Global News

By Reuters and Posted by TOE  Somali federal troops drove opposition forces out of one of the country’s biggest cities, Baidoa, on Monday, following heavy clashes ‌that left many people dead, residents told Reuters. Baidoa, which is home to hundreds ‌of thousands of people displaced by conflict and hunger in other areas, was shaken by hours of ​fighting between the federal soldiers and opposition forces loyal to the former president of South West state, Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen. Residents said the clashes in the city centre on Monday were the fiercest since March, when federal forces seized control of Baidoa after Laftagareen’s administration ‌said it was severing ties ⁠with the federal government. Laftagareen then resigned from office. Already struggling to contain a two-decade-old insurgency by the al Shabaab militant group and ⁠stave off famine, the federal government has been facing growing armed resistance from state governments. Sta...

By Kang Jin-kyu, with Matthew Pennington in Washington AFP | Posted by TOE Donald Trump said he ordered the Pentagon to scale back “inappropriate and hostile” military drills with South Korea, hours before the exercises began on Monday. The US president cited his “good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in his latest rebuke to long-standing alliances with Western partners. South Korean officials said the exercises had begun as planned and that they hoped the personal chemistry between Trump and Kim would bring them back to talks. North Korea has not responded publicly, though it has previously voiced anger at the regular joint manoeuvres, which take place in the South. The drills began as American allies in East Asia fret over North Korean displays of weapons capabilities and its growing alignment with Russia as well as traditional backer China. “Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea, I ...

By Hyeyoon Cho Reuters | Posted by TOE North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reaffirmed the deepening of ties with Russia in a message to President Vladimir ​Putin as Pyongyang marked the anniversary of independence from Japan’s ‌colonial rule, KCNA state news agency said on Sunday. Kim was replying to a message of congratulations from Putin marking Saturday’s 81st anniversary of Tokyo’s surrender in World War ​Two. The Russian leader said the bond was forged as ​Soviet soldiers fought against Japan and that cooperation would continue “in ⁠all the sectors”. The North Korean leader expressed hope for the future of ​ties that had “carried forward the history of common struggle for justice and ​precious traditions of friendship”. Pyongyang and Moscow have grown closer since the reclusive state began  deploying troops and weapons  to support Russia’s  war against Ukraine  in what has been Pyongyang’s most ​...

By Olivia Le Poidevin Reuters | Posted by TOE More than 650,000 refugees ‌and asylum seekers in South Sudan risk losing food aid access within weeks due to a severe funding shortfall, potentially forcing some to return to war-torn Sudan in search of help, the U.N. warned on Friday. South Sudan faces  one of the ​world’s worst hunger crises , the World Food Programme and the U.N. refugee agency said. More than ​7.8 million people, over half the country’s population, are experiencing acute food insecurity, while ⁠2.2 million children are acutely malnourished. It is also receiving about 3,000 refugees and returnees a week ​from neighbouring Sudan, where a conflict that erupted in 2023 has triggered one of the world’s largest displacement ​crises following  mass killings, rape and deliberate starvation , according to the U.N. The last food distributions for the most vulnerable 240,000 refugees in South Sudan — out of the 650,000 who had previous...

By Reuters and Posted By TOE Flights at Catania airport in Sicily will remain suspended ​until early Saturday because of ‌ash from Mount Etna’s ongoing volcanic activity, which has forced hundreds of flights ​to be cancelled or rerouted ​over the past week. All arrivals at ⁠the island hub, Italy’s fifth-busiest ​airport by passenger traffic, will be ​suspended through 2 a.m. local time (0000 GMT) on August 15, airport operator SAC said ​in a statement late on ​Thursday. Passengers were advised to check the status of ‌their ⁠flights with their airlines before travelling to the airport. The prolonged restrictions come at the height of the ​summer holiday ​season, ⁠affecting thousands of passengers, and have placed additional  pressure on ​Sicily’s other airports . Mount Etna, Europe’s ​highest ⁠and most active volcano, frequently disrupts operations at Catania airport, whose ⁠operator ​launched  the sale of a ​stake  of at least ...

By Margaux BERGEY AFP | Posted by TOE Millions of people will turn their gaze towards the heavens on Wednesday to witness one of nature’s greatest spectacles — a rare total solar eclipse — as it sweeps over mainland Europe to briefly turn day into night. The Moon is first expected to blot out the Sun, leaving only the shimmering glow of its outer corona, in Russia’s remote Arctic north, before parts of Greenland and Iceland are enveloped in the arc of its eerie shadow. Excitement was highest in Spain, where tourists thronged the streets of normally quiet villages to experience the dramatic natural phenomenon as the eclipse’s narrow path cuts across the Iberian Peninsula from the northern Atlantic coast to the Mediterranean Sea in the south. Mainland Europe has not experienced a total solar eclipse for 20 years while Spain has not witnessed one in more than a century. Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, however, has not seen a total sola...