A fire at a fuel depot in western Cuba sparked by a lightning strike has injured more than 60 people, three of them critically, officials said Saturday.. The fire spread early Saturday from one fuel tank to a second, sending a huge plume of black smoke into the sky.
Spanish firefighters on Saturday struggled to contain wildfires that have ravaged large tracts in the northwest, as a third summer heat wave grips the country.. They have eased since, but were expected to remain around 35C across much of the country on Saturday.
Sudan's foreign ministry on Saturday condemned the killing of 18 Sudanese people during an attack by an armed group from Chad, state media reported. . On Saturday, Sudan's acting Foreign Minister Ali al-Sadiq conveyed his country's "protest and condemnation of the incident", in a meeting with Chad's ambassador to Khartoum.
With empty streets and drawn curtains, Gaza feels like a ghost town.. "This latest escalation brings back images of fear, anxiety, and the feeling that we are all alone," said Dounia Ismail, a Gaza City resident.
A London hospital on Saturday was due to withdraw life support for 12-year-old British boy Archie Battersbee after his parents lost a long and emotive legal battle.. The parents also lost a last-ditch legal bid to have Archie transferred to a hospice for his final hours.
American candy giant Mars Wrigley has insisted it "respects China's national sovereignty" and apologised after an advert for its Snickers bar referred to Taiwan as a country, sparking outrage on the mainland.. "Mars Wrigley respects China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and conducts business operations in strict compliance with local Chinese laws and regulations," the statement said.
Beijing's largest-ever exercises around Taiwan have offered key clues into its plans for a gruelling blockade in the event of a war to take the self-ruled island, and revealed an increasingly emboldened Chinese military, experts told AFP. The visit to Taiwan by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- second in line to the presidency -- sparked outrage from Beijing, which launched vast military manoeuvres around the island, even at the risk of partially exposing its plans to the United States and its Asian allies.. The Chinese military "obviously has all the capabilities to impose such a blockade", Song Zhongping, an independent Chinese military commentator, told AFP. "We already see during the current exercises that Taiwanese fighter jets and ships absolutely cannot take off or leave their ports."
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr Saturday in a bid to bolster the countries' "strong" alliance, as China conducts military drills around nearby Taiwan. . "The alliance is strong and I believe can grow even stronger," Blinken told Marcos as they met at the presidential palace in the capital Manila.
A Pakistan zoo is auctioning off a dozen lions to private collectors next week to free up space for a pride that won't stop growing.. "I will try to buy two to three lions for sure," he told AFP, adding the auction was a good way to diversify the gene pool for private collectors who already owned a big cat.
China has doubled down on its retaliation for US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, announcing a suspension of cooperation with Washington on key issues as it was set Saturday to continue massive military exercises in the Strait.. The suspension Friday of bilateral military and maritime dialogue while China continues its military exercises was "particularly worrisome,” she said.
