Global News

Greek farmers clashed with police on Sunday during protests in central and northern regions over the delayed payment of European Union subsidies prompted by an investigation into a corruption scandal that has rocked the country. Hundreds of farmers took to the streets, blocking roads with their tractors in several areas to protest against the conservative government over an estimated 600-million-euro ($696 million) shortfall in EU aid and other payments. Near the central city of Nikaia, police fired teargas at the protesters who tried to break barricades, a Reuters witness said. The delay in payments comes amid investigations into a scandal in which some farmers allegedly faked land and livestock ownership to receive EU agricultural subsidies. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), which is investigating crimes against the financial interests of the EU, said  this year  it had found evidence that Greek farmers, helped by state officials, misappropriated the EU fun...

By Amal JAYASINGHE AFP Sri Lanka declared a state of emergency on Saturday and appealed for international assistance as the death toll from floods and mudslides triggered by Cyclone Ditwah rose to 153, with another 191 people missing. The extreme weather system has destroyed more than 20,000 homes, sending 108,000 people to state-run temporary shelters, the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) reported. A further 798,000 people required assistance after being temporarily displaced by the floods, DMC spokesman Pradeep Kodippili said. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake invoked emergency powers, granting him sweeping authority to manage the aftermath of the devastation caused by a week of torrential rain across the island. Kodippili confirmed that 153 people had been killed. Among them were 11 residents of an elder care home that was flooded in the north-central district of Kurunegala on Saturday afternoon, police said. Troops from the army, navy, and air force have been deployed along...

The death toll from floods and landslides on the Indonesian island of Sumatra island has risen to 174, up from the previous 94, the country’s disaster mitigation agency said on Friday, adding that dozens remain missing. “As of this afternoon, we have recorded that for the entire North Sumatra province, there have been 116 deaths and 42 people are still being searched for,” National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) chief Suharyanto announced on Friday. He said another 35 were killed in the island’s Aceh province and another 23 in West Sumatra. While the rain had stopped, 79 people were still missing and thousands of families were displaced, he added. Residents in Sumatra’s Padang Pariaman region, where a total of 22 people died, had to cope with water levels at least 1 metre (3.3ft) high, and had still not been reached by search and rescue personnel on Friday. In the town of Batang Toru, in northern Sumatra, residents on Friday buried seven unclaimed victims in a mass grave. The d...

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that efforts to halt Venezuelan drug trafficking “by land” would begin “very soon,” further ratcheting up tensions with Caracas, which claims the anti-drug campaign aims at regime change. Trump made the remarks while video conferencing with deployed US troops to mark the Thanksgiving holiday. Several of the US military groups that Trump addressed were actively participating in his anti-drug operation, dubbed “Southern Spear,” which has seen a large military buildup in the Caribbean. Addressing a Texas-based Air Force bombing unit, Trump, reading from prepared remarks, said: “In recent weeks, you’ve been working to deter Venezuelan drug traffickers, of which there are many.” It was not immediately clear what actions Trump was specifically referencing. The US military has carried out a series of airstrikes against boats it claims were trafficking drugs in international waters, without offering evidence to back up its claims. Those strikes in ...

By Holmes Chan and Tommy Wang AFP Hong Kong firefighters were scouring scorched high-rises Thursday for over 250 people listed as missing, a day after the financial hub’s worst blaze in decades killed at least 55 in an apartment complex. Over 24 hours after fire broke out in the eight-building housing estate with 2,000 units, flames were still visible in some windows as crews sprayed water on the blackened exteriors. Authorities have begun investigating what sparked the disastrous blaze, including the presence of bamboo scaffolding and plastic mesh wrapped around the structures as part of construction work. Hong Kong’s anti-corruption body said it has launched a probe into renovation work at a housing complex, hours after police said they arrested three men on suspicion of negligently leaving foam packaging at the fire site. The intense flames in four of the eight apartment blocks were finally extinguished and the fires in three others were under control, officials said Thursday a...

Turkey’s spy chief met with his Egyptian counterpart and Qatar’s foreign minister in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss transitioning to the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal and increasing joint efforts in coordination with the U.S., a Turkish source said. “During the meeting, (they) also agreed to continue strengthening coordination and cooperation with the Civil Military Coordination Center (CMCC) to eliminate all obstacles to ensure the continuity of the ceasefire and to prevent further violations,” the source said, adding that the three officials also discussed countering Israeli violations of the accord. SOURCE: REUTERS AND AGENCIES from The Times Of Earth https://ift.tt/RqrQLCo

By TUNDE OMOLEHIN, OPE ADETAYO and MARK BANCHEREAU, Associated Press All 24 schoolgirls held by assailants following a mass abduction last week from a school in northwestern Nigeria have been rescued, the country’s president announced Tuesday. A total of 25 girls were abducted Nov. 17 from the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Kebbi state’s Maga town, but one of them was able to escape the same day, the school’s principal said. The remaining 24 were all rescued, according to a statement from President Bola Tinubu, though no details were released about the rescue. “I am relieved that all the 24 girls have been accounted for. Now, we must put as a matter of urgency more boots on the ground in the vulnerable areas to avert further incidents of kidnapping,” the statement quoted Tinubu as saying. The attack in Kebbi was among a spate of recent mass abductions in Nigeria, including a raid Friday on the Saint Mary’s School in north-central Niger state in which more than 3...

By Branko Filipovic and Daria Sito-sucic Reuters A close ally of Bosnia’s Serb Republic separatist leader Milorad Dodik won a snap presidential election in a tight race with opposition candidate, the election commission said on Sunday, citing preliminary results. “According to preliminary, unofficial and incomplete results, Sinisa Karan won 50.89% of the votes,” Jovan Kalaba, the commission’s president, said at a news conference. Turnout was low at 35.78%, compared with 53% during a general vote in 2022, he said. More than 1.2 million people were eligible to vote. The election commission announced results based on 92.87% of counted votes. The presidential mandate will last for less than a year since a general election is scheduled next October. The election was called after Dodik was stripped of his office and banned from politics for six years. Karan, who currently serves as Serb Republic minister of scientific and technological development, pledged to continue Dodik’s policies ...

Three international airlines canceled their flights departing from Venezuela on Saturday, the day after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration  warned  major airlines of a “potentially hazardous situation” when flying over the country. Brazil’s Gol, Colombia’s Avianca and TAP Air Portugal canceled their flights departing from Caracas on Saturday, according to Flightradar24 and the official website of Simon Bolivar Maiquetia International Airport. Aeronautica Civil de Colombia said in a statement there were “potential risks” of flying in the Maiquetia area “due to the deterioration of security conditions and increased military activity in the region.” TAP Air Portugal confirmed it canceled its flights scheduled for Saturday and next Tuesday. “This decision follows information issued by the United States aviation authorities, which indicates that safety conditions in Venezuelan airspace are not guaranteed,” the company told Reuters. Spain’s Iberia also said it was cancelin...

Jamaica has declared an outbreak of the bacterial disease leptospirosis, suspected of causing six deaths, following the devastation from Hurricane Melissa in late October. The Category 5 hurricane slammed into the Caribbean island on October 28, causing catastrophic flooding and landslides with some 30 inches (76 cm) of rain. The resulting stagnant, contaminated water has created a breeding ground for the disease, officials said. Health Minister Christopher Tufton announced on Friday that nine cases were confirmed between October 30 and November 20, with 28 additional suspected cases. Leptospirosis is spread through water or soil contaminated by the urine of infected animals, such as rodents. The infection can enter the human body through cuts in the skin or through the eyes, nose and mouth. While initial symptoms such as fever, headache and muscle aches can be mistaken for the flu, the disease can progress to a severe and potentially fatal form. It can cause kidney failur...

By Katya Golubkova Reuters A Japanese regional governor is expected to say on Friday whether he will allow a partial restart of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, the world’s biggest, as Japan tries to revive its nuclear sector and reduce fossil fuel imports. Approval by Niigata Prefecture Governor Hideyo Hanazumi would remove the last major hurdle for plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO)  (9501.T), opens new tab  to go ahead with plans to restart one or two of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa’s biggest reactors. A restart would be the first for TEPCO since the March 2011 tsunami destroyed its Fukushima Daiichi power plant. It would also be a breakthrough for Japan, which after the disaster shut all 54 nuclear reactors in operation at the time, leaving it heavily reliant on fossil fuel imports vulnerable to production shocks and supply disruptions. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who took office last month, has said she  supports  more nuclear relaunches to s...

By Marianna Parraga and Dave Sherwood Reuters Cuba’s imports of crude and fuel in the first 10 months of the year fell more than a third compared with the same period of 2024 as key allies Mexico and Venezuela slashed supplies, according to shipping data and documents seen by Reuters, preventing the Caribbean country from easing daily power cuts. The Communist-run island relies on imported refined products to meet demand, including fuel oil and diesel for power generation, and jet fuel and gasoline for transportation. U.S. sanctions and a deep economic crisis have for years made it impossible for the government to buy enough fuel, forcing a growing dependence on allies. Between January and October, Cuba’s oil imports from Mexico – which emerged as a reliable provider in 2023 after  regularizing  shipments of light crude – declined to some 5,000 barrels per day, a 73% fall from the 18,800 bpd received in the same period of 2024, according to the shipping data. Imports of cr...

Tun Min Lat climbs a bamboo ladder in the longan orchards of eastern Thailand, moving from tree to tree as he plucks the juicy tropical fruit in the sweltering heat of a November morning. For the first time in the nearly two decades he has lived in Thailand, the 42-year-old Myanmar refugee is able to work legally. “Now I feel like I can see a future,” he told Reuters. In late August, Thailand’s government announced that thousands of Myanmar refugees who live along the Thai-Myanmar border would be given  employment rights  for the first time. The decision, which the United Nations described as a “landmark step”, allows more than 80,000 Myanmar refugees to apply for work permits. The announcement came after  border clashes  between Thailand and Cambodia in July prompted Cambodian workers to  rush home , leaving factories, construction sites and farms in Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy short of labour. About 520,000 Cambodians – about 12% of the total ...

A Bangladesh court sentenced ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina to be hanged for crimes against humanity on Monday, with cheers breaking out in the packed court as the judge read out the verdict. Hasina, 78, defied court orders that she return from India to attend her trial about whether she ordered a deadly crackdown against a student-led uprising last year that eventually ousted her. The highly anticipated ruling, which was broadcast live on national television, came less than three months before the first polls in the South Asian country of 170 million people since her overthrow in August 2024. “All the… elements constituting crimes against humanity have been fulfilled,” judge Golam Mortuza Mozumder read to the court in Dhaka. The former leader was found guilty on three counts: incitement, order to kill, and inaction to prevent the atrocities, the judge said. “We have decided to inflict her with only one sentence — that is, sentence of death.” Crowds waved the national fl...

By Eva Korinkova and Radovan Stoklasa Reuters Thousands of Czechs and Slovaks on Monday celebrated the anniversary of the 1989 Velvet Revolution, which ended decades of communist rule in the former Czechoslovakia, with protests that warned democratic values were once again under threat. Czechoslovakia split peacefully in 1993 and the two nations have maintained friendly relations, both joining the European Union and NATO. But many fear the pro-Western, democratic outlook of both countries is under threat. In Slovakia, many thousands gathered in the capital Bratislava and other cities at rallies organised by opposition parties and civic groups protesting what they see as democratic backsliding and pro-Russian policies of Prime Minister Robert Fico. ‘DRAGGING US AWAY FROM THE DEMOCRATIC WORLD’ Fico, who is serving his fourth term as prime minister, has taken  pro-Russian stance  on the Ukraine war and repeatedly travelled to  meet Russian President  Vladimir Putin...

 Russia said on Sunday its forces had moved forward sharply in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, taking two settlements as part of a major push aimed at taking control of the entire Zaporizhzhia region. With a smaller army than Russia’s, Ukraine has been grappling with how to bolster defences in the Donetsk region while keeping the rest of the front stable under intense artillery and drone attack from highly mobile Russian units. Since advancing into the Dnipropetrovsk region in late June, Russian forces have been pushing there and in the neighbouring Zaporizhzhia region where they have moved forward along a relatively broad front by at least 30 km (19 miles) over the past six weeks, according to pro-Ukrainian maps. Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had taken Rivnopillya, which puts the southern town of  Huliaipole  in danger of being the target of Russian pincer movements. It said Russian forces had also taken Mala Tokmachka, just 9 km (6 miles) from...

Around 30 people were killed at a semi-industrial copper mine in southeastern Congo on Saturday after a bridge collapsed, the country’s artisanal mining agency said. An agency official told Reuters there were 49 deaths and 20 people had been taken to hospital in a critical condition as a result of the incident, which occurred on Saturday at the Kalando mining site in Lualaba province. Artisanal mining employs an estimated 1.5 to 2 million people in Congo and supports more than 10 million indirectly. The collapse was “caused by panic, reportedly triggered by gunfire from military personnel securing the site,” said Congo’s Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Support and Guidance Service, known by its French acronym SAEMAPE. Miners then “piled on top of each other, causing injuries and death”, SAEMAPE added in a statement on Sunday. The Initiative for the Protection of Human Rights called for an independent investigation into the military’s role in the deaths, citing reports of clashes ...

Thousands gathered in the North Macedonian capital of Skopje on Saturday in protest over a night club fire in March which  killed  63 people. Families of those killed and their supporters, holding pictures and dressed in black, demanded justice for the victims of the blaze, which broke out during a hip hop concert in Kocani, a town of 25,000 people 50 miles (80 km) east of Skopje. “There is a hope that we will not forget, hope that we will not give up, and hope that we will finally have a proceeding in this country in which everyone, everyone responsible will be held accountable,” said Bojan Eftimov, one of the protesters. Dozens were injured as they scrambled to get out through the unlicensed venue’s only exit as flames spread across its roof. Authorities believe it was set alight by sparks from flares. A first trial hearing is expected to begin on November 19. SOURCE: REUTERS AND AGENCIES from The Times Of Earth https://ift.tt/QjnBo0r

 Thousands protested across Mexico on Saturday under the banner of “Generation Z,” denouncing rising violence after the public killing of an anti-crime mayor earlier this month. In Mexico City, a small group of hooded protesters tore down fences around the National Palace where President Claudia Sheinbaum lives, prompting a clash with riot police who deployed tear gas, according to Reuters witnesses. Mexico City’s public safety secretary Pablo Vazquez said in a press conference that 100 police officers were injured, including 40 who required hospital treatment. Another 20 civilians were also injured, Vazquez told local media outlet Milenio. The public safety secretary also said 20 people were arrested and another 20 “referred for administrative offenses.” Other marches took place in various cities across Mexico, including in the western state of Michoacan, where anger has flared over the murder on November 1 of Uruapan Mayor Carlos Manzo, who was  shot  dead at a publ...

By Mark Trevelyan Reuters North Korean troops who helped Russia repel a major Ukrainian incursion into its western Kursk region are now playing an important role in clearing the area of mines, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Friday. Under a mutual defence pact between the two countries, North Korea last year sent some 14,000 soldiers to fight alongside Russia in Kursk, and more than 6,000 were killed, according to South Korean, Ukrainian and Western sources. Ukrainian forces smashed across the border in August 2024 and held on to substantial pockets of territory for months. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in April that Russia had finally pushed them out, with help from the North Koreans. The significant North Korean role in Russia’s de-mining operations highlights the desire on both sides to further develop their military ties, which North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said last month would “advance non-stop”. Video published by the Russian Defence Ministry showed North Kor...

By Khalid Abdelaziz, Eltayeb Siddig and Nafisa Eltahir Reuters The paramilitary force battling the army in Sudan’s civil war is shifting its focus eastward after consolidating its grip over Darfur last month, reigniting violence and launching drone attacks across the country’s oil-producing southern areas. Escalating drone strikes and new deployments of troops and weapons by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army suggest both sides are now centring their efforts on Kordofan, a region comprised of three states that serves as a buffer between the RSF’s western Darfur strongholds and the army-held states in the east. The RSF  accepted a ceasefire  proposal by the United States last week after an international outcry over accounts that it had  killed large groups of civilians  as it overran al-Fashir, the army’s last significant holdout in Darfur. The army has not agreed to the ceasefire, which could provide a window for more deliveries of desperately nee...

By Jana Choukeir and Ahmed Elumami Reuters At least 42 migrants are missing and presumed dead after a rubber boat capsized off the coast of Libya, the International Organization for Migration said on Wednesday. Libyan authorities rescued seven survivors who had drifted at sea for six days after the vessel, carrying 49 people, sank near the Al Buri oilfield, an offshore facility north-northwest of the Libyan coast. IOM said the migrants were from Sudan, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Somalia. Libya has become a transit route for migrants fleeing conflict and poverty to Europe across the Mediterranean since the fall in 2011 of dictator Muammar Gaddafi during a NATO-backed uprising. The number of migrants who drowned in the central Mediterranean had already surpassed 1,000 this year, the IOM said, and this week’s incident raised that toll “even further”. Across the entire Mediterranean, there were 2,452 such deaths in 2024, IOM data shows. “This tragic event, coming just weeks after other d...

By Mahmoud Isaa and Haseeb Alwazeer  Palestinian mother Hanan al-Joujou, 31, has to feed her three children in the dark with a flashlight as there is no electricity in Gaza even after last month’s  Israel-Hamas ceasefire . When they cannot afford to charge the flashlight, they go without food. “We stay in the darkness – once the sun sets and the Maghrib prayer is called,” al-Joujou said, referring to the Muslim sunset devotion. “If the light of the flashlight is available, we light it. If not, we go to sleep without dinner or light.” Her family has been without electricity since  war broke out more than two years ago , relying on candles when first displaced to the city of Rafah in the south of the Palestinian enclave. Eventually they gave up even that, fearing a fire hazard in their tent. “We tried a simple LED light, but it broke. We do not have the money to fix it. We tried to get a battery, but it’s expensive and unavailable,” al-Joujou said. Before the war, Gaz...

 By Mike Heuer UPI Women fleeing El Fasher in western Sudan are subjected to rape, starvation and deadly bombing, the United Nations reported on Tuesday. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces recently captured El Fasher after a 500-day siege and are using rape as a “weapon of war,” according to the  United Nations . “Women speaking to us from El Fasher, the heart of Sudan’s latest catastrophe, tell us that they’ve endured starvation, displacement, rape and bombardment,” said Anna Mutavati, U.N. Women regional director for East and Southern Africa. “Pregnant women have given birth in the streets as the last remaining maternity hospitals were looted and destroyed,” she added. “What the women tell us in that on their horrific journey, every step that they’ve taken to fetch water, to collect firewood or to stand in a food line has carried a high risk of sexual violence,” Mutavati said. “There is mounting evidence that rape is being deliberately and systematically used as a w...

By Roba EL HUSSEINI AFP Iraqis elect a new parliament on Tuesday in a vote that comes at a pivotal time for the country and the wider region, and which both Iran and the United States will be closely watching. Iraq has been unusually stable in recent years, as the nation tries to move past decades of war and repression under slain dictator Saddam Hussein and since the US-led invasion that toppled him. But even now, the country of 46 million people suffers from poor infrastructure, failing public services and endemic corruption. Many have lost hope that elections can bring meaningful change to their daily lives and see the vote as a sham that only benefits political elites and regional powers. Polling stations will open at 7:00 am local time (0400 GMT) and close at 6:00 pm (1500 GMT). Despite the scepticism, more than 7,740 candidates, nearly a third of them women, are running for the 329-seat parliament. Only 75 independents are running under an electoral law that many believe f...

By Guillaume DECAMME AFP Standing in the centre of rainy Kaliningrad, the isolated Russian exclave surrounded by NATO countries, Russian factory worker Alexander felt confident. Economically hit by being cut-off from its EU neighbours and physically isolated from the rest of Russia, officials and locals are putting on a brave face amid claims they are under siege from neighbours Poland and Lithuania. The Baltic states surrounding Kaliningrad, all NATO members, have been some of Ukraine’s staunchest backers since Moscow launched its offensive in February 2022. Poland and Lithuania “want to show off, display their strength, reinforce their borders”, said Alexander, 25, who did not give his surname. But his city is “certainly not one that surrenders”, he added, taking pride that Russia had far more weapons than its smaller neighbours. His defiance echoes the Kremlin’s relentless criticism of NATO. Russian leader Vladimir Putin has for years accused the military alliance of breaking...

A boat carrying members of the Rohingya community from Myanmar has sunk near the Thai-Malaysian border, with hundreds missing, seven dead and 13 rescued, the Malaysian maritime agency said on Sunday. Rescuers were combing an area of 170 square nautical miles near Langkawi island on Saturday after a boat with 300 people on board left Myanmar’s Rakhine state three days earlier, said the maritime agency head for the area Romli Mustafa. Images from the agency showed one survivor covered with a sheet and another on a stretcher. Myanmar’s impoverished Rakhine state has suffered years of conflict, hunger and ethnic violence mostly targeting the Rohingya Muslim minority community. Driven out of Rakhine state following a brutal 2017 military crackdown, some 1.3 million Rohingya live as refugees in densely-packed camps in neighbouring Bangladesh. Malaysian state media Bernama cited Kedah province police chief Adzli Abu Shah as saying people initially boarded a large vessel...

By Olena Harmash Reuters Russia launched a barrage of drones and missiles in overnight  attacks on Ukraine , targeting substations that supply two nuclear power plants and killing seven people, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday. “Russia once again targeted substations that power the Khmelnytskyi and Rivne nuclear power plants,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X. “These were not accidental but well-planned strikes. Russia is deliberately endangering nuclear safety in Europe.” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia had launched more than 450 drones and 45 missiles. Three people were killed and 12 were wounded in the city of Dnipro when a drone hit an apartment building. Three were killed in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region and one in Kharkiv region farther north, regional officials said. Energy facilities in the Kyiv, Poltava and Kharkiv regions were damaged, leaving thousands of people without power and water, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said. Officials in...

More than 1,400 citizens from three dozen African countries are fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine, Kyiv’s foreign minister said on Friday. Ukrainian officials say Russia has tried to bolster the force attacking its smaller neighbour by recruiting fighters from a variety of countries, sometimes through subterfuge. Andriy Sybiha said Russia was enticing Africans to sign contracts that he described as “equivalent to … a death sentence”, and urged African governments to warn their citizens. “Foreign citizens in the Russian army have a sad fate,” he wrote on X. “Most of them are immediately sent to the so-called ‘meat assaults’, where they are quickly killed.” South Africa said on Thursday  it would investigate  how 17 of its citizens joined mercenary forces after the men sent distress calls for help to return home. And Kenya said last month that some of its citizens had been detained in military camps across Russia after unknowingly getting caught up in the conflic...

By ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL and JIM GOMEZ ,Associated Press Typhoon Kalmaegi brought fierce winds and torrential rains to Vietnam on Friday, days after the powerful storm battered the Philippines and left scores dead or missing. Areas in central Vietnam reported damaged buildings, electricity polls and fallen trees as Kalmaegi weakened to a tropical storm and moved into Cambodia. Vietnamese state media reported two deaths in Gia Lai and Dak Lak provinces. In the Philippines, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared a state of national emergency on Thursday as another potentially powerful typhoon was expected to slam into the Philippines’ western coast Sunday night or Monday morning. Kalmaegi left at least 188 people dead and 135 missing in the deadliest natural disaster to hit the country this year, the Office of Civil Defense said. Kalmaegi is expected to move through Laos and hit northeast Thailand in the afternoon. Thailand’s Meteorological Department advised people in the region t...