Thousands walked out to protest against Covid vaccine mandates in cities across Australia after the regional authorities made inoculation compulsory for a wide range of employees. In Melbourne, protesters gathered outside the local parliament on Sunday, marching through the city center and bringing traffic to a halt. Among the slogans …
Read More »Monthly Archives: December 2021
Putin and Biden agreed to hold more talks despite disagreements, says Kremlin
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden have agreed to hold more talks amid tensions over a Russian troop build-up near Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Sunday, and Putin would like to meet in person at some stage too. The Kremlin said Putin and Biden had agreed …
Read More »Haiti’s Moise was probing officials linked to drug trade when he was killed: NYT
Haitian President Jovenel Moise was compiling a list of officials and businessmen linked to the drug trade before he was assassinated in July, the New York Times reported on Sunday, adding he planned to give the names to the U.S. government. Moise was murdered in a late-night raid on his …
Read More »Iconic Mexican ranchera singer Vicente Fernandez dies at 81
Legendary Mexican singer Vicente Fernandez, an emblematic figure of ranchera music, died on Sunday at the age of 81, according to a message posted on his official Instagram account. Fernandez died at 6:15 a.m. local time, the post said. He had been suffering medical complications after a fall at his …
Read More »Gas explosion in Sicily leaves at least three dead, six missing
Three people were killed and six are still missing after a gas explosion late on Saturday caused several residential buildings in the Sicilian town of Ravanusa to collapse, Italian authorities said on Sunday. Two apartment blocks in the town of 11,000 people were completely destroyed and several other buildings had …
Read More »Witnesses say Tigrayan forces in Ethiopia retook Lalibela, UN Heritage site
Tigrayan forces have recaptured the town of Lalibela in Ethiopia, less than two weeks after government forces and their allies took control, witnesses told Reuters on Sunday. Lalibela is a town in the Amhara region and a United Nations World Heritage site. Government spokesperson Legesse Tulu did not respond to …
Read More »China’s Xi and Russia’s Putin dominate the G7
While Russian President Vladimir Putin keeps the West guessing over Ukraine, it was the might of Chinese President Xi Jinping that garnered the long-term strategic focus when the diplomats from the Group of Seven richest democracies met this weekend. The United States and its other G7 allies are searching for …
Read More »America COVID-19 deaths approach 800,000 as Delta ravaged in 2021
The United States on Sunday was approaching 800,000 coronavirus-related deaths, as the nation braces for a potential surge in infections due to more time spent indoors with colder weather and the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the virus. The milestone means the U.S. death toll from this one virus now …
Read More »Iran won’t accept anything less than JCPOA, Top negotiator says
Iran’s lead negotiator says Tehran will not accept anything less than the nuclear agreement it signed with world powers in 2015, stressing that the issue will remain Tehran’s red line at the ongoing talks in Vienna. “We will definitely agree to nothing less than that agreement and this will certainly …
Read More »More than 70 killed as tornadoes rip through Kentucky, other U.S. states
A devastating swarm of tornadoes ripped through six U.S. states, killing more than 70 people in Kentucky and leaving a trail of destroyed homes and businesses along a path that stretched more than 200 miles, officials said on Saturday. At least four tornadoes touched down overnight in parts of Kentucky, …
Read More »Iraqi war planes bomb ISIS sites in Saladin
The Iraqi airforces bombed sites of the terrorist organization of ISIS in Saladin, the Security Media Cell (SMC) reported earlier today, Saturday. SMC said that the Iraqi F-16 aircrafts carried out seven airstrikes on five ISIS hideouts preceded by a ground patrol of the Counter-Terrorism-Services in Mutaybeja in the east …
Read More »Iraqi PMF: Our intelligence led to the killing of 10 ISIS most prominent leaders
Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) confirmed, on Friday, that its intelligence led to the killing of 10 of the most prominent leaders of ISIS in 3 provinces during 2021. The spokesman for the Diyala axis, Sadiq al-Hussaini, said that “the intelligence of the PMF has made qualitative breakthroughs for many …
Read More »Real Madrid and Barcelona plan legal action against La Liga’s €2bn CVC deal
La Liga has won the latest battle after 37 of the league’s 42 clubs approved a €2bn partnership with the private equity fund CVC Capital Partners, but the war at the heart of Spanish football has deepened with Real Madrid, Barcelona and Athletic Club set to take legal action in …
Read More »Intense floods forces evacuations in France
Several areas in southwest France have been flooded after receiving two to three weeks’ worth of rain overnight. The heavy precipitation caused rivers to swell and triggered landslides in some areas, forcing residents to flee. The French meteorological agency, Meteo France, has issued red alert warnings in the Pyrenees-Atlantiques and …
Read More »Opinion | Imagine if Assange had exposed Chinese crimes, not US ones
If Julian Assange were a Chinese journalist and publisher, he’d have the Nobel Prize, be the centerpiece of Human Rights Day, and this week his portrait would’ve been planted atop President Joe Biden’s Democracy Summit. Assange’s name would’ve been the first on US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s list of …
Read More »Mexico: At least 54 dead and dozens injured after lorry carrying over 100 migrants overturns
At least 54 people are dead and dozens more injured after a lorry carrying people thought to be migrants destined for the US crashed in southern Mexico. Video footage of the incident – one of the worst accidents to involve migrants risking their lives to reach America – showed the …
Read More »Omicron cases surge by up to 400% in South Africa – but vaccine effectiveness ‘encouraging’
Omicron coronavirus cases have surged by as much as 400% in some parts of South Africa – although the country’s health ministry has said there is mounting evidence the variant causes milder infection. South Africa reported more than 22,000 new infections on Thursday, a record during the fourth wave but …
Read More »Brazil’s health ministry website hit by hacker attack, systems down
Brazil’s health ministry said its website was hit on Friday by a hacker attack that took several systems down, including one with information about the national immunization program and a second one used to issue digital vaccination certificates. “The health ministry reports that in the early hours of Friday it …
Read More »Bus bomb kills two in Afghan capital: Taliban
Two people were killed and four wounded in separate bomb explosions in the west of Afghanistan’s capital Kabul on Friday, the Taliban said. “Two civilians have been killed and three others were wounded” when a bomb exploded on a minibus in the Dasht-e-Barchi district of Kabul, the Taliban’s interior ministry …
Read More »Lithuania to pay migrants to return home
Lithuania said Thursday it would offer migrants a greater cash incentive to return home, as the Baltic state struggles to repatriate thousands who crossed into the EU member from Belarus. Each migrant who voluntarily opts to go back to their country of origin will now receive 1,000 euros ($1,130) instead …
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