World powers said Tuesday (Dec 19) that the international community needed a firm and unified response to North Korea’s “reckless” nuclear build-up and missile launches. G7 foreign ministers said in a statement after the launch of Pyongyang’s most powerful ballistic missile that “North Korea’s repeated reckless actions must be metContinue Reading
SEOUL: International troops stationed on the South Korean side of the truce village of Panmunjom on the border with North Korea who had been unarmed can resume carrying guns, the United Nations Command (UNC) said on Tuesday (Dec 19). The US-led UNC is a multinational military force and oversees affairsContinue Reading
SEOUL: South Korea, the United States and Japan on Tuesday (Dec 19) activated a system to share real-time data on North Korean missile launches, Seoul’s defence ministry said, as the three countries seek to bolster security cooperation against the nuclear-armed North. The announcement came a day after Pyongyang conducted itsContinue Reading
“As a prominent and outspoken journalist and publisher, Jimmy Lai has been targeted in a clear attempt to stop the peaceful exercise of his rights to freedom of expression and association,” Cameron said in a statement. “I call on the Hong Kong authorities to end their prosecution and release JimmyContinue Reading
SEOUL: South Korea’s defence ministry said on Friday (Dec 15) it expressed regret and lodged a protest to China and Russia over the intrusion of its air defence zone by the neighbouring counties’ military aircraft on Thursday. The protest was conveyed by the ministry’s head of the international policy bureauContinue Reading
LONDON: The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday (Dec 14) urged governments to treat e-cigarettes similarly to tobacco and ban all flavours, threatening cigarette companies’ bets on smoking alternatives. Some researchers, campaigners and governments see e-cigarettes, or vapes, as a key tool in reducing the death and disease caused byContinue Reading
Jean-Loup Samaan, a senior research fellow at the Middle East Institute of the National University of Singapore and a former adviser with the French defence ministry and NATO, described the past 15 years as “the collapse of the Oslo process”, as the election of Hamas in Gaza and the increaseContinue Reading
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, including waters and islands near the shores of its neighbours, and has ignored an international tribunal ruling that its assertions have no legal basis. It deploys boats to patrol the busy waterway and has built artificial islands that it has militarised toContinue Reading
SAO PAULO: A fire in a camp belonging to Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement MST in the northern state of Para killed nine people and left eight injured on Saturday night, the movement said on Sunday (Dec 10).
The incident was caused by a short circuit in the electrical network during the installation of internet wiring in the rural farmers’ camp, located in the city of Parauapebas, according to MST.
Community leaders told a press conference that the short circuit happened at around 8 p.m. local time, when an antenna touched the high-voltage network, setting fire to power cables and some shacks in the camp.
Among the nine dead, six were residents of the camp and three were workers from the internet company.
Eight other people were injured and taken to a hospital, seven of them have already been discharged, and one remains hospitalized with second-degree burns but is not at risk of death.
According to the MST, the fire was later contained by the local fire brigade.
MST fights for land distribution in Brazil, sometimes occupying areas it says are not producing anything and then seeking its expropriation by the government.
The camp is close, but, according to the movement, does not occupy a 60,000-hectare (150,000-acre) farm in the region that they argue is the product of land grabbing.
Members of the camp said at Sunday’s press conference that they are already receiving government aid, such as water and food distribution and funeral help.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva asked his agrarian development minister, Paulo Teixeira, and head of lands rights agency Incra, Cesar Aldrighi, to travel to the city to “follow the case closely and bring all the support of the federal government to the families of the victims of this tragedy”, the government said in a statement.
KABUL: The UN refugee agency has warned that Afghans could die in harsh winter conditions if they don’t get adequate shelter once they cross the border from Pakistan.
Almost half a million Afghans have left Pakistan since early October, when the Islamabad government announced it would arrest and deport foreigners it said were in the country illegally. The overwhelming majority of them are from neighbouring Afghanistan, though Islamabad insists the policy doesn’t target a specific nationality.
The forced returns are piling pressure on Afghanistan and aid agencies, which are providing the bulk of essential services like health care. Freezing temperatures are setting in and conditions at the border remain dire.
“Many Afghan returnees are vulnerable, including women and children, who could lose their lives in a harsh winter if left without adequate shelter,” the UN refugee agency said in a report published Friday (Dec 8). “People arriving at the border are exhausted and require urgent assistance as well as psychosocial support.”
Families told the agency they were worried that colder winter temperatures in certain areas, particularly mountainous regions, may prevent them from returning home right away.
“Many are arriving with illness, for example bronchitis, as a result of the cold weather and the difficult journey from Pakistan,” the agency said in a message to The Associated Press on Sunday (Dec 10). “They may not have all their belongings, including clothing, and therefore be unable to protect themselves from the elements.”
It said that among those returning to Afghanistan are families who have never lived in the country. They have been living in Pakistan for one or more generations and may not have homes or extended family to return to.
Cash to pay rent is needed, while families with some existing social networks could stay with family or friends. Others may return to homes needing repair. The agency said it will provide tents to such households.
“For those who have nowhere to go, with limited means, they may stay in camps, established near the border,” the refugee agency said.
A Taliban committee said it is distributing food, water, SIM cards, clothing and cash at two key border crossings: Torkham and Spin Boldak. Families are also learning about Afghanistan, the Islamic system, temporary living arrangements, registration and relocation, the committee said Sunday.
But extreme temperatures and limited access to clean water and sanitation have led to a surge in infectious diseases and malnutrition.
UN Women said there are additional challenges for Afghan women and girls leaving Pakistan as they have to deal with Taliban restrictions that could affect their mobility and access to information and services if they don’t have a male relative. It expressed similar concerns after October’s deadly earthquakes in Afghanistan’s west.
The agency said around 80 per cent of Afghans returning through Torkham and Spin Boldak are women and children.
In its latest report, also published Friday, it said many women have lived through “distressing experiences” in Pakistan including being the victims of illegal detention, witnessing their spouse or family members be arrested, or being separated from relatives and returning to Afghanistan alone.
Women told UN agencies they were “compelled” to hand their possessions over in exchange for transportation, leave all their belongings behind or saw their income taken by Pakistani authorities.
The crackdown is hugely controversial and has drawn condemnation from rights groups, the Taliban, aid agencies and the UN