Turkmenistan's authoritarian leader launched an "unprecedented" anti-smoking crusade Thursday, ordering the Central Asia country to rid itself completely of tobacco within two years.. "Our state will launch a vast anti-tobacco movement of unprecedented size to help expand the tobacco-less countries of the world," he added.
A man armed with a knife attacked a group of pre-school children playing by a lake in the French Alps Thursday, wounding four as well as an adult and sending shockwaves through the country.. Two of the children -- believed to be aged around three -- and an adult victim were in critical condition and fighting for their lives in hospital, a security source told AFP. A police source said checks on the man, who was arrested at the scene, were ongoing, but he was unknown to French security services.
The Taliban government may have banned international NGOs from offering education to out-of-school Afghan children, UNICEF said Thursday, putting the teaching of half a million boys and girls at risk. . UNICEF partners with 15 Afghan NGOs and 12 international ones to deliver 21,000 community-based schools in the most remote and impoverished areas of the country.
US prosecutors have told Donald Trump's lawyers that he is the target of a probe into his handling of classified documents after leaving the presidency, in a sign he might be indicted, US media reported Wednesday night.. "Donald Trump is the target of an ongoing criminal investigation and he should step aside & put the good of the country above his candidacy," he tweeted Wednesday night.
The vaquita, a small porpoise on the verge of extinction, is still hanging in there, said scientists Wednesday who had spotted about a dozen specimens of Mexico's "panda of the sea" on an expedition in May. . Scientists conducting a survey of the vaquita's endemic range in the Gulf of California off Mexico's north coast -- spotted between 10 and 13 of the porpoises last month, they reported Wednesday.
Smoke from Canadian wildfires shrouded New York in an apocalyptic smog Wednesday as cities along the US East Coast issued air quality alerts and thousands evacuated their homes in Canada.. "At home we closed our windows and put our air filters on," she told AFP. Organizers canceled the opening night of a concert series in Brooklyn set to feature Corinne Bailey Rae on Wednesday due to the poor air quality.
Ukraine's assault against Russian positions flanking the city of Bakhmut has triggered a surge in battlefield casualties and piled pressure on frontline medics.. Kyiv has not released casualty figures, but AFP journalists saw Ukrainian military medics at a "stabilisation point" near the front treating wounded soldiers.
Ukraine has to breach multiple lines of heavily fortified defenses in its counteroffensive against invading Russian forces, and equipment and training provided by the United States and others will play a central role.. Kyiv's forces have the equipment and training they need, but Russia has greater numbers, according to Kupchan.
With the flood reaching the rooftops, rescuers raced to save people in Kherson as water from the destroyed Kakhovka dam engulfed the southern Ukrainian city.. The Dnipro River that flows through Kherson has risen by five metres since the dam upstream was destroyed early Tuesday, according to Ukrainian officials.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame has embarked on a major shakeup of the country's military, with a round of dismissals announced Wednesday after the appointment of a new defence minister, army chief and head of internal security.. Kagame also appointed Mubarak Muganga as the new chief of defence staff, and Vincent Nyakarundi as army chief of staff, a statement from his office said.
