Massive crowds of robed Muslims gathered for the "stoning of the devil" ritual in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday as the biggest hajj pilgrimage since the pandemic draws to a close.. The devil-stoning marks the start of the three-day Eid al-Adha holiday, celebrated by Muslims by buying and slaughtering livestock to commemorate Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son.
Hundreds of international firefighters who are helping overwhelmed Canadians battle unprecedented wildfires face a complex task in the heart of the boreal forest scorched by uncontrolled blazes.. With a shortage of firefighters in Canada, even with foreign reinforcements, it is impossible to battle all of the fires at once.
Cuba, which relies heavily on the tourist dollars of visitors to its pristine Caribbean beaches and colorful towns, has experienced a frustrating scarcity of foreigners since the end of the coronavirus pandemic.. Tourists are not always spared the shortages blamed on the US blockade and a lack of foreign exchange.
Wildfires raging across Canada, made more intense by global warming, have released more planet-warming carbon dioxide in the first six months of 2023 than in any full year on record, EU scientists said Tuesday.. Globally, forests play a crucial role in curbing global warming by absorbing and stocking excess CO2 -- emitted mainly from burning fossil fuels -- that is overheating the planet.
The United States lost more than $200 billion to fraud from two schemes designed to help small businesses through the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a US government watchdog report.. "We identified multiple schemes used by fraudsters to steal from the American taxpayer and exploit programs meant to help those in need," the Small Business Administration's (SBA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) said in a new report.
Swiss banking group UBS plans to cut 35,000 jobs at Credit Suisse -- more than half its workforce -- as part of the emergency rescue takeover of its rival in March, according to a report by Bloomberg News on Tuesday.. UBS declined to comment on the reported job cuts when contacted by AFP. Combined, the two groups had around 120,000 employees at the end of last year, with 37,000 of them in Switzerland.
At least three people were killed and more than 40 wounded in a Russian rocket strike that hit a restaurant in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, authorities said Tuesday.. Donetsk governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said two Russian rockets had struck the city that was once home to 150,000 people, one of the largest still under Ukrainian control in the country's besieged east.
The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions aimed at disrupting gold mining activities that fund the Wagner Group in Africa, vowing to hold the mercenaries accountable for abuses days after they staged a mutiny in Russia.. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, previewing the sanctions earlier Tuesday, renewed his criticism of the Wagner mercenaries, who have been accused of wide abuses in Africa.
Sierra Leone's President Julius Maada Bio was re-elected with 56.17 percent to serve a second term, the head of the electoral commission said on Tuesday following a process disputed by the opposition.. I hereby certify that Bio Julius Maada... (is) duly elected president," Konneh said.
Fighting raged in the Sudanese capital on Tuesday, the eve of the Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday, after paramilitaries seized Khartoum's main police base.. Late Sunday the RSF announced they had seized the headquarters, on Khartoum's southern edge, of the paramilitary Central Reserve police sanctioned last year by Washington for rights abuses.
