Category: English

  • Fighter jet crashes in U.S.’s San Diego Bay

    NEW YORK – A fighter jet has crashed in San Diego Bay, California, the United States, with the two pilots ejecting before the aircraft hit the water, U.S. media say.

    The fighter jet, an E/A-18 G Growler, crashed in San Diego Bay, near Naval Air Station North Island, on Wednesday.

    The two pilots were rescued from the water and were taken to the hospital.

    The incident was the latest in a series of nearly back-to-back aerial mishaps in the United States that have raised questions about aviation safety.

    On Monday, a plane crashed into another one at Scottsdale Airport in Arizona, killing one person and injuring three others.

    On January 29, 67 people were killed when a passenger plane on approach to Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C., collided with a U.S. Army helicopter midair.

    IRNA

  • Fishing boat catches fire off southwestern S. Korea

    SEOUL – A fishing boat fire broke out in waters off southwestern South Korea on Thursday, with no casualty confirmed yet, according to Yonhap news agency.

    It was reported to the coast guard at around 8:39 a.m. local time (2339 GMT Wednesday) that the 34-ton fishing vessel caught fire in waters off Buan county, about 200 km southwest of the capital Seoul.

    Eleven people, including a captain and 10 crew members, were reportedly on board the fishing boat.

    The coast guard dispatched patrol boats to the scene and asked nearby ships for help.

    A coast guard official was quoted as saying that casualties had yet to be confirmed.

    XINHUA

  • 5 Yemeni soldiers killed in clashes with Houthis in oil-rich province: source

    SANAA – At least five Yemeni soldiers were killed on Wednesday during clashes with Houthi forces in the oil-rich province of Marib, central Yemen, a military source reported.

    The fighting erupted after sunset on a front line in the Raghwan district, north of Marib, with both sides deploying artillery and drones, the source said on condition of anonymity.

    The Houthi group has made no comment yet on the clashes.

    Government troops currently control central Marib, including its oil and gas fields, while the Houthis hold several districts on the province’s northern and southern edges.

    Sporadic clashes have continued since a fragile truce was reached in 2022. However, tensions have escalated this month in Marib, with both sides massing forces along battlefronts.

    Yemen has been engulfed in a civil war since late 2014, when the Houthi group seized control of several northern provinces, forcing the internationally recognized government to flee the capital Sanaa.

    XINHUA

  • Tunisian peacekeeper killed in Central African Republic

    TUNIS – A Tunisian peacekeeper serving under the United Nations in the Central African Republic was killed near the border with Chad, the Tunisian Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday.

    “The incident occurred on Tuesday evening, when a Tunisian military patrol, part of the Rapid Intervention Unit deployed under the UN’s blue helmets, was ambushed. The attack resulted in the death of one patrol member,” said a ministry statement.

    The patrol was carrying out a routine mission as part of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic.

    Tunisia deployed its Rapid Intervention Unit to the Central African Republic in June 2021. The unit’s mission includes supporting frontline forces, protecting civilians, securing designated areas, escorting humanitarian convoys, and safeguarding UN personnel.

    XINHUA

  • Over 10 injured in grenade explosion in France

    PARIS – More than 10 people were injured on Wednesday night in a grenade explosion in France’s southeastern city of Grenoble, the French daily Le Figaro reported.

    The explosion occurred around 8:00 p.m. local time in a bar. Two of the injured were in critical condition, the report said, citing a police source.

    Mayor of Grenoble Eric Piolle condemned the “criminal act of unprecedented violence” on the social media platform X.

    After a preliminary investigation, police have ruled out a terrorist attack, according to the report.

    XINHUA

  • 124 journalists killed, most by Israel, in deadliest year for reporters

    NEW YORK – Last year was the deadliest for journalists in recent history, with at least 124 reporters killed — and Israel responsible for nearly 70 percent of that total, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported Wednesday.

    The uptick in killings, which marks a 22 percent increase over 2023, reflects “surging levels of international conflict, political unrest and criminality worldwide,” the CPJ said.

    It was the deadliest year for reporters and media workers since CPJ began keeping records more than three decades ago, with journalists murdered across 18 different countries, it said.

    A total of 85 journalists died in the Israeli-Hamas war, “all at the hands of the Israeli military,” the CPJ said, adding that 82 of them were Palestinians.

    Sudan and Pakistan recorded the second highest number of journalists and media workers killed, with six each.

    In Mexico, which has a reputation as one of the most dangerous countries for reporters, five were killed, with CPJ reporting it had found “persistent flaws” in Mexico’s mechanisms for protecting journalists.

    And in Haiti, where two reporters were murdered, widespread violence and political instability have sown so much chaos that “gangs now openly claim responsibility for journalist killings,” the report said.

    Other deaths took place in countries such as Myanmar, Mozambique, India and Iraq.

    “Today is the most dangerous time to be a journalist in CPJ’s history,” said the group’s CEO Jodie Ginsberg.

    “The war in Gaza is unprecedented in its impact on journalists and demonstrates a major deterioration in global norms on protecting journalists,” she said.

    CPJ, which has kept records on journalist killings since 1992, said that 24 of the reporters were deliberately killed because of their work in 2024.

    Freelancers, the report said, were among the most vulnerable because of their lack of resources, and accounted for 43 of the killings in 2024.

    The year 2025 is not looking more promising, with six journalists already killed in the first weeks of the year, CPJ said.

    AN-AFP/Feb 12, 2025

  • Cholera outbreak kills over 110 people in Angola

    LUANDA – Angola has recorded 3,402 cholera cases and 114 deaths since the outbreak began in early January, according to the Health Ministry’s daily press release on Tuesday.

    Since Feb. 1, Angola has been reporting more than 100 new cholera cases daily, peaking at 295 on Feb. 8. However, laboratory testing to confirm infections remains limited, with only about 20 samples analyzed per day.

    Since the outbreak on Jan. 7, the disease has spread to multiple provinces, with Luanda and the neighboring Bengo province the most affected.

    More than 925,000 people have been vaccinated against cholera, covering 86 percent of the target population, according to the Health Ministry’s epidemiological bulletin on Monday.

    XINHUA

  • 20 killed, dozens injured in road accident in northern Rwanda

    KIGALI – Twenty people were killed and several others injured in a road accident in Rwanda’s Northern Province on Tuesday afternoon.

    The accident occurred in Rusiga Sector of Rulindo District when the driver of a bus with more than 50 passengers lost control of the vehicle while attempting to navigate a corner. The bus veered off the road and tumbled downhill into a valley.

    According to a statement released by the Prime Minister’s Office late Tuesday evening, the injured are receiving treatment in local hospitals. The government has pledged to provide the necessary support to both the bereaved and the injured.

    The government urged all road users, especially drivers, to adhere to traffic laws and regulations to prevent future accidents.

    Over the past five years, the Rwanda National Police (RNP) has conducted a campaign dubbed “Gerayo Amahoro,” which means “Arrive Safe,” to educate and promote safer road usage among all road users while increasing visibility and enforcement of traffic laws.

    According to the RNP, Rwanda recorded about 9,600 road accidents between January and December 2024, resulting in 350 deaths, a 50 percent decline in road-related fatalities compared to the previous year.

    Accidents involving cyclists, a particularly vulnerable group, also saw a 17 percent reduction.

    XINHUA

  • Two nurses in Australia suspended for reportedly making antisemitic comments

    SYDNEY – Two nurses in a Sydney hospital have been suspended from work for threatening to kill Jewish patients and refusing to treat them in a video on TikTok, triggering an investigation by police, authorities said on Wednesday.

    The video was shared by a TikTok user named Max Veifer, who says he is from Israel, and shows him talking to a man and woman wearing medical scrubs.

    “I’m so upset that you’re Israeli … eventually you’re going to get killed and go to (hell)”, the man in medical scrubs said, after Veifer mentioned he is from Israel in a video chat.

    When asked why he would be killed, the woman in medical scrubs said: “It’s Palestine’s country, not your country” and used an obscenity.

    The woman said she would not treat any Jewish patients and instead kill them. The man, with a threatening gesture, said he had already send many Israelis, who visited the hospital, to “Jahannam”, the term for Islamic hell in Arabic.

    Reuters could not independently verify the footage and it was not immediately clear if the full video of the conversation had been uploaded by the user.

    Some of the woman’s words have been beeped out in the video.

    Reuters could not immediately contact the two nurses.

    New South Wales state Health Minister Ryan Park said the nurses have been “stood down immediately”, pending an investigation.

    “Obviously, the investigative process now takes place. I do not want to leave a sliver of light to allow any of them to be able to think that they will ever work for New South Wales Health again,” Park told reporters.

    New South Wales state police said its antisemitic taskforce is investigating a social media video depicting alleged health workers making antisemitic threats. Police said the individuals involved were now assisting detectives.

    Max Veifer, who regularly posts videos mostly about the Middle East on TikTok, has 102,000 followers and his videos have been liked by 4.2 million users.

    Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the Australian federal police has offered “whatever assistance” to New South Wales state police.

    “I have seen this antisemitic video. It’s driven by hate and it’s disgusting. The comments are vile, the footage is sickening and it is shameful,” Albanese said in parliament.

    Australia has seen an escalating series of attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars since the Israel-Gaza war began in October 2023, sparking fear among Australia’s nearly 115,000 Jewish people.

    REUTERS

  • 2 killed as landslide sweeps truck off Bolivian highway

    LA PAZ – Two women died when a cargo truck was swept off a highway by a landslide in Bolivia’s La Paz department, authorities said Tuesday.

    The regional police commander said the accident happened Monday morning on the Quiabaya-Sorata highway following heavy rains that triggered deadly landslides across the country.

    Relentless rains since November 2024 have caused widespread destruction across Bolivia. The Vice Ministry of Civil Defense reported that 109,156 families had been affected or displaced as of Feb. 5, with more than 300 homes completely destroyed.

    XINHUA

  • Yemeni Houthis ready to launch attacks on Israel if war on Gaza resumes, leader says

    DUBAI – Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis, who control most of western Yemen including the capital, are ready to mount attacks on Israel if it resumes its assault on Gaza and does not commit to the ceasefire deal, the group’s leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi said on Tuesday.

    The Houthis had attacked Israeli and other vessels in the Red Sea, disturbing global shipping lanes, in what they said were acts of solidarity with Gaza’s Palestinians during Israel’s war with Hamas.

    “Our hands are on the trigger and we are ready to immediately escalate against the Israeli enemy if it returns to escalation in the Gaza Strip,” al-Houthi said in a televised speech.

    The Gaza ceasefire deal appears fragile after Hamas said it would stop releasing Israeli hostages over what the Palestinian militant group called Israeli violations of the agreement.

    In response, Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz instructed the military to be at the highest level of readiness in Gaza and for domestic defence.

    REUTERS/Feb 11, 2025

  • Israel’s Netanyahu says ceasefire will end if Hamas does not return hostages by Saturday noon

    JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that the ceasefire in Gaza would end if Hamas did not return hostages held in the enclave by noon on Saturday.

    “The military will return to intense fighting until Hamas is finally defeated,” he said in a video statement.

    REUTERS

  • Swedish woman jailed for keeping Yazidi slaves in Syria

    STOCKHOLM – A Swedish court on Tuesday sentenced a 52-year-old woman to 12 years in prison on genocide charges, in the country’s first court case over crimes by Daesh against the Yazidi minority.

    Accused of keeping Yazidi women and children as slaves at her home in Syria in 2015, Lina Ishaq was convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, the Stockholm district court said in a statement.

    The crimes warranted a sentence of 16 years, but taking a previous sentence into account it ordered her to spend 12 years behind bars, the court said. Prosecutors had demanded a life jail sentence.

    The woman, a Swedish citizen, had already been sentenced to six years imprisonment in 2022 for allowing her 12-year-old son to be recruited as a Daesh child soldier.

    Prosecutor Reena Devgun said she was happy with the convictions but she would likely appeal against the sentence.

    “These are very, very severe crimes, and compared to other Swedish jurisprudence or Swedish sentencing traditions, I do think that there is room for a more severe sentence,” she told AFP.

    The court said the case concerned nine Yazidi, six of whom were children at the time.
    All the plaintiffs were captured by Daesh in attacks on Kurdish-speaking Yazidi villages that began in August 2014 in Sinjar, Iraq. Their male relatives were executed and thousands of women were taken.

    After about five months of captivity, they arrived at Ishaq’s home in Raqqa.

    “The woman kept them imprisoned and treated them as her property by holding them as slaves for a period of, in most cases, five months,” the court said.

    Their movement was restricted, they were made to perform chores and some were photographed in preparation to be transferred to other people as slaves.

    “Given the fact that she participated in the onward transfer of the injured parties, she is also responsible for enabling their continued imprisonment and enslavement,” the court said.

    Ishaq also forced the Yazidis, who practice their own religion, to “become practicing Muslims” by making them recite Qur’an verses and pray four or five times a day.

    She also called the injured parties “demeaning invectives such as ‘infidels’ or ‘slaves’,” the court said.

    The court stressed “that the comprehensive system of enslavement” was one of “the crucial elements” implemented by Daesh in “the perpetration of the genocide, the crimes against humanity and gross war crimes that the Yazidi population was subjected to.”

    As such, the court said “the woman shared the IS intent to destroy a religious group.”

    Ishaq’s lawyer Mikael Westerlund said the woman had not decided whether to appeal, but said they were pleased the court had not handed down a life sentence as requested by the prosecution.

    “It was important for the prosecution to sentence her for life,” he told AFP.

    Around 300 Swedes or Swedish residents, a quarter of them women, joined Daesh in Syria and Iraq, mostly in 2013 and 2014, according to Sweden’s intelligence service Sapo.

    Ishaq grew up in a Christian Iraqi family in Sweden but converted to Islam after meeting her late husband and extremist Jiro Mehho, with whom she had six children, in the 1990s.

    She traveled to Syria with her children in 2013. Mehho died in August 2013, and Ishaq moved to Raqqa in 2014 and re-married.

    AN-AFP/ Feb 11, 2025

  • 92 killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since truce begins: health authorities

    GAZA – The Israeli army has killed 92 Palestinians and wounded 822 others in direct strikes on the Gaza Strip since its truce with Hamas began on Jan. 19, Gaza-based health authorities reported on Tuesday.

    Health workers have also recovered 641 bodies, with about 197 of them unidentified, since the truce went into effect, Munir al-Barash, director general of the health authorities, said in a statement.

    Since the beginning of the conflict between Israeli forces and Hamas in early October 2023, the Palestinian death toll from Israeli attacks on Gaza has risen to 48,219, with 111,665 others injured, the health authorities said in a separate statement on Tuesday.

    XINHUA

  • Russia claims control of new settlement in eastern Ukraine: defense ministry

    MOSCOW – Russian forces have seized control of the Yasenove settlement in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

    It said the center group of forces had “liberated” Yasenove, claiming that Ukraine lost about 505 soldiers, one tank, one armored vehicle, four artillery pieces and seven vehicles in the area.

    “Overnight, the Russian armed forces launched a group strike with high-precision long-range land, air and sea-based weapons as well as unmanned aerial vehicles,” the defense ministry said.

    The attack targeted gas and energy facilities supporting the Ukrainian military-industrial complex, along with sites used for the preparation and storage of strike drones.

    Russian forces are continuing their advance in Yasenove, it added.

    Since its special military operation, Russia has destroyed Ukrainian weapons including 653 aircraft, 42,979 drones and 592 anti-aircraft missile systems, the defense ministry said.

    XINHUA

  • Italy arrests 130 people in large-scale raid on Sicilian Mafia

    ROME – Around 130 people were arrested on Tuesday in a large-scale sting against the Sicilian mafia in Palermo, indicating that it has remained a significant criminal force despite setbacks in recent decades.

    “Cosa Nostra”, the mafia syndicate based in and around Palermo, terrorised Italy in the 1980s and 1990s, but has since been overtaken as Europe’s most powerful mob by the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta.

    The suspects apprehended on Tuesday were charged with various crimes, including drug trafficking, attempted murder, extortion, illegal online gambling and illegal possession of firearms, Carabinieri police said in a statement.

    Additional arrest warrants were issued for 33 suspects who were already in prison for other crimes.

    Investigations revealed that Palermo’s mafia families coordinate their activities across the city and its province, like they used to in the golden days of Cosa Nostra, especially as regards drug trafficking, police said.

    They said inner city families had regained authority compared to the years in which they were dominated by a faction from Corleone – a town outside Palermo that was the birthplace of notorious bosses Toto Riina and Bernardo Provenzano.

    Modern-day bosses use modern technology to conduct their business, using encrypted mobile phones that are smuggled into prisons to allow jailed bosses to continue exercising their command, investigators said.

    Despite being weakened by law enforcement activities, Cosa Nostra continues to attract young people, the Carabinieri said, noting they documented one instance of a new recruit given “mafia lessons” by an older associate.

    The would-be mentor gave the young man “specific instructions, inviting him to take as an example his conduct towards people to be subjected to extortion, and advising him on how to relate with mafia leaders,” the police statement said.

    Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, writing on X, hailed Tuesday’s arrests as inflicting “a very hard blow to Cosa Nostra”, and giving a clear signal that “the fight against the mafia has not stopped and will not stop”.

    REUTERS

  • UN says staff member has died in custody of Houthis

    DUBAI – The United Nations’s World Food Programme (WFP) said Tuesday that a staff member held captive by the Houthis in Yemen has died.

    “WFP is grief-stricken and outraged about the death of a staff member while in detention in northern Yemen,” the agency said in a statement on X.

    He was identified as a Yemeni staff member “arbitrarily detained by local authorities since 23 January,” though the circumstances of his death were not specified.

    The employee, who WFP said had worked for the UN since 2017, left behind a wife and two children.

    The United Nations announced the suspension Monday of its activities in Yemen’s Saada region, a Houthi stronghold, after the militia detained multiple personnel there this year.

    The Iran-backed Houthis have arrested dozens of staffers from the UN and other humanitarian organizations, most of them since the middle of 2024, as Yemen’s decade-long civil war grinds on.

    In January alone, the Houthis detained eight UN workers, including six in Saada, which adds to the dozens of NGO and UN personnel detained since June.

    The Houthis claimed the June arrests included “an American-Israeli spy network” operating under the cover of humanitarian organizations — allegations emphatically rejected by the UN Human Rights Office.

    A decade of war has plunged Yemen into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, according to the UN.

    AN-AFP

  • Egypt, Denmark call for Gaza reconstruction without displacing Palestinians

    CAIRO – Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi held a phone conversation with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Tuesday, during which they discussed the latest developments in the Gaza Strip and the need for Gaza reconstruction without displacing its residents, according to a statement by the Egyptian presidency.

    The two sides emphasized “the crucial need for the full implementation of the ceasefire agreement in its three stages, the exchange of hostages and detainees, as well as immediate and unfettered access to humanitarian aid in Gaza,” the statement said.

    Sisi and Frederiksen also stressed “the imperative to begin the reconstruction of Gaza to make it livable again, without displacing its Palestinian population, so as to safeguard their rights and ability to live on their land.”

    The talks reaffirmed the importance of establishing an independent Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, highlighting it as “the only guarantee for achieving lasting peace, stability, and the desired economic prosperity.”

    The remarks came amid heightened concerns after U.S. President Donald Trump recently suggested redeveloping Gaza and relocating its population to neighboring countries including Egypt.

    The controversial proposal has been widely rejected both regionally and internationally, with Egypt reiterating its opposition to any forced displacement of Palestinians.

    Israel and Hamas have been implementing a ceasefire agreement brokered by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States since January 19, following more than 15 months of deadly conflict in Gaza.

    XINHUA

  • Romanian children get smartphones at an average age of 8, study finds

    BUCHAREST – Romanian children receive their first smartphone at an average age of eight, with many spending between one and three hours online daily, according to a study published Tuesday by Google Romania.

    The research, conducted by market research firm Topline as part of the “EU Family Safety Survey 2024,” surveyed 570 Romanian parents between August and September 2024. The findings reveal that nearly half of parents give their children a smartphone between the ages of five and eight, while more than a third do so when their children are between the ages of nine and 12.

    The primary reason parents cite for introducing smartphones at an early age is maintaining constant communication with their children. Additionally, a significant number admit that they do not want their children to feel socially excluded.

    As digital exposure increases, so do concerns about online safety. Most children between five and 12 spend between one and three hours online daily, while teenagers typically exceed three hours.

    Young children mainly use smartphones to access educational apps and video games, while social media is popular among children over the age of nine. However, parental control over online activity decreases as children grow older.

    XINHUA

  • Strong winds, snow cause flight cancellations in Japan’s Hokkaido

    TOKYO – At least 91 flights to and from New Chitose Airport in Japan’s Hokkaido were canceled Tuesday due to temporarily strong winds and snow, local media reported.

    By 5 p.m. local time, 91 flights had been canceled as the weather agency reported that a winter pressure pattern caused strong winds and heavy snowfall near the airport, significantly reducing visibility, according to national broadcaster NHK.

    Many passengers were stranded at the airport, forming long lines at airline counters while seeking alternative flights, according to the report.

    Airlines advise travelers to check their websites for the latest updates on flight schedules.

    XINHUA