Global News

By HUIZHONG WU and CHARLOTTE GRAHAM-McLAY AP | Posted by TOE China’s navy test-launched a long-range ballistic missile Monday from one of its nuclear-powered submarines in the South Pacific in a rare move that drew protest and concerns from countries in the region. The missile was launched at 12:01 p.m. and carried a dummy warhead, according the official Xinhua News Agency. China last conducted a missile test in the Pacific two years ago, then  firing an intercontinental ballistic missile  with a dummy warhead. That previous launch in international waters was the first in decades since 1980. The launch was part of routine annual training, complied with international law and practice, and was not directed against any country or target, according to a short statement from Xinhua, which was reposted by the Ministry of Defense. The 2024 launch mirrored testing that the United States does for its own ballistic missile fleet, which experts viewed as an asserti...

By AFP | Posted by TOE Jihadists and their separatist Tuareg allies hit Mali with fresh coordinated attacks Saturday, striking multiple towns and a prison just months after hobbling the country’s military junta with a similar wave of assaults. The fighting comes after the Al-Qaeda-linked JNIM jihadists and Tuareg FLA separatists in late April captured the strategic northern town of Kidal and killed Mali’s defence minister. On Saturday, they carried out their latest offensive in the northern localities of Gao, Anefis and Aguelhok, plus at least three central towns and a prison near the west African nation’s capital. Since coups in 2020 and 2021, Mali has been led by the military. Its junta leaders had promised to restore calm in the vast desert nation that has been grappling with a security crisis since 2012, but so far have mostly failed to deliver. The rebels’ various recent operations are meant to “contribute to weakening and isolatin...

By Louis VAN BOXEL-WOOLF AFP | Posted By TOE Thousands of demonstrators flooded a German city on Saturday, blocking major roads and disrupting public transport, in a bid to shut down the annual congress of the far-right AfD party. About 20,000 people flocked to Erfurt, in Thuringia state, according to police, to protest against the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party that tops national opinion polls. The protesters, led by an alliance dubbed “Resistance”, blocked routes into the city, with some abseiling from a motorway bridge. Several groups staged sit-in blockades around the city centre, according to AFP journalists. But most AfD delegates managed to reach the conference centre where the congress began on time. “It’s important to send a signal against the shift to the right,” demonstrator Lene Krug, 19, from Gera, east of Erfurt, told AFP. “The AfD is an anti-democratic party that spreads hate.” – Calls for ...

By Associated Press | Posted by TOE Moldova’s Prime Minister Alexandru Munteanu announced Friday that he’s stepping down, in a surprise move that automatically triggers the government’s resignation. Munteanu did not give a clear reason for his departure, which comes less than a year after he was sworn in to lead the European Union candidate country’s  pro-Western government  following a tense election widely viewed as a choice between East and West. “Today I end my term as prime minister,” Munteanu wrote in a statement posted on social media. “The moment I understand that I can no longer exercise my mandate in accordance with my principles and beliefs, I choose to walk away.” He added: “I accepted the proposal to be prime minister with a lot of responsibility and strong conviction that I can contribute to changing things for the better.” When a prime minister announces their resignation in Moldova...

BY JON GAMBRELL AP | POSTED BY TOE Iran’s joint military command warned Thursday that all oil tankers moving through  the Strait of Hormuz  must use its approved routes or face a “forceful response,” again  ratcheting up tensions  over a waterway crucial for international energy supplies. The strait, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, has emerged as one of the top issues in negotiations to reach a permanent end to the Iran war. The statement from the Khatam al-Anbiya military command, reported by Iranian state television, comes after both U.S. and Iranian diplomats met with  mediators on Wednesday in Qatar . It wasn’t immediately clear what sparked the threat from Iran. However, the U.S. military’s Central Command had put out a statement about having a meeting with officials from Mideast nations in Bahrain that said “leaders underscored their shared commitment to the free flow of commerce through the Strait of ...

By EDWARD ACQUAH, Associated Press Floods and landslides triggered by days of torrential rain in the capital cities of Ghana and Ivory Coast have left at least 24 people dead, authorities said Tuesday, as emergency workers continued to pull hundreds of stranded residents from submerged buildings. Entire buildings and roads were submerged in Accra on Monday, cutting off access to several areas of the Ghanian capital and in the neighboring city of Tema. At least 12 people have been confirmed dead in Ghana, including a mother and her child who were both swept away in the Achimota-Agbogbloshie district, Alex King Nartey, a spokesperson for Ghana National Fire Service told The Associated Press. In Ivory Coast, several days of rain brought flooding that left more than a dozen people dead, most of them in municipalities of Attécoubé and Yopougon in the capital, Abidjan, according to the Minister of National Cohesion Myss Belmonde Dogo. Local media reported at least nine o...