Posts by Riah Stelmack
Ukraine estimates environmental damage of 1,000 days of war at $71 bn
The war in Ukraine has left tens of thousands of people dead, destroyed homes and created millions of refugees, but it has also caused severe environmental damage, Ukrainian Environment Minister Svitlana Hryntchuk told the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku. The environmental damage caused by military operations following Russia’s full-scale invasion in February…
Read MoreWife of Ugandan opposition figure Besigye says he was kidnapped and is being held in a military jail
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The wife of Ugandan opposition figure Kizza Besigye said Wednesday he was kidnapped in neighboring Kenya and is being held in a Ugandan military jail. Winnie Byanyima, the executive director of UNAIDS, wrote on the social platform X that her husband was last seen Saturday in Kenya, where he was attending…
Read MoreZoo begins mission to save Mexican boxer pupfish
A zoo has started a breeding programme for a Mexican fish species that is believed to have gone extinct in the wild. Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire says it has been told by conservationists that its own boxer pupfish is the last one of its species in the world. It is native to Lake Chichancanab in…
Read MoreOld clip shows Pakistani politician welcomed by supporters, not ‘heckled at airport’ amid record smog
The chief minister of Pakistan’s Punjab province Maryam Nawaz Sharif was criticised for flying abroad while the province grappled with record levels of pollution in November 2024, but a video circulating on social media does not show her being heckled at the airport. The clip earlier circulated in September 2023 reports about Maryam’s return to…
Read MoreIraqis face tough homecoming a decade after IS rampage
A decade after Islamic State group extremists rampaged through northern Iraq, Moaz Fadhil and his eight children finally returned to their village after languishing for years in a displacement camp. Their home, Hassan Shami, is just a stone’s throw from the tent city where they had been living, and it still bears the scars of the…
Read MoreUgandan opposition figure reportedly detained
The wife of Ugandan opposition figure Kizza Besigye says he has been kidnapped and is now being held in a military jail. In a post on X, Winnie Byanyima wrote that her husband had been seized in Kenya’s capital Nairobi last Saturday during a book launch event. “I am now reliably informed that he is…
Read MoreAround 540,000 people have left Lebanon for war-torn Syria, UN says
Around 540,000 people have fled Lebanon to neighbouring Syria since the escalation of the war between Israel and the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militia, according to UN figures released on Tuesday. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that around two-thirds of the refugees coming from Lebanon were Syrian and around one-third…
Read MoreIllinois woman, 64, charged with hate crime, attacking man in ‘Palestine’ shirt at Panera Bread
DOWNER’S GROVE, Ill. (WTVO) — A 64-year-old woman from Darien faces felony hate crime charges after police say she attacked a couple who were wearing shirts reading “Palestine” at a Panera Bread restaurant in Downer’s Grove. According to police, officers were called to the restaurant at 7361 Lemont Road around 11:58 a.m. on Saturday for…
Read MoreAustralian Officials Want Public’s Help to ‘Milk’ Deadly Spiders
As summer approaches in Australia, residents are being warned to be on the lookout for one of the country’s deadliest species of spider during mating season. The heads up is not simply to avoid the arachnids, however, but collect live samples for “milking” their venom. The venomous bite of the funnel-web spider, which is indigenous…
Read MoreNetanyahu offers millions for release of hostages in Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday offered a reward of $5 million for each hostage that is released from Gaza. He also promised that anyone who helps Israel with freeing the hostages will get help leaving the besieged Palestinian territory. “To those who want to leave this entanglement I say: Whoever brings us a…
Read MoreCroatia will hold a presidential election on Dec. 29
ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Croatia will hold a presidential election on Dec. 29, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković announced on Tuesday. Authorities are yet to formally set the vote. If no candidate wins an outright majority on Dec. 29, a runoff vote will be held two weeks later. Incumbent populist President Zoran Milanović has said he…
Read MoreGermany’s Scholz urges Xi to use power to curb Ukraine war escalation
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz appealed to Chinese President Xi Jinping for support in curbing an escalation in the war in Ukraine, during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday. A government spokesman said Scholz had warned Xi of the escalation that the deployment of North Korean…
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