An exchange of nearly 900 prisoners from Yemen's civil war will start on Friday, one day later than previously announced, a government official said on Wednesday.. The prisoner transfers "will last for three days, starting on Friday and ending on Sunday", said Fadael, revising the timetable he announced on Tuesday.
January to March 2023 was the deadliest first quarter for central Mediterranean migrants since 2017, the United Nations said Wednesday, with 441 lives lost as crossings to Europe soar.. The European Union's border agency Frontex said the number of first-quarter irregular border crossings on the central Mediterranean route was nearly 28,000, triple the number in the first three months of 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday denounced Russian "beasts" after a video appeared to show the beheading of a Ukrainian prisoner, prompting international outrage.. "One of the videos shows a brutal execution of a man who appears to be a Ukrainian prisoner of war, while the other one shows mutilated bodies of apparent Ukrainian POWs." - 'Inhumane aggression' - The EU said that, if confirmed, the footage was "yet another brutal reminder about the inhumane nature of the Russian aggression".
It's been a rite of passage for American leaders since John F. Kennedy, one which many describe as a highlight of their time in the Oval Office.. JFK's landmark visit in June 1963 -- made without Jackie who was pregnant at the time -- entranced the nation, where his family's journey from famine-hit Ireland in the mid-19th century to the White House was seen as the pinnacle of the American Dream.
South Africa said on Wednesday an international arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Ukraine war was a "spanner in the works" ahead of a BRICS summit in the country in August.. The Russian president is due to attend a summit of the BRICS - a bloc which groups together Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- in South Africa in August.
January to March 2023 was the deadliest first quarter for migrants crossing the central Mediterranean since 2017, the United Nations said Wednesday, with 441 lives lost attempting to reach Europe.. Even as the IOM released its findings, the Tunisian coastguard said Wednesday that 10 migrants had drowned off the coast after their boat was wrecked in the Mediterranean.
Dutch police detained two protesters who ran towards French President Emmanuel Macron in Amsterdam on Wednesday as his domestic troubles intruded once again on his state visit to the Netherlands.. Macron is on the first state visit to the Netherlands by a French president in 23 years, but this has not given him respite from the wave of protests against his moves to increase the French pension age from 62 to 64.
An Iranian delegation arrived in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, Tehran said, to pave the way for reopening diplomatic missions as the Gulf rivals prepare to normalise relations, seven years after an acrimonious split.. "In accordance with the implementation of the agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia on the resumption of diplomatic activities... the Iranian technical delegation arrived in Riyadh at midday Wednesday and was welcomed by Saudi officials," said Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani.
China's President Xi Jinping called on the country's armed forces to "strengthen military training oriented towards actual combat", state media reported Wednesday, after Beijing conducted military drills intended to intimidate Taiwan.. Xi on Tuesday told the People's Liberation Army's Southern Theatre Command Navy that the military must "resolutely defend China's territorial sovereignty and maritime interests, and strive to protect overall peripheral stability", state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Hazardous pollution levels in northern Thailand have left the historic city of Chiang Mai choking under thick smog, with locals worried about the impact on tourism -- and their health.. Chiang Mai cardiologist Rungsrit Kanjanavanit told AFP that officials are not doing enough to tackle the pollution, worried about its impact on the country's vital tourist economy.
