World News

Ukraine-led 2024 boycott call is against Olympic principles: IOC chief Bach

IOC president Thomas Bach has told Ukraine that its calls for a boycott of the 2024 Paris Games over the possible participation of Russian competitors goes against Olympic "principles".. "Threatening a boycott of the Olympic Games which, as you inform me, the NOC of Ukraine is currently considering, goes against the fundamentals of the Olympic Movement and the principles we stand for," Bach said in the letter to Ukraine's Olympic chief Vadym Goutzeit.

Thu, Feb 9, 2023 2 mins read

World News

Zelensky's triumphant European trip ruffles diplomatic feathers

The headline images were a triumph for all concerned: British and Belgian royal visits, a tank, a Paris dinner and a family photo with 27 applauding EU leaders.. All that diplomatic elbowing and bitterness swirled in the background, even as Macron tweeted a photo of the 27 EU leaders standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Zelensky, alongside the words: "The European family."  bur-dc/rmb/bp 

Thu, Feb 9, 2023 3 mins read

World News

Attempted bombing in north Ghana fuels jihadist fears

Criminals in northern Ghana tried to blow up a bridge using explosives for the first time in a region where the government fears growing violent spillover from a jihadist war across the border in Burkina Faso, a top official said.. Ghana's northern frontier with Burkina Faso is also an area with well-established smuggling routes, porous borders and illegal gold mining -- a combination local officials and experts worry could benefit jihadists.

Thu, Feb 9, 2023 2 mins read

World News

Death toll tops 20,000 from Turkey-Syria quake as hopes fade

The death toll from the massive earthquake in Turkey and Syria kept on climbing Thursday, topping 20,000 as the first UN aid reached Syrian rebel-held zones but hopes of finding more survivors faded.. But in a potentially life-saving development, an aid convoy reached rebel-held northwestern Syria on Thursday, the first since the quake, an official at the Bab al-Hawa border crossing told AFP. - Freezing temperatures - The crossing is the only way UN assistance can reach civilians without going through areas controlled by Syrian government forces.

Thu, Feb 9, 2023 4 mins read

World News

Chinese balloon's equipment 'clearly' for spying: US official

Images from U2 spy planes showed that the Chinese balloon that flew over the United States last week was unmistakably equipped for collecting intelligence and not weather data, a US official said Thursday.. Detailed images taken by high-altitude U2s showed the balloon's payload equipment "was clearly for intelligence surveillance and inconsistent with the equipment onboard weather balloons," the senior State Department official said. 

Thu, Feb 9, 2023 2 mins read

World News

UN chief urges more Syria border aid points after quake

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday urged the Security Council to authorize the opening of new cross-border humanitarian aid points between Turkey and Syria to deliver UN aid to earthquake victims.. Turkey said on Thursday it was working to open two more border crossings with Syria to deliver aid. abd/md/caw

Thu, Feb 9, 2023 1 mins read

World News

In northern Nigeria, fuel, cash crisis taints election campaign

It was just after dawn and tempers were fraying outside the First Bank in the northern Nigerian town of Kano, where scores of customers jostled to get on a waiting list to withdraw money.. he asked after joining the waiting list to get access to the cash machine. 

Thu, Feb 9, 2023 4 mins read

World News

Legendary songwriter Burt Bacharach dead at 94

Legendary American pop composer, songwriter and pianist Burt Bacharach, whose prolific output provided a chart-topping playlist for the 1960s and 1970s with hits like "I Say a Little Prayer," has died in Los Angeles at the age of 94.. Bacharach  -- who died on Wednesday of natural causes, his publicist Tina Brausman told AFP -- was known for romantic and melancholic ballads that blurred the line between jazz and pop, and regularly topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.

Thu, Feb 9, 2023 2 mins read

World News

Chile declares curfew in two regions affected by forest fires

Chile has announced a nighttime curfew in regions where forest fires have been blazing for more than a week, leaving at least 24 people dead, a military chief said on Thursday.. The fires have left 24 people dead and more than 2,000 injured, while destroying more than 300,000 hectares of forest in the regions of Biobio, La Araucania, Nuble and Maule, an area equal to that of Puerto Rico.

Thu, Feb 9, 2023 1 mins read

World News

Turkey-Syria quake toll nears 20,000 as hopes dim

Hopes faded Thursday of finding more survivors after the earthquake that killed nearly 20,000 people in Turkey and Syria, as the first UN aid reached Syrian rebel-held zones.. But in a potentially life-saving development, an aid convoy reached rebel-held northwestern Syria on Thursday, the first since the quake, an official at the Bab al-Hawa border crossing told AFP. - Freezing temperatures - The aid passage through the crossing is the only way UN assistance can reach civilians without going through areas controlled by Syrian government forces.

Thu, Feb 9, 2023 4 mins read