Return of NASA astronauts from space station further delayed until late March
Reuters NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore’s return to Earth will be further delayed until at least late March, the agency said, taking what should have been an eight-day stay on the International Space Station to more than nine months. The duo had traveled to the ISS in June for the test mission, but […]
Russia detains suspect over murder of chemical weapons chief Igor Kirillov
Moscow, Russia Reuters Russia said on Wednesday it had detained an Uzbek man who had confessed to planting and detonating a bomb which killed a top general, Igor Kirillov, in Moscow on the instructions of Ukraine’s SBU security service. Kirillov, who was chief of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, was killed outside his […]
Table Talk: The magnificent history of the maligned and misunderstood fruitcake
JEFFREY MILLER, in an article first published on The Conversation, looks at the history of a Christmas favourite…
Destruction omnipresent in Mayotte, less so the French state, locals say
Doujani, Mayotte, France Reuters The destruction wreaked by cyclone Chido on Mayotte can be seen across France’s Indian Ocean archipelago. In the hillside shantytowns where the storm hit hardest, police, emergency workers and French officials are harder to find, locals said. The sound of hammers and saws was omnipresent on Wednesday, as people rushed to […]
Australian search and rescue teams arrive in quake-hit Vanuatu
Sydney, Australia Reuters Australian rescue and medical teams have reached Vanuatu, authorities said on Thursday, where at least 14 people including one French and two Chinese nationals were killed and hundreds were injured in a 7.3 magnitude earthquake two days ago. France’s Ambassador Jean-Baptiste Jeangène Vilmer on Thursday confirmed the death of a French national, […]
At least 20 die, five rescued as migrant boat sinks off Tunisia
Tunis, Tunisia Reuters Tunisia’s coast guard has recovered the bodies of 20 migrants from Africa after the boat they were in sank off the coast, the national guard said on Wednesday, the second migrant drowning tragedy within one week off Tunisian coast. Last Thursday, Tunisia coast guard has recovered also the bodies of nine migrants, […]
Trump rejects bipartisan US spending bill, raising government shutdown risk
Washington DC, US Reuters President-elect Donald Trump Wednesday disrupted bipartisan efforts to avert a government shutdown as he pressured his fellow Republicans in Congress to reject a stopgap bill to keep the government funded past the end of the week. Trump instead urged Congress to pass legislation that would tie up loose ends before he […]
UN torture expert visits Israeli scenes of 7th October Hamas attack
Kibbutz Beeri, Israel Reuters The United Nations’ senior expert on torture visited the Israeli kibbutz communities attacked on 7th October, 2023, for the first time on Wednesday to offer support to families of Israelis abducted by Hamas fighters to the Gaza Strip. Alice Jill Edwards, the UN special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman […]
“The future is difficult”: As wars rage around them, Armenian Christians in Jerusalem’s Old City feel the walls closing in
JULIA FRANKEL, of Associated Press, reports from the Armenian Quarter in Jerusalem’s Old City on the challenges facing the small Christian community…
Europeans grapple over security force for post-war Ukraine
Paris, France Reuters European nations are discussing sending troops to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire or peace deal, as US President-elect Donald Trump has made clear he will not put American boots on the ground to guarantee security, officials and diplomats say. The talks, driven by French President Emmanuel Macron, are at an […]