Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
By Jan FLEMR PRAGUE, Dec 21, 2023 (AFP) – A 24-year-old student killed 14 people and wounded 25 at a Prague university on Thursday in the Czech Republic’s worst shooting in decades, before authorities said the attacker was “eliminated”. The violence in the city’s historic centre sparked evacuations, a massive response by heavily armed police and warnings for people to stay indoors. The shooting erupted at the Charles University’s Faculty of Arts, which sits near […]
COPENHAGEN, Dec 20, 2023 (AFP) – A record amount of precipitation fell in Denmark in 2023, meteorologists said Wednesday, noting that more increases could be expected as a result of climate change. The annual tally of snow and rainfall as of Wednesday was over 907 millimeters (35.7 inches), national meteorological institute DMI said with over a week left in the year. The previous record since measurements started in 1874 was 905 mm, a level reached […]
REYKJAVIK, Dec 20, 2023 (AFP) – A volcanic eruption that rocked Iceland this week diminished in intensity for a second day Wednesday, though media reports said a nearby evacuated fishing village would remain off limits for at least another week. The eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula has produced spectacular lava flows, though they were now constrained to two craters, the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said in a statement Wednesday morning, down from three earlier. “The […]
By Nicholas McAVANEY, Rashid BAXTER LONDON, Dec 20, 2023 (AFP) – Hospital doctors in England hit out Wednesday at a perceived “brain drain” from the country’s state-funded National Health Service (NHS), as they began their longest strike action yet in a protracted pay battle. Junior doctors — those below specialist, consultant level — started joining picket lines from 0700 GMT, as part of an initial 72-hour walkout to be followed by a further six-day strike […]
By Victoria LUKOVENKO with Anna MALPAS KYIV, Ukraine, Dec 20, 2023 (AFP) – President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that there was no end in sight to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as fatigue builds among Kyiv’s allies nearly two years into the war and the Kremlin voices growing confidence of victory. Zelensky said he had turned down a request from the military — for now — to mobilise as many as 500,000 Ukrainians for the army, […]
By Camille CAMDESSUS WASHINGTON, Dec 20, 2023 (AFP) – The Democratic and Republican leaders of the US Senate said Tuesday that Washington will not be able to approve new aid for Ukraine before year’s end, as the two sides continue to seek a compromise. “As negotiators work through remaining issues, it is our hope that their efforts will allow the Senate to take swift action… early in the new year,” Democrat Chuck Schumer and Republican […]
By Marc Antoine BAUDOUX STRASBOURG, France, Dec 20, 2023 (AFP) – Narcotics police the world over are sprucing up their video game skills, as cartels go increasingly online to sell drugs and recruit dealers. “Cartels have been incredibly tech savvy over recent years, reaching vast audiences,” Benjamin Shultz, foreign malign influence analyst at Deloitte, told a Council of Europe meeting. “The Sinaloa Cartel has a Twitter account with almost 200,000 followers and they tend to […]
By Didier LAURAS PARIS, Dec 19, 2023 (AFP) – A multinational naval task force to protect a key global shipping lane from Yemen’s Huthi rebels would face severe challenges in a difficult strategic and military context, experts say. The United States has been pushing for such a force after Huthis pledged to continue attacking cargo ships in the Red Sea in support of Palestinians in the Gaza war raging between Israel and militant group Hamas. […]
PARIS, Dec 19, 2023 (AFP) – Following a surge in attacks claimed by Yemen’s Huthi rebels targeting cargo vessels in the Red Sea, major shipping companies have halted traffic through the crucial Bab al-Mandeb strait. As the United States works to form a multinational naval task force to safeguard the lane, AFP looks at the importance of the route, referred to as the “Gate of Tears” in Arabic. – Where is it ? – The […]
By Jeremie RICHARD REYKJAVIK, Dec 19, 2023 (AFP) – An Icelandic volcano that erupted and spewed lava into the sky overnight near a power plant was less active Tuesday evening, after weeks of intense seismic activity southwest of Reykjavik. The eruption, only three kilometres (1.8 miles) from the evacuated fishing port of Grindavik on the Reykjanes peninsula, began Monday at around 10:17 pm (2217 GMT) after a “swarm” of small tremors, the Icelandic Meteorological Office […]
By Emmanuel PEUCHOT NEAR BAKHMUT, Ukraine, Dec 19, 2023 (AFP) – After 22 months of war with a horrific human cost, the Ukrainian army is struggling to find recruits to battle Russian forces that are once again on the offensive. Some Ukrainians who joined the fighting at the February 2022 start are still in combat and exhausted, while volunteers to replace those killed or wounded are becoming rarer. “Our units are understaffed. We need young, […]
PARIS, Dec 19, 2023 (AFP) – French sports retail giant Decathlon has secretly continued selling clothes in Russia despite officially pulling out in protest at Russia’s war in Ukraine, a media report published Tuesday said. The multinational retailer, which posted sales of 15.4 billion euros ($16.9 billion) last year, announced within weeks of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that it would withdraw from the Russian market. In October of this year, it sold its 60 […]
