Kyiv, Ukraine – AFP Ukraine’s president refused Friday to say whether he had ordered an airstrike on Russian soil, as a bus convoy navigated a tortuous evacuation to help thousands flee the besieged city of Mariupol. Peace talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials resumed via video, but the Kremlin warned the helicopter attack ...
Valletta, Malta – AFP Pope Francis called for a shared response to the world’s migration crises Saturday, at the outset of a two-day trip to Malta. “The growing migration emergency -– here we can think of the refugees from war-torn Ukraine –- calls for a broad-based and shared response. Some countries cannot respond to the [&...
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AA) – Saudi Arabia on Saturday welcomed a two-month truce brokered by the United Nations in war-torn Yemen. In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it supports the truce announcement by the UN special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, which will see “all forms of military operations inside Yemen and […]...
TUNIS, Tunisia (AA) – Tunisian President Kais Saied has announced plans to build a “new republic”, amid a political crisis in the North African country. “We are determined to cleanse the country and move forward in building a new republic according to the results of electronic consultations,” Saied said in a televised s...
ROTTERDAM – An Islamophobic Dutch group is planning to hold deliberately provocative barbecues near mosques over the next several weeks, coinciding with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in which most believers fast from pre-morning to sunset. According to PEGIDA, standing for “Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of West,” the barbecu...
WASHINGTON – The US will end in late May a controversial pandemic-era program that had led to the rapid expulsions of nearly 2 million migrants and asylum seekers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced. Title 42 will be lifted on May 23, and the Biden administration will continue to enforce it until […]
KYIV – Ukrainian forces liberated the city of Bucha near Kyiv from the Russian army, according to its mayor. Anatolii Fedoruk announced in a video message that Ukrainian soldiers’ battle to save Bucha ended in victory. “Today, our armed forces achieved a great victory in the Kyiv region. And we will expect a great victory […...
WASHINGTON – The US House of Representatives again voted to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level on April 1, with a slim bipartisan majority voting in favor. In all, three Republicans joined the chamber’s Democrats in supporting the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act, which cleared the House 220-204. The...
GENEVA (AA) – Five weeks after the Russian military operation in Ukraine began, the number of civilian deaths as counted by UN officials till Friday stood at 1,276, with 1,981 wounded, although the toll is much higher as the number of people fleeing climbed to 4,102,876. UN agencies said feeding residents in besieged areas is […]
NEW DELHI – India will continue to buy cheap oil from Russia at discounted prices, the country’s finance minister has said. “India’s overall interest is what is kept in mind,” Nirmala Sitharaman said during a business event. She was responding to a question about the reports that Russia is offering deep discounts on oil...
