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Chad relocates Sudan refugees as army deploys near border

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By Mahamat Ramadane Reuters Chad has begun the emergency relocation of refugees from its border with Sudan as the ‌army prepares to deploy to the area in response to ‌cross-border attacks, an official from the country’s refugee agency told Reuters on Monday. President Mahamat Idriss ​Deby last week ordered the army to prepare to retaliate after a cross-border drone attack from Sudan killed 17 people in Chad including mourners attending a funeral service. A separate government statement last week said Chad had strengthened its ‌security presence at the ⁠border and could potentially carry out operations on Sudanese territory. Initial refugee relocation operations will involve around 2,300 people, more ⁠than half of them women and children, said Saleh Tebir Souleymane, the representative in the border town of Tine for Chad’s National Commission for the ​Reception and ​Reintegration of Refugees and Returnees. They began ​moving people further into Chad, ‌away from the frontier, on Sat...
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Russia launches first rocket from repaired Baikonur launch pad

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 Russia launched a Soyuz rocket from a repaired launch pad ‌at its Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on ‌Sunday, restoring its capability to fly to the International Space ​Station for the first time since the launch pad was damaged last year. At 1200 GMT, a Soyuz-2.1a rocket carrying the Progress MS-33 cargo spacecraft ‌lifted off and ⁠was placed into orbit, Russia’s space agency said. The spacecraft is expected to ⁠dock with the International Space Station on March 24. The launch pad had been out of commission ​since it ​was badly damaged ​in November when a ‌Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft with two Russian cosmonauts and one NASA astronaut on board blasted off. No one was hurt and the crew safely reached the space station, but the incident deprived Russia ‌of its sole means ​of sending crew or cargo ​back to the ​ISS for months. While Russia has other ‌cosmodromes on its own territory ​and Baikonur ​has other launch sites, the damaged launch pad was the only one able to handle ​the So...
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Iran strikes near Israeli nuclear research center as Trump threatens attacks on Iranian power plants

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BY SAMY MAGDY, MELANIE LIDMAN and JILL LAWLESS AP  Iranian missiles struck two communities in southern Israel late Saturday, leaving buildings shattered and dozens injured in dual attacks not far from Israel’s main nuclear research center, while President Donald Trump warned the U.S. will “obliterate” Iranian power plants if it doesn’t fully open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours. The developments signaled  the war  was moving in a dangerous new direction at the start of its fourth week. Trump — who is facing increasing pressure at home to secure the strait as oil prices soar — issued the ultimatum in a social media post while he spent the weekend at his Florida home. Trump said he’s giving Iran 48 hours to open the vital waterway or face a new round of attacks. He said the U.S. would destroy “various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!” Iran warned early Sunday that any strike on its energy facilities would prompt attacks on U.S. and Israeli energy...
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Hospital attack in Sudan kills 64, including 13 children

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 The World Health Organization ​said on Saturday ‌that a strike on a ​hospital in ​East Darfur, Sudan, killed ⁠at least ​64 people, ​including children, medical staff and patients, Director-General ​Tedros Adhanom ​Ghebreyesus said in a ‌post ⁠on X. WHO said the Friday attack on ​Al ​Deain ⁠Teaching Hospital has rendered ​the facility ​non-functional, ⁠cutting off essential medical services ⁠in ​the ​city. “As a result of this tragedy, the total number of fatalities linked to attacks on health facilities during Sudan’s war has now surpassed 2,000,” said Tedros, adding that over the nearly three-year conflict between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the WHO had confirmed the killing of 2,036 people in 213 attacks on healthcare. SOURCE: Reuters and agencies from The Times Of Earth https://ift.tt/ltJ8kr2
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Cubans queue for water in Havana amid fuel and power crisis

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Residents across the Cuban capital hauled buckets and lined up for water from tanker trucks as a combination of fuel shortages and power grid instability ​left thousands ‌of taps dry. State water utility ​Aguas de La Habana confirmed that pumping schedules and supply operations have been ‌disrupted by a lack of ⁠electricity.  “This area is now having ​water problems. People are hauling water and waiting for the water truck,” said resident Lazaro Noblet, while pushing a small handcart loaded with containers. “Since oil is not ‌coming into the country, there is no pumping, because that system runs on electricity.” The energy crunch ‌follows a spike in U.S. pressure on ‌Havana since the January capture of ‌Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Cuba’s primary benefactor.  U.S. President Donald Trump has ‌since ‌cut Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba and threatened tariffs on other suppliers, strangling the ⁠island’s fragile power infrastructure. For many, however, ‌the struggle...
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Kremlin says pause in Ukraine peace talks ‘situational’

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By Guy Faulconbridge and Dmitry Antonov Reuters The Kremlin said on Thursday that talks between Washington, Moscow and Kyiv on ending the war in Ukraine were on “situational pause” following the start of the Iran war, but Ukraine’s ‌president said new discussions were expected this weekend. U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to end the Ukraine war on his return to ‌the White House but has said efforts to resolve the conflict have been one of his biggest disappointments. The Izvestia newspaper said in a front-page story that the Kremlin ​had confirmed a pause in talks on Ukraine and that war in the Middle East could push Kyiv towards compromise. “This is a situational pause, for obvious reasons,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about the Izvestia report. Peskov said that as soon as “our American partners” could pay more attention to Ukrainian affairs, Moscow hoped that the pause could end and that a new round of talks could take place. In Kyiv, Ukrainian P...
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At least 80 insurgents killed as Nigerian troops repel base assault, army says

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By HARUNA UMAR AP Nigerian  soldiers backed by air support repelled an attack Wednesday by suspected Islamic militants on a military base in northeastern Nigeria, killing at least 80 of the assailants, the army said. The militants, suspected members of Boko Haram or the Islamic State West Africa Province, were supported by multiple armed drones when they attacked the base in Mallam Fatori in the state of Borno, near the border with Niger, at around 12:50 a.m., army spokesperson Sani Uba said in a statement. Uba said the troops had anticipated the assault and repelled it with ground ​fire and ​air support, killing at least 80 fighters, including three “high-profile” commanders. The Associated Press could not independently verify the claims. A previous statement by the army put the death toll at over 60. The army spokesperson said four soldiers were wounded evacuated for treatment. He said troops recovered a large cache of weapons from suspected militants, including assault rifl...
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