Geneva, Switzerland (AFP): The sole border crossing used to shuttle life-saving aid from Turkiye into conflict-ravaged Syria has seen its operations disrupted by the deadly earthquake that struck the two countries, the UN has said. “The cross-border operation has itself been impacted,” Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian...
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AA) – The United Nations humanitarian partners in Somalia and its government have sought $2.6 billion to assist millions of people in the drought-hit Horn of Africa country. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) has estimated that 8.25 million people — nearly half of Somalia’s popul...
NEW DELHI (AA) – Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti has been detained in the Indian capital New Delhi for protesting against the Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir administration’s anti-encroachment drive in the valley. At the protest site, Mufti said: “Jammu and Kashmir has been turned into Afghanistan by the Bharatiya J...
Jindayris, Syria (AFP): Extended family members pulled a newborn baby alive from the rubble of a home in northern Syria, after finding her still tied by her umbilical cord to her mother, who died in Monday’s massive quake, a relative said. The infant is the sole survivor of her immediate family, the rest of whom […]
Bamako, Mali (AFP): Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has pledged assistance to West African states battling insurgency as Moscow seeks to expand its influence on a continent in a diplomatic tug-of-war between global powers. Lavrov hailed the alliance that has been forged between Moscow and Bamako in fighting “extremists” on h...
PARIS (AA) – French magazine Charlie Hebdo has drawn criticism from Parisians with a cartoon it published mocking Türkiye after the country was hit by two deadly earthquakes on Monday. The cartoon, posted on Twitter under the heading “cartoon of the day,” shows buildings near collapse and lying in rubble, a flipped-over car, and pi...
LONDON (AA) – World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria a “grade three emergency” — with a “critical 48 hour window” to save people who are trapped. WHO Regional Director Hans Kluge said that they are channeling all resources to these two countries, saying the “k...
Antakya, Turkey (AFP): Heartrending scenes of a newborn plucked alive from the rubble and a broken father clutching his dead daughter’s hand have laid bare the human cost of the earthquake in Syria and Turkey that by Wednesday had claimed over 9,500 lives. For two days and nights since the 7.8 magnitude quake an impromptu […]
Paris, France (AFP): A combination of factors made the powerful earthquake that struck Turkiye and Syria early Monday particularly deadly, including its timing, location, relatively quiet faultline and the weak construction of the collapsed buildings, experts said. The earthquake caused such devastation partly because of its power — it i...
MOSCOW (AA) – Russia has called the United States reaction to the Chinese balloon shot down by the US military as “hysterical.” In a post on Telegram, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said “explanations, given by the Chinese side about the entry of an unmanned balloon” into the US airspace due to ̶...
