According to a court document seen by AFP on Wednesday, a former student has filed a rape allegation against a Haitian ex-minister of youth and sports. According to the complaint, Evans Lescouflair, who served as minister from 2008 to 2011, raped Claude-Alix Bertrand when he was 11 years old in the 1980s. Lescouflair — a … Read more
The international coalition fighting the Islamic State met in Morocco on Wednesday to coordinate measures to stop the extremists from mounting a comeback in the Middle East and North Africa. The meeting was supposed to be co-hosted by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, but Blinken tested positive for … Read more
The army was ambushed in the Sinai peninsula early Wednesday, killing five Egyptian soldiers and seven terrorists, the military claimed, the second such fatal jihadist attack in days. Jihadist fighters attacked at early, according to an army spokeswoman. “One officer and four soldiers were killed and two other soldiers were wounded,” the statement read, adding … Read more
In his first press conference since taking power two years ago, Burundi President Evariste Ndayishimiye says he is willing “to dialogue” with Burundian rebels operating in the DRC’s violence-plagued east. The president specifically identified the RED-Tabara, the most active of the rebel factions, which Burundi considers “terrorist,” as well as the National Forces of Liberation … Read more
As the pandemic eases across Europe, an EU-wide mask requirement for flights and airports will be withdrawn starting next week, according to the bloc’s aviation safety body. According to the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), airlines will still be able to require passengers and personnel to cover their faces and noses under the new … Read more
The World Bank predicted that payments from overseas workers to low- and middle-income nations will climb by 4.2 percent this year, with Ukraine as the primary recipient. According to the bank, migrant workers are anticipated to send $630 billion back to their home nations. Remittances to Ukraine, currently fighting off the Russian invasion, are expected … Read more
Soldiers stood behind wrought-iron barricades and next to burned-out buses in the heart of Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo, on Wednesday, guarding nearly deserted streets following a flurry of fatal battles. Troops halted the occasional car as it drove by long rows of closed stores, casting watchful glances over its passengers as they enforced a statewide … Read more
Data released Wednesday showed that drug overdoses killed moreover 100,000 people in the United States in 2021, as the Covid-19 outbreak compounded a crisis fueled by fentanyl and fake online medicines. Experts say everyday life disruptions have been particularly harsh on persons with substance use disorders, while officials in Mexico are seizing record volumes of … Read more
Car cable production at Leoni’s Ukrainian factories is nearly back to normal, according to the German supplier, after production halts caused by the Russian invasion shook the auto industry. After a “rapid resumption” of production following the outbreak of the war at the end of February, output figures from plants in western Ukraine were “approaching … Read more
Shireen Abu Akleh, a journalist of the Al Jazeera network, was killed Wednesday while covering an Israeli army raid on the occupied West Bank. The Qatar-based TV channel claimed that Israeli forces shot Abu Akleh, 51, in the head deliberately and “in cold blood” during the unrest in the Jenin refugee camp. Israel’s Prime Minister … Read more
Romanian senators approved a bill on Wednesday that the government hopes will encourage Black Sea gas extraction as the European Union seeks to reduce its reliance on Russian gas. The legislation, which aims to “ensure Romania’s energy security” and eventually allow it to become a gas exporter, is now expected to be approved by the … Read more
Somalia has registered a record of 39 candidates for the May 15 presidential elections, according to the parliamentary committee in charge of organizing the long-delayed polls in the fragile Horn of Africa nation. The election is well behind schedule and has been marred by deadly violence and a power struggle between President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, … Read more
French authorities have opened a case against Interpol President Ahmed Nasser al-Raisi of the United Arab Emirates over allegations of torture and arbitrary detention by two Britons detained in the country, according to a source close to the investigation. The case against the top UAE official has been confirmed by France’s anti-terror prosecutors office (PNAT), … Read more
All heatwaves today bear the unmistakable and measurable fingerprint of global warming, according to top experts on quantifying the impact of climate change on extreme weather, a They detailed in a state-of-the-science report that burning fossil fuels and destroying forests have released enough greenhouse gases into the atmosphere to increase the frequency and intensity of … Read more
China’s censors scrambled to eliminate online debate about its zero-Covid strategy on Wednesday, after the World Health Organization (WHO) criticized the country’s tough stance against the virus. China is the world’s last major economy that adheres to a zero-Covid policy and imposes some of the most stringent virus controls. Most of Shanghai’s 25 million people have … Read more
The global coalition fighting the Islamic State group met in Morocco on Wednesday to coordinate efforts to prevent the jihadists from staging a comeback in the Middle East and North Africa. The meeting was supposed to be co-hosted by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, but Washington’s top diplomat … Read more
Christine Lagarde, the head of the European Central Bank, hinted on Wednesday at a first interest rate hike in July to cover soaring inflation, loading the actions of other major central banks and signaling the end of the eurozone’s cheap money era. The ECB must end its bond-buying stimulus “early in the third quarter” and … Read more
Philip Morris International, the manufacturing company of Marlboro cigarettes, said Wednesday that it has offered $16 billion to acquire Swedish Match, a maker of smokeless tobacco, as the US company seeks to diversify away from its traditional cigarette business. Swedish Match’s board of directors recommended that its shareholders accept the bid of 106 Swedish kronor … Read more
