Children belonging to Afghan refugees living in Pakistan fetch water from a tap on the outskirts of Lahore on June 19, 2022, on the eve of "World Refugee Day". (ARIF ALI / AFP) UNITED NATIONS – Between 2005 and 2020, the United Nations verified over 266,000 grave violations against children in more than 30 situations of conflict worldwide, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said Tuesday …
NASA launches CAPSTONE to test new type of lunar orbit
The Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) mission launches on Rocket Lab's Electron rocket from the Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand, on June 28, 2022. (ROCKET LAB) LOS ANGELES – NASA launched a new mission codenamed CAPSTONE on Tuesday to test a new type of lunar orbit, which will help take NASA's Artemis missions to the Moon. …
G7 to study Russian energy price caps, raise $5b to tackle hunger
Photographers take pictures as (left-right) Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, France's President Emmanuel Macron and Italy's Prime Minister Mario Draghi wait to start a meeting of five G7 leaders on June 28, 2022 at Elmau Castle, southern Germany, on the last day of the G7 Summit. (LUDOVIC MARIN / POOL / AFP) GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany – G7 leaders …
Climate change is driving 2022 extreme heat and flooding
People wade through a flooded area following heavy monsoon rainfall in Companiganj on June 26, 2022. (MAMUN HOSSAIN / AFP) LONDON – Extreme weather events – from scorching heatwaves to unusually heavy downpours – have caused widespread upheaval across the globe this year, with thousands of people killed and millions more displaced. In the last three months, monsoon rains unleashed disastrous flooding in Bangladesh, and …
Asylum applications in EU last year up a third from 2020
A migrant looks on as he stands inside Moria detention center in Mytilene on April 15, 2016. (ARIS MESSINIS / AFP) BRUSSELS – The European Union received 648,000 applications last year for international protection, a third more than in 2020, its asylum agency EUAA said on Tuesday, with Syrians and Afghans the main groups of applicants. In addition, the bloc received about 3.4 million requests …
US appeals court vacates federal jab mandate pending hearing
A healthcare worker administers a dose of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine at a walk up vaccination site in San Francisco, California, US, on Wednesday, February 3, 2021. (DAVID PAUL MORRIS / BLOOMBERG) PARIS / LOS ANGELES / ADDIS ABABA / WASHINGTON – A US appeals court panel said on Monday it would convene a full panel to reconsider President Joe Biden's executive order requiring civilian federal employees …
E. African initiative seeks to tap bioeconomy potential
The East African Community on Friday unveiled its Regional Bioeconomy Strategy at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania. The strategy is aimed at making use of the region's abundant natural resources to develop the bioeconomy. The strategy will offer an opportunity for partner states to achieve their individual aspirations, making use of the region's underutilized agricultural waste materials to produce value-added products with applications in …
US Supreme Court endorses football coach’s on-field prayers
Police walk in front of the US Supreme Court in Washington DC on June 27, 2022. (STEFANI REYNOLDS / AFP) WASHINGTON – The US Supreme Court, in the latest in a spate of decisions expanding religious liberty, ruled on Monday that a Washington state public school district violated the rights of a Christian high school football coach who was suspended for refusing to stop leading …
‘Stacks of bodies’: 46 dead migrants found in truck in Texas
Police and other first responders work at the scene where officials say dozens of people have been found dead and multiple others were taken to hospitals with heat-related illnesses after a tractor-trailer containing suspected migrants was found on June 27, 2022, in San Antonio. (ERIC GAY / AP PHOTO) SAN ANTONIO – The bodies of 46 dead migrants were discovered inside a tractor-trailer on Monday …
Venezuelan officials meet US delegation, Maduro says
Handout picture released by the Venezuelan Presidency showing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaking upon his arrival at the Simon Bolivar international airport in La Guaira, Venezuela on June 18, 2022. (ZURIMAR CAMPOS / VENEZUELAN PRESIDENCY / AFP) Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Monday that the country’s head of congress met a United States delegation to continue talks that began in March without disclosing the …
46 migrants die in truck in San Antonio, others hospitalized
Police work at the scene where dozens of people were found dead in a semitrailer in a remote area in southwestern San Antonio on June 27, 2022. (ERIC GAY / AP PHOTO) SAN ANTONIO – Authorities found 46 migrants dead inside a tractor-trailer on Monday in San Antonio, Texas, the city's fire department said, in what appears to be one of the most deadly recent …
G7, NATO summits face deeper cracks despite projected unity
Police patrol outside the international media center during the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, June 26, 2022. (GUO CHEN / XINHUA) ELMAU, Germany – A series of major Western diplomatic gatherings began with the Group of Seven (G7) leaders' meeting in the German mountain resort of Schloss Elmau on Sunday, while thousands of protesters marched in Munich. Leaders who are attending the …
Sudan accuses Ethiopia of executing 7 Sudanese soldiers, civilian
Ethiopian refugees who fled the fighting in the Tigray region transport building materials using a donkey-pulled cart, at Umm Rakuba camp in eastern Sudan's Gedaref State, on Aug 11, 2021. (ASHRAF SHAZLY / AFP) Sudan's military accused Ethiopia's army of executing seven Sudanese soldiers and a civilian who were captives, the Sudanese armed forces said in a statement on Sunday. The Sudanese army also accused …
Global biodiversity deal to halt nature loss stalls in Nairobi
In this handout picture relased courtesy of the European Union Delegation to Colombia, burned trees are seen after a forest fire in the Department of Guaviare, northwest of the Colombian Amazon on Feb 5, 2022. (EUROPEAN UNION / AFP) NAIROBI – Efforts to draft an ambitious global agreement on halting nature loss ended Sunday with little progress made in the Nairobi negotiations, leaving limited time …
Russia pitches into first major external bond default in century
People stroll on Red Square in front of the Spasskaya Tower and St. Basil's Cathedral in downtown Moscow on June 7, 2022. (NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA / AFP) LONDON – Russia defaulted on its foreign sovereign bonds for the first time since the Bolshevik revolution, as sweeping sanctions cut the country off from the global financial system and rendered its assets untouchable to many investors. Speaking at …
Bolsonaro to announce former defense chief as running mate
This file photo taken on Dec 27, 2018 shows Brazil's Military Commander Walter Souza Braga Netto (Center) speaks during a ceremony at the Palacio Duque de Caxias in Rio de Janeiro to mark the end on Dec 31 of the federal and military intervention for public security in the city. (CARL DE SOUZA / AFP) SAO PAULO – Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Sunday …
Food export bans, from India to Argentina, risk fueling inflation
A laborer works inside a mill of refined wheat flour at Khanna in India's Punjab state on May 18, 2022. (SAJJAD HUSSAIN / AFP) MUMBAI/BUENOS AIRES/LONDON – It only took 24 hours last month for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government in India – the world's second-largest producer of wheat – to shelve its plans to "feed the world". In April, Modi had said publicly that …
UK presses on with Brexit deal changes despite EU opposition
This photo dated Dec 9, 2020 shows flags of the Union Jack and the EU ahead of Britain's prime minister's meeting on post Brexit trade deal with European Commission president, in Brussels. (OLIVIER HOSLET / POOL / AFP) LONDON – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government will press ahead on Monday with legislation to scrap rules on post-Brexit trade with Northern Ireland, setting up further …
G7 summit opens amid lower expectations, protests
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks next European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, US President Joe Biden, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and European Council President Charles Michel during a press statement on the first day of the G7 leaders' summit held at Elmau Castle, southern Germany on June 26, 2022. (LUKAS BARTH / POOL …
Horror on Oslo Pride day as gunman goes on rampage
A woman lays flowers at the scene of a shooting in central Oslo, Norway on June 25, 2022. (SERGEI GRITS / AP) OSLO – Terrified revelers at a gay bar in Oslo hid in a basement and desperately called loved ones as a gunman went on the rampage, killing two people and injuring 21 on the day the city was due to celebrate its annual …