World News

SpaceX Dragon crew to blast off for ISS

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is to blast off early Monday for the International Space Station carrying two NASA astronauts, a Russian cosmonaut and the second Emirati to voyage to space.. Fedyaev is the second Russian cosmonaut to fly to the ISS aboard a SpaceX rocket.

Around 60 migrants die in boat wreck off Italy

At least 59 migrants, including 11 children and a newborn baby, died after their overloaded boat sank early on Sunday in stormy seas off Italy's southern Calabria region, officials said.. Crotone's rescue centre said 12 of the 59 victims were children, including a newborn, and 33 were women, according to AGI news agency.

Hopes of deal on N. Ireland protocol as EU chief to meet UK PM

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen will meet in the UK on Monday to discuss changes to the post-Brexit Northern Ireland protocol, they said in a joint statement, raising hopes a deal can be reached.. Commission President von der Leyen "will therefore meet with the Prime Minister in the UK tomorrow (Monday)," it added.

Wave of support for Turkish father who lost daughter in quake

A photo of a father holding his daughter's hand killed in Turkey's February 6 earthquake has provoked an outpouring of sympathy and support from around the world, he told AFP. Around three weeks after the disaster that killed more then 44,000 people in Turkey and thousands more in neighbouring Syria, AFP photographer Adem Altan tracked down Mesut Hancer in the capital Ankara.. Later, he saw Adem Altan taking photos of the scene.

'Embezzled' Lebanese cash in Swiss banks: media report

Banks in Switzerland are holding a substantial amount of the millions of dollars Lebanese central bank chief Riad Salameh is accused of embezzling, Swiss media reported on Sunday.. Twelve Swiss banks have received a large part of the money he is alleged to have embezzled, estimated at up to $500 million, SonntagsZeitung reported on Sunday.

Jill Biden says Horn of Africa needs more drought relief

US First Lady Jill Biden on Sunday visited drought-affected communities in Kenya and appealed for wealthy nations to give more as the Horn of Africa suffers its driest conditions in decades.. Biden concluded her two-nation tour of Africa by calling for a greater spotlight on the record-breaking drought which threatens 22 million people in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia with starvation. 

Jordan talks seek to calm Israeli-Palestinian tensions

Israeli and Palestinian representatives met in Jordan Sunday for "political-security" talks aimed at restoring calm after violence that included the deadliest Israeli raid on the occupied West Bank in years.. News of the Palestinian leadership's decision to attend the Jordan talks drew criticism from other factions after 11 Palestinians were killed Wednesday in a gun battle when Israeli troops raided the West Bank city of Nablus.

In Nigeria, voters set on defending a free election

Nigerians of all ages were determined to ensure a credible election outcome, monitoring polling centres as initial results from a presidential election trickled in on Sunday.. - 'Brighter future' - As of Sunday morning, only 20 percent of results for the presidential election were available on the website of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Iran frees Spanish woman detained since late 2022: Madrid

Iran has released a Spanish woman, Ana Baneira, who had been in detention since November, Spain's foreign minister said on Sunday.. Another Spanish citizen, football fan Santiago Sanchez Cogedor, has been in detention in Iran since October.

Extinct-in-the-wild species in conservation limbo

For species classified as "extinct in the wild", the zoos and botanical gardens where their fates hang by a thread are as often anterooms to oblivion as gateways to recovery, new research has shown.. "This is an overlooked category," the researchers noted.