Global News

By Camille BAS-WOHLERT AFP | Posted by TOE Denmark on Saturday hailed a “binding” deal announced by US President Donald Trump to give Washington “permanent control” over Greenland’s security and bar Russian and Chinese bases from the Arctic territory. Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has repeatedly insisted that Washington needed to control Greenland for strategic reasons, alarming NATO ally Denmark and sparking fierce pushback from the alliance. Denmark and Greenland — an autonomous Danish territory — both hailed the deal and said they would sign it on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York next week. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said Saturday that the potential signing meant “next week could be a good week”. “A long period of uncertainty will hopefully be replaced by a binding agreement that strengthens security in the Arctic and North Atlantic,...

By AFP | Posted by TOE Authorities imposed an overnight curfew in Nigeria’s central city of Minna on Friday after security forces opened fire as hundreds of people took to the streets to protest against the deaths of 37 detainees in the ‌custody of a paramilitary force. Survivors of a Nigerian disaster that saw 37 suspected illegal gold miners die while in the custody of a paramilitary civil defence group recounted their panic on Friday as they struggled to breathe inside the cell. Police fired shots to disperse protests as tensions spilled onto the streets of Minna, the capital of mineral-rich Niger state in central Nigeria. It was not immediately clear whether police were firing anti-riot pellets or live ammunition in Minna, where mobs blocked a main street and attacked a transport depot, a bank, political party offices and private businesses. Government has imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew to curtail the unrest. Nigeria’s government suspended a civil...

By Olivia Le Poidevin Reuters  At least 112,000 people have been displaced inside Yemen within the last two weeks as fighting continues along the country’s west ​coast amid a renewed conflict, while nearly 3,000 have fled by sea to ‌Djibouti, the United Nations migration agency said on Friday. Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have stepped up attacks on Saudi cities and energy infrastructure while advancing along Yemen’s Red Sea coast towards the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a ​key shipping route. Responding to the Houthi offensive, the Saudi and Yemeni air ​forces have bombarded Houthi targets. Nearly 3,000 people have crossed the Gulf of ⁠Aden to Djibouti in the Horn of Africa in less than a week as ​escalating violence have forced more families to flee, Sandrine Desamours, the representative for the UN’s ​refugee agency, UNHCR, told reporters in Geneva via video link from Djibouti. The government of Djibouti is preparing for the arrival of up to 10,000 re...

By Reuters and Posted by TOE U.S. President Donald Trump said he hoped an end to the war against Iran was near, as the conflict, in its seventh month, escalated with Saudi aircraft pounding Yemen and Houthi fighters launching drones and missiles at Saudi cities. The Iran-backed Houthis’ lightning advance ‌in Yemen along the Red Sea and their attacks on Saudi Arabia, along with attacks that damaged Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline, have extended Tehran’s ‌reach in the war and heightened global oil-supply risks. As the war expands into a new theatre, the United States tightened its travel warning for Saudi Arabia, banning government employees from travelling within 20 miles (30 ​km) of the Yemen border. Still, just hours after reports of the Houthis and Saudi Arabia fighting, Trump told reporters on Wednesday evening: “Well, hopefully we are towards the end of the war.” TRUMP SAYS IRAN WANTS A DEAL, OIL PRICE STILL ELEVATED ...

By Jana Choukeir and Nayera Abdallah Reuters Saudi warplanes pounded Yemen, the Houthis said on Wednesday, as the Iran-backed fighters solidified their gains after a lightning advance that has extended Tehran’s reach in the Middle East war and further disrupted global oil supplies. In a sign of ‌the worsening conflict in a new theatre, the United States tightened its travel warning for Saudi Arabia, banning government employees from travelling within 20 miles ‌of the Yemen border. The Houthis, who since last week have swept through Yemeni towns along the Red Sea coast and seized islands in the Bab el-Mandeb strait at its mouth, released battlefield video overnight ​of fighters seizing armoured vehicles from Saudi-backed forces. Warplanes flew overhead and huge explosions billowed into the sky from desert dunes, the video showed. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the Houthis had shot down a Saudi F-15 fighter jet. No immediate evidence was presented and S...

By Timour Azhari Reuters | Posted by TOE Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis launched a new wave of attacks on Saudi Arabia and were digging into positions on the western coast of Yemen along the Red Sea, Yemeni ​officials said, as urgent deliberations took place in Riyadh over how to respond to their lightning advance. Meanwhile, Gulf Arab states postponed planned talks with Iran, raising concerns the ‌Middle East conflict could spread further and threaten global oil supplies. The Houthis on Monday said they fired dozens of missiles and drones at a military airbase in Khamis Mushait in southern Saudi Arabia, targeting aircraft hangars, radar systems, runways and ammunition depots in retaliation for Saudi airstrikes in Yemen. Saudi authorities issued emergency alerts there and in three other southern cities. Thirteen civilians were wounded in the Houthi attacks, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said. The Houthi advances in recent ​days, including the taking of Perim ...

By Reuters | Posted by TOE A Russian drone hit a passenger train on Ukraine’s border with NATO member Poland on Sunday, shortly after former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other European diplomats had used ‌the same line. The train, on a route frequently used by foreign delegations returning from Kyiv, was attacked just ‌2 kilometres (1.2 miles) from the Polish border, Ukraine’s railway operator said. No casualties were reported. “This wasn’t our train, but the one just minutes after us by ​the border crossing. It was evacuated as the drone approached and no one was hurt,” Carl Bildt, former Sweden’s Prime Minister said on X. He and other politicians were returning to Europe by train after attending a conference in Kyiv. “It is entirely possible that the Russian drone’s intended target was the diplomatic train, which departed the station earlier than scheduled after train timetables were adjusted in ‌rea...

By Reuters | Posted by TOE  Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that events in Europe, including the far-right victory in a German state election, were the ​result of “system errors” committed by globalists in the West. Putin , speaking to reporters ‌in a pool report on the first day of a visit to India, also said the conflict in Ukraine was the fault of the West for constantly putting pressure on Moscow and seeking ​to “drag” Ukraine into the NATO alliance. The Russian president said he would offer no ​comment on Sunday’s top result for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party ⁠in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, but then added that Western elites were ​to blame for events on the continent, including the election. “I think that everything happening ​in Europe right now is basically the result of system errors by the so-called West … the Western globalists in politics, security, and economics,” Putin sai...

By Pavel Polityuk and Anna Pruchnicka Reuters Russian drones pounded central part of the industrial city of Pavlohrad in southeastern Ukraine on Thursday, killing five, as ‌well as striking a petrol station in the capital Kyiv and an international agribusiness facility in Dnipro as Moscow intensifies attacks ‌on logistics and economic targets. Governor Oleksandr Hanzha, writing on Telegram, said Russia deployed drones, artillery and aerial bombs in hitting five districts of in the Dnipropetrovsk region, killing two more ​people. A total of 76 people were injured, including several children, he said. Photos posted online showed shattered shops and burned-out vehicles in the city, which has acted as a critical supply route for the Ukrainian military connecting central Ukraine to eastern front lines. The attack on the petrol station in Kyiv and on an agribusiness facility run by Bunge in the southeastern city of Dnipro added to Russia’s intensified air campaign in re...

By Enas Alashray, Idrees Ali and Jana Choukeir Reuters Iran said on Wednesday it had attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S. sank five Iranian oil tankers, in the biggest wave of attacks on shipping by both sides since the start of the six-month-old war. The attacks sent the price of ‌oil surging, with benchmark Brent crude futures breaching $100 a barrel for the first time since July. At least one seafarer aboard a tanker was reported killed and another listed as missing. The ‌incidents follow a month of relative calm, during which the U.S. has sought to pressure Iran through economic means. Iran said it had fired ballistic missiles at a U.S. military base in Jordan. Jordan said it intercepted 18 missiles, with the remaining two ​falling harmlessly in unpopulated areas. A U.S. official said all American troops were accounted for. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said it would sharply escalate its response to any further attacks, and said I...

By AFP | Posted by TOE At least five people were killed and 86 remain missing after a fire erupted aboard a ferry near a tourist hotspot in the Philippine province of Palawan, the coast guard said Thursday. The blaze broke out on the M/V June Aster Wednesday evening about 2.2 kilometres (1.3 miles) offshore, the coast guard said, adding that five casualties had been brought ashore. Video shared by the coast guard on Facebook showed the vessel completely engulfed in flames. Hundreds of people, desperate for news about the incident, have left comments on the Coron town mayor’s Facebook page, searching for relatives, friends and even a dog. “Based on the data we have right now on rescued (42) and the casualties, we still have 87 people who are unaccounted for,” coast guard Captain Noemi Cayabyab told a local radio station on Thursday. The ship’s manifest had listed 134 passengers and crew, Cayabyab said. Of those rescued, 38 were passeng...

By Yury Garcia and Alexandra Valencia Reuters | Posted by TOE For one grandmother, it was when bullets began hitting the rooftops of her neighborhood that she decided she would have to leave the housing development where she had lived for nearly 20 years. A sharp rise in fighting between gang factions in Ecuador has prompted thousands ​of families to flee and abandon their homes to the gangs, who strip the houses for drug money or use them to hide kidnapping victims, according to residents and police. One of the areas ‌that has been the site of the heaviest bloodshed is the Nueva Prosperina district in the coastal city of Guayaquil, where fighting between factions of the Los Tiguerones gang last year killed 22 people. Among those who fled was a 66-year-old woman, who, like other residents of the district Reuters spoke to for this story, asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals from the gangs. Armed groups were targeting people indiscriminately, assuming that an...

By Reuters | Posted by TOE At least 11 people were killed ‌and six others injured after ‌an avalanche struck a group of ​climbers in Russia’s Kabardino-Balkaria region in the North Caucasus, local emergency services said. The avalanche swept down Mount ‌Mizhirgi, one ⁠of the highest peaks in Russia’s North Caucasus, at ⁠around 5 p.m. local time (1400 GMT) on Sunday, hitting a ​group of ​33 climbers. As ​of 9 a.m. ‌local time on Monday, 10 climbers had made their own way down the mountain, while the fate of six others remained ‌unknown, emergency services ​said. More than 50 emergency ​workers ​were involved in the ‌search and rescue operation, ​but efforts ​were being hampered by difficult terrain and a high risk ​of ‌further avalanches, they said. from The Times Of Earth https://ift.tt/0RA42PI

By Eric BERNAUDEAU AFP | Posted by TOE Indonesia halted operations at its main international airport outside Jakarta on Sunday after ash spewed from the Anak Krakatoa volcano more than 150 kilometres away, impacting thousands of passengers. Mount Anak Krakatoa erupted on Saturday, producing a fountain of lava and booming sounds that could be heard up to a few hundred kilometres away, the geology agency said in a statement. Two new eruptions were recorded on Sunday, the volcanology agency warned. Ash from the volcano was detected in the airspace surrounding Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, prompting authorities to initially suspend operations from 1:30 am Sunday (Saturday 1830 GMT) to 5:30 am. The suspension was extended three times, with the latest ending at 5:30 pm Sunday “due to increased eruptive activity,” the airport said in a social media post.  Operations have been suspended at six airports including the Hussein Sastranegara airport ...

By AFP | Posted by TOE Russian strikes hit Kyiv’s airports overnight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday, as US envoys are expected to arrive in the region to discuss a plan to end more than four years of war. US President Donald Trump said Friday he was sending Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Moscow and Kyiv, in Washington’s latest bid to break a diplomatic stalemate in Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II. Russia hit a civilian target in the Dnipro region overnight, killing four people, as well as Kyiv’s two airports, Zelensky said, accusing the Kremlin of trying to disrupt the envoys’ visit. “Clearly, these Russian strikes on the airports are a reaction to the discussions and preparations for the possibility of the US side using an aircraft to travel to Ukraine,” Zelensky said on X, adding there would be “no threats to diplomacy” from the Ukrainian side. It will be the first time...

By Reuters | Posted by TOE Vietnam and Myanmar agreed on Saturday to deepen defence and security cooperation, elevating the sector to ‌a pillar of bilateral ties as Vietnamese leader To ‌Lam hosted Myanmar President Min Aung Hlaing in Hanoi. The two leaders agreed to ​expand cooperation in military training, exchanges between young officers, search-and-rescue operations and disaster response, while stepping up information sharing and coordination against crimes, the government said in a statement. “Vietnam stands ready to share ‌its experience in national ⁠development, ensuring economic security and fostering sustainable growth,” Lam was quoted as saying during the talks, according ⁠to the statement. Both sides also reaffirmed a commitment not to allow any individual or organisation to use one country’s territory for activities ​against ​the other. The talks were held during ​Min Aung Hlaing’s first ‌official visit to Vietnam as Myanmar...

By Gopal Sharma and Saurabh Sharma Reuters | Posted by TOE Two people were pulled out alive on Friday from a tunnel linked to a hydropower station on the Trishuli River in Nepal, nine days after an ice, rock and mud slide swept through its valley, killing more than 1,200 people ‌and displacing tens of thousands. Officials and rescue workers believe the August 26 collapse of a glacier on the upper reaches of the Trishuli River trapped ‌at least 900 people in tunnels related to six hydropower projects along the river. At least 1,252 people were killed in Nepal as houses, streets and schools in towns and villages near the border with China’s Tibet ​were swept away. More than 4,200 people are still missing and thousands more displaced. China has put the death toll in Tibet at 21, with 541 others listed as missing. The two workers pulled from the tunnel at the Upper Trishuli 3A Hydropower Station are the first to be rescued from the hydropower projects and have be...

By Gradel Muyisa and Ange Kasongo Reuters | Posted by TOE Schools reopened this week in areas of Democratic Republic of Congo hardest hit by Ebola, after authorities decided the risk of transmission ‌was outweighed by the risk of pupils struggling with remote learning, an official told Reuters on Wednesday. The ‌death toll from the outbreak – the worst in Congo’s long history with the disease – has exceeded 3,000, according to government data published on Wednesday, ​with cases spread across six provinces and a mortality rate of 48.6%. More than 1,000 schools in Ituri are classified as being in the “red zone”, meaning a high-risk zone or zone of active transmission, according to an education ministry document seen this week by Reuters. Ministry regulations published on August 19 stipulated that schools in the red zone would temporarily replace in-person classes with “distance learning” ‌involving worksheets distributed every two...

By Reuters | Posted by TOE  For the first time in recent history, Danish conscripts have been deployed to Greenland, as Denmark moves to bolster its presence in the Arctic ​after U.S. demands to acquire the territory. U.S. President Donald Trump has ‌repeatedly sought  to acquire  the semi-autonomous Danish island, citing national security concerns and accusing Copenhagen of neglecting Arctic defence. Denmark and Greenland have firmly rejected the idea. The conscripts are part of the ​first cohort under Denmark’s new  extended conscription programme , aimed at producing soldiers able to ​operate in one of the kingdom’s most strategically important and challenging ⁠regions. “It shows presence that we’re here and not just thinking of our own ​skin. And also thinking of the people in Greenland,” 19-year-old conscript David told Reuters. Copenhagen ​has pledged billions of dollars to strengthen Arctic defences after Denmark’...

By Reuters and Posted by TOE Israeli airstrikes killed at ‌least five Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Monday, health officials said. Medics said two people were killed and several others wounded when one strike hit a crowd near the municipal public park in Gaza ​City, an area packed with displaced families. Later on Monday, another Israeli airstrike hit a vehicle ​in the Tel Al-Hawa neighbourhood in western Gaza City, killing at least ⁠three people, medics added. The Israeli military said the two attacks targeted Hamas militants, without ​giving further information. At Al Shifa Hospital, the enclave’s largest medical facility, relatives and friends paid ​their last respects to two of the five men killed on Monday before carrying the white-shrouded bodies to the cemetery to bury them. “There is no ceasefire. There is not one good day in ​Gaza since October 7 (2023),” said Amjad Abu Abdo, a relative of one of the ​people who died in the first s...