World News

'Full-blown crisis': Karabakh blockade triggers shortages

Zhanna Petrosyan's flat offers little protection as temperatures plummet below zero both within and outside its walls, leaving her family of six shivering amid the blockade of a disputed region of Azerbaijan.. Armenia has also accused Azerbaijan of causing major power cuts in the region in the middle of winter, saying Baku is preventing repair work for supply lines. 

Deep-sea mining noise pollution threatens whales: study

Scientists warned on Tuesday that controversial seabed mining could significantly threaten ocean ecosystems, especially blue whales and other cetaceans already stressed by shipping, pollution and climate change. . The impact of deep-sea mining on cetaceans is predicted to be particularly acute in the Pacific Ocean's Clarion-Clipperton Zone, a habitat for some two dozen cetacean species, including baleen whales, beaked whales, sperm whales and Risso's dolphins. 

Nikki Haley announces 2024 US presidential bid

Former US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced Tuesday she is running for president in 2024, challenging fellow Republican candidate Donald Trump by proposing a "new generation" of leadership in Washington.. "I'm Nikki Haley and I'm running for president," the 51-year-old former governor of South Carolina and the child of Indian immigrants said in a video statement.

Nikki Haley announces 2024 US presidential bid

Former US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced Tuesday she is running for president in 2024, challenging fellow Republican candidate Donald Trump by proposing a "new generation" of leadership in Washington.. Casting herself as a younger, fresher alternative to the 76-year-old former president Trump, Haley had been hinting at a possible run for weeks and teasing a "big announcement" on February 15.

In Channel, major resources track small boats

Fifteen months after 27 migrants drowned in the Channel, the efforts to prevent another tragedy are visible from the bridge of the French navy boat BSAM Rhone as it patrols on a cold February night.. The surge in numbers has left the British government vowing to stem the flow and the French determined not to see a repeat of the November 2021 tragedy that left 27 dead and a deep well of distrust between the neighbouring countries. 

Battle to save lives in field hospital after Turkey quake

After being trapped beneath rubble for 180 hours, 25-year-old Abir is now fighting for her life in a field hospital after a catastrophic earthquake hit Turkey and Syria.. - 'Most extraordinary rescue' - In a three-hour period that AFP visited, half a dozen ambulances brought injured victims to the makeshift hospital, which lies near a large Antakya hospital that has been destroyed by the quake.

WHO to hold emergency meeting on E.Guinea Marburg outbreak

The UN health agency said it would hold an emergency meeting Tuesday after at least nine people in Equatorial Guinea died from Marburg haemorrhagic fever, a cousin of the Ebola virus.. Tuesday's announcement came after Equatorial Guinea's health minister, Mitoha Ondo'o Ayekaba, said late Monday that nine people had died in the country's first outbreak of the disease.

Tax officials raid BBC India offices after critical documentary

Indian tax authorities raided the BBC's New Delhi and Mumbai offices on Tuesday, weeks after the broadcaster aired a documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's actions during deadly sectarian riots in 2002.. India's Income Tax Department could not be reached for comment by AFP.  Last month, the broadcaster aired a two-part documentary alleging that Hindu nationalist Modi ordered police to turn a blind eye to sectarian riots in Gujarat state, where he was premier at the time.

Sri Lanka bans single-use plastics to save elephants

Sri Lanka will ban single-use plastics, the government said Tuesday, in a move that follows a series of wild elephant and deer deaths from plastic poisoning.. Dozens of wild deer died from plastic poisoning in the northeastern district of Trincomalee about five years ago, prompting the government to ban the open dumping of garbage near jungle reserves. aj/slb/dhw/dva