A US fighter jet shot down an unidentified object drifting high over Alaska on Friday, the White House said, just six days after the downing of an alleged Chinese spy balloon sparked a fresh diplomatic rift with Beijing.. The object was much smaller than a huge Chinese balloon that crossed the United States last week and was shot down by a US fighter jet off the Atlantic coast on Saturday, Kirby said.
Peruvian President Dina Boluarte on Friday called for a multi-party dialogue to help resolve her country's political crisis, saying two months of sometimes deadly anti-government protests had left the nation a "fragile democracy.". "In search of peace, I openly call all political leaders of every single party, but also the leaders of social and labor organizations, everyone in general so that we can meet and put the country's agenda on the table," said Boluarte.
The United Nations rights chief called Friday for an immediate ceasefire in Syria to facilitate the delivery of aid to all victims of the region's devastating earthquake.. "UN human rights chief Volker Turk calls for immediate ceasefire in Syria, and full respect for human rights and humanitarian law obligations so help can reach everyone," it added.
Police on Friday detained a Belgian European Parliament member for questioning after searching a bank safe belonging to him as part of a probe into a bribery scandal that has rocked the EU. Belgium's federal prosecutors said "several raids" were carried out Friday morning targeting the safe of lawmaker Marc Tarabella, 59, in the city of Liege and offices in the town hall of Anthisnes, where he is mayor. . Tarabella was "detained for questioning" and the judge overseeing the case will decide in the coming hours whether the Socialist MEP should appear before him, prosecutors said.
Kurdish militants from the outlawed PKK group announced a temporary halt in fighting to ease recovery work in the wake of a massive earthquake that struck southeastern Turkey and parts of Syria.. Turkey is now conducting a low-scale war in northern Iraq and also fighting a separate Kurdish group in Syria that it views as a local branch of the PKK -- but which Washington has relied on to battle Islamic State jihadists.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has called for a boycott of the 2024 Paris Olympics if Russian athletes are allowed to take part, said Friday their presence would be a "manifestation of violence".. "The mere presence of representatives of the terrorist state is a manifestation of violence and lawlessness," Zelensky told a virtual summit of sports ministers chaired from London.
Aimilia Balta's mother fled Turkey after a vicious war with Greece a century ago but it has not stopped the elderly Greek donating clothes for the thousands left homeless by the deadly earthquake there.. In 1999, three years after the two countries nearly went to war over an uninhabited islet in the Aegean Sea, two deadly earthquakes struck Turkey and Greece within a month of each other.
Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest was down 61 percent in January -- Leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's first month back in the job -- compared with the same period last year, according to an official report published on Friday.. Despite the year-over-year drop off in deforestation, the new January figure is still higher than in two of the four years of Bolsonaro's presidency.
The United Nations said Friday it was rapidly exhausting the aid stocks it had in Syria before the devastating earthquake and needed quick resupply to support the millions affected.. "When we look at eight to 12 weeks, we look at supporting livelihoods and basic services in affected areas," he said, including trying to undertake minor repairs in damaged housing.
A British auction house on Friday dropped the sale of "Star Wars" memorabilia once owned by actor Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca, after a public plea from his widow.. Mayhew, who died in 2019, was a British-born actor who towered 7 feet 3 inches (2.21 metres) and played Chewbacca in the original film and sequels until 2015.
