of O’Connell Street that is calling for the price of diesel ⁠to be capped at a lower rate. “It’s not a lot to ask for really… We’re just backed into a corner.” Minis...

By Kang Jin-kyu AFP North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles on Wednesday, South Korea’s military said, hours after reporting an “unidentified projectile” launched from the North’s capital area the previous day. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has sought to repair ties with North Korea since taking office last year, criticising his predecessor for allegedly sending drones to scatter propaganda over Pyongyang. The launches follow Seoul’s expression of regret on Monday over civilian drone incursions into the North in January, with President Lee calling it “irresponsible” and noting that government officials had been involved in the operation. They are seen as North Korea’s latest rebuff of South Korea’s peace overtures, according to analysts. Seoul’s military said early Wednesday it had detected “an unidentified projectile” launched from the Pyongyang area a day earlier. About an hour later, the military said it also detected “multiple unidentified ballistic m...

By Joey Roulette and Steve Gorman Reuters Four astronauts blasted off from Florida on Wednesday on NASA’s Artemis II mission, a high-stakes voyage around the moon that marks the United ​States’ boldest step yet toward returning humans to the lunar surface later this decade in a race with China. NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, topped with its Orion crew capsule,  roared to ‌life  just before sunset at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying its debut crew – three U.S. astronauts and a Canadian astronaut – into Earth orbit. The 32-story-tall space vehicle thundered into clear skies trailing a towering column of thick, white vapor. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the launch was an opening act for subsequent missions that would include construction of a moon base to support the “enduring presence we’re trying to create on the surface.” If the mission proceeds as planned,  the crew  consisting of ​NASA astronauts Reid Wis...

By Harold Isaac and Sarah Morland Reuters  Armed men mounted further attacks in Haiti’s breadbasket Artibonite region on Tuesday, days after a gang’s ‌weekend assault in the area of Jean-Denis left some 70 people dead, according to human rights groups and local residents. National police said it was conducting operations in several parts of Artibonite on Tuesday. Residents of Jean-Denis counted 70 bodies on Sunday morning after an attack by the Gran Grif  gang , the National Network ​for the Defense of Human Rights (RNDDH) said in a report, matching the estimates of the Defense Plus rights group but ​far above official estimates, which put the death toll at around 16. RNDDH said some 30 more ⁠people were wounded, and victims included infants, pregnant women, teenagers and an 80-year-old man. Armed men withdrew from Jean-Denis on Monday, RNDDH ​said, but on Tuesday they repositioned themselves in nearby Pont Benoit and were attempting to launch another offensive in th...

 Somalia’s national army ​took control of the biggest city in South West state ‌on Monday, prompting the regional leader to resign two weeks after his administration said  it was severing ties  with the federal government. The strategic city of Baidoa, ​the administrative capital of South West state, is home to ​international peacekeepers and humanitarian agencies in an area affected by ⁠drought, conflict and displacement. “Federal forces have taken over Baidoa, … it is ​now calm … but it looks like a ghost town,” local elder ​Adan Hussein told Reuters. A shopkeeper in Baidoa, Hussein Abdullahi, said federal troops were in control of his part of the city, which is about 245 km (150 miles) ​northwest of the capital Mogadishu. South West state president Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed ​Laftagareen wrote in a statement on Facebook that he had resigned, days after ‌being ⁠re-elected for another five-year term. Many residents have fled Baidoa over the past week and some aid agenc...

By Laurent THOMET AFP US President Donald Trump said Sunday that Moscow could send oil to Cuba despite Washington’s de facto fuel blockade, as a Russian tanker was expected to deliver some much-needed crude to the crisis-hit island. While the shipment would give the country some relief, Trump renewed his threats against the communist government, predicting that it would fail “within a short period of time.” The Anatoly Kolodkin, which is carrying 730,000 barrels of crude, was off northeast Cuba on Sunday evening and is expected to dock in the western port of Matanzas by Tuesday, according to shipping tracker MarineTraffic. It would be the first shipment of oil to the island since January, bringing some temporary relief to the country of 9.6 million people that has endured a deepening energy and economic crisis. “If a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem with that, whether it’s Russia or not,” Trump told reporters as he flew back to Washington from ...