Gunmen abducted 136 students from an Islamic school in the north-central Nigerian state of Niger on Sunday, a state official said on Wednesday, lower than the estimate of 200 previously offered by the federal government. An armed gang on motorcycles attacked the town of Tegina in the state on Sunday. …
Read More »Daily Archives: June 2, 2021
Germany bans Russian flights in tit-for-tat move
Germany has refused to issue any further permits for flights arriving from Russia in a tit-for-tat move after Moscow failed to extend German airline Lufthansa’s flight permissions, the German transport ministry said on Wednesday. The dispute follows European Union moves to stop Russia-bound flights from crossing Belarusian air space after …
Read More »Iraq’s Military Intelligence arrests six ISIS terrorists in Nineveh and Kirkuk
Military Intelligence announced on Wednesday that it had arrested six ISIS members in Nineveh and Kirkuk. The Military Intelligence Directorate said in a statement six ISIS terrorists were arrested during a raid on their hideouts in the two Governorates. It explained that the 16th and 20th Division of the Military …
Read More »NATO plans to transfer modern weapons to Ukraine: Russia
As NATO and Russia continue a dispute over Ukraine’s eastern region of the Donbass, a Russian military official has said modern weapons will be delivered to Ukraine under the guise of NATO’s annual military drill in the strategic Black Sea. Major-General Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, …
Read More »Still asking for more: Israel wants $1bn in additional US aid
Being already the largest recipient of assistance from Washington, with an annual $3.8bn in US military aid, does not stop Israel from asking for more. Now a US senator has unveiled that the Tel Aviv regime is preparing a request for an additional $1 billion to the Pentagon to replenish …
Read More »Trump’s blog page shuts down a month after launch
Former US President Donald Trump’s blog page, launched last month in the wake of major social media platforms banning him, has been removed from his website. Trump aide Jason Miller on Wednesday said that the page, which had been called “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump,” would not be …
Read More »US blacklists 3 Bulgarians, 64 companies over corruption
The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on 64 companies and three Bulgarians over corruption, including an oligarch accused of planning to create a conduit for Russian political leaders to influence the Bulgarian government. A statement by the Treasury Department said the move was its single biggest action targeting graft …
Read More »Study Indicates that COVID Antibodies still present up to a Year after Infection
A study indicates that antibodies are still present up to a year after infection with the coronavirus, according to the Associated Press. Immunologist Ali Ellebedy at Washington University in St. Louis discovered that nearly a year after people recovered from COVID-19 they had plasma cells, one of the body’s immune …
Read More »More than 100 million workers forced into poverty by Covid-19 pandemic, says UN
The Covid-19 pandemic has plunged more than 100 million workers into poverty, the UN has said, warning that employment won’t reach pre-pandemic levels again until 2023 at the earliest. “In 2020, an estimated 8.8% of total working hours were lost – the equivalent of the hours worked in one year …
Read More »Huge plume of black smoke towers over Tehran as major blaze breaks out at Iranian refinery
A serious fire erupted at a refinery in the southern part of Tehran on Wednesday, with eyewitnesses sharing dramatic footage of huge plumes of black smoke billowing into the skies and red flames at the base of the blaze. “The fire has started at the liquefied gas line of Tehran’s …
Read More »Belarus: NATO talks sanctions after plane diversion
Stoltenberg says Belarus to be punished over flight diversion as shock grows after an activist stabbed himself in Minsk court. Pressure mounted on Belarus on Wednesday as NATO’s chief called for sanctions to be implemented after Minsk’s controversial flight diversion, and as shock rose over an activist’s apparent suicide attempt …
Read More »Buckingham Palace ‘banned’ ethnic minorities from office jobs
UK royal officials banned ethnic minorities from clerical roles until at least the 1960s, a report by The Guardian reveals. Buckingham Palace banned “coloured immigrants or foreigners” from undertaking office roles for the United Kingdom’s royal family until at least the late 1960s, according to documents obtained by The Guardian …
Read More »France’s New Caledonia set for final independence referendum in December
The French Pacific island of New Caledonia, which rejected independence in two previous referendums, will have a third and final vote on Dec. 12, France’s overseas territories minister said on Wednesday. The referendum would be followed by a two-year transition period to allow Paris to clarify its relations with New …
Read More »Twitter removes Nigerian president’s ‘abusive’ civil war post
Twitter removed on Wednesday a post by Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari threatening punishment for regional secessionists blamed for attacks on government buildings. The social media firm said Buhari’s tweet, referring to the 1967-70 civil war in the southeastern Biafra region that killed 1 million people, violated its “abusive behaviour” policy …
Read More »Western Sahara independence leader returns to Algeria amid Spain-Morocco row
The leader of the Western Sahara independence movement, Brahim Ghali, returned to Algeria on Wednesday after spending more than a month in hospital in Spain – a stay which triggered a diplomatic row between Spain and Morocco. “He arrived safe and sound,” said Jalil Mohamed, the Polisario Front’s spokesman in …
Read More »Giant Iranian navy ship sinks after catching fireplace
Iran’s army confirmed crew safely evacuated after the vessel caught fire under unclear circumstances. One of Iran’s largest navy ships has sunk after catching fire near the Strait of Hormuz under unclear circumstances. The Kharg, named after an island nearby that serves as a key oil terminal, caught fire in …
Read More »Merkel, Macron demand answers on report Denmark helped US spy on allies
The renewed spotlight on the issue could create a headache for President Joe Biden, who is set to travel to Europe later this month for the Group of Seven summit of world leaders. European leaders are demanding answers after fresh allegations about the United States spying on its allies. The …
Read More »Recession and violence among COVID side effects in Africa, report finds
Much of Africa may have been spared the death toll that COVID-19 brought to other regions, but it now faces recession, growing violence, and higher unemployment because of the pandemic, a report said on Wednesday. “The global economic shutdown has driven Africa into recession for the first time in 30 …
Read More »Iraq | Two tremors hits Duhok and Diyala
Seismic observatories recorded today at dawn two earthquakes in Diyala and Duhok. The first tremor, with a magnitude of 3.1, occurred 11 km northeast of Khanaqin district, eastern Iraq at 1:14:22 local time. While the other 3.0-magnitude earthquake occurred near the borders of Turkey, 73 Km northeast of Duhok, Northern …
Read More »Disaster feared as chemical cargo ship sinks off Sri Lanka
A cargo ship carrying tonnes of chemicals is sinking off Sri Lanka’s west coast, the country’s government and navy said on Wednesday, in one of Sri Lanka’s worst-ever marine disasters. The Singapore-registered MV X-Press Pearl, carrying 1,486 containers, including 25 tonnes of nitric acid, along with other chemicals and cosmetics, …
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