South African police say they have arrested 95 Libyan nationals on suspicion of receiving training at a secret military camp in the north of the country.
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African police arrested 95 Libyan nationals in a raid on a suspected secret military training camp on Friday and authorities said they were investigating whether there were more illegal bases in other parts of the country.
The camp was discovered at a farm in White River in the Mpumalanga province, about 360 kilometers (220 miles) northeast of Johannesburg, police said.
National police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said in a post on the social media site X that the Libyans stated they had entered the country on study visas to train as security guards, but police investigations suggest they have received military training.
On the ground, insecurity has worsened. Niger has quickly become the new target for extremists. Violent killings by rebels and militia groups more than doubled, from 770 people killed in the year before the coup to 1,599 in the year that followed, according to the U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, or ACLED. Extremists carried out nearly five times as many large-scale attacks — involving at least 10 deaths — in the year after the coup, ACLED data shows.
Also not sure how the west African neighbors they also cut ties with were 'exploiting' them.
Officials say at least 26 people have been killed by a gang in three remote villages in Papua New Guinea’s north, and eight villagers remain missing.
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — At least 26 people were killed by a gang in three remote villages in Papua New Guinea’s north and eight villagers remained missing Friday in the latest violence in the South Pacific island nation relating to contested land ownership and sorcery allegations, officials said.
“It was a very terrible thing … when I approached the area, I saw that there were children, men, women. They were killed by a group of 30 young men,” the acting police commander in East Sepik province, James Baugen, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Friday.
India says it has agreed with China to work urgently to achieve the withdrawal of tens of thousands of troops stationed along their disputed border in a long-running standoff.
NEW DELHI (AP) — India and China have agreed to work urgently to achieve the withdrawal of tens of thousands of troops stationed along their disputed border in a long-running standoff, India’s government said.
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar met his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on Thursday on the sidelines of Association of Southeast Asian Nations meetings in Laos, where they stressed the need for an early resolution of outstanding issues along the disputed Line of Actual Control, the long Himalayan border shared by the two Asian giants.
Russia’s top security agency says it has arrested a man accused of staging a car bombing on Ukrainian orders.
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s top security agency said Friday that it arrested a man accused of staging a car bombing on Ukrainian orders.
The Federal Security Service, or FSB, showed a video of the handcuffed suspect walking off a plane from Turkey escorted by masked officers.
Turkish authorities said that they detained the suspect, Yevgeniy Serebryakov, on Russia’s request on Wednesday. He arrived in Turkey’s resort of Bodrum hours after a car bomb went off in Moscow.
A year has passed since Niger’s dramatic coup. Life has become more dangerous and desperate
One year has passed since a dramatic coup in Niger. Coup leaders said they deposed the West African nation’s elected government for two key reasons: its security and economic crises.
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — When a group of military officers appeared on state television in Niger one year ago to make a dramatic announcement of a coup, they said they deposed the West African nation’s elected government for two key reasons: its security, and economic crises.
But those challenges have persisted, even worsened. The country’s 26 million people — among the world’s youngest and poorest — are struggling after the junta severed ties with key international partners, who have imposed sanctions and suspended security and development support affecting close to half of Niger’s budget.
The coup was the latest and perhaps most significant of the recent military takeovers in Africa’s Sahel, the vast, arid expanse south of the Sahara Desert that has become a global hot spot for extremist violence. Niger had been the West’s last reliable partner in the region in battling jihadists linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group.
Now, a crucial U.S. drone base is going, along with U.S. forces vacating ahead of a September deadline. More than 1,000 French troops also pulled out after being told to leave. A key China-backed pipeline once meant to turn Niger into an oil exporter has stalled with the insecurity and uncertainty.
Search teams were still digging at the site of deadly mudslides in southern Ethiopia on Friday, as the death toll rose to 257, according to the U.N. humanitarian office.
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Search teams were still digging at the site of deadly mudslides in southern Ethiopia on Friday, as the death toll rose to 257, according to the U.N. humanitarian office.
Heavy rain triggered deadly slides on Sunday and Monday in a remote part of the country. The U.N. humanitarian office, known as OCHA, said in an update Thursday that the death toll could rise to as many as 500, citing local officials.
Venezuelans have a crucial decision ahead of them. On Sunday, they decide whether to give President Nicolas Maduro a third six-year term in office or to allow the opposition a chance to deliver on their promise to undo the policies that caused economic collapse and forced millions to emigrate.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The future of Venezuela is on the line. Voters will decide Sunday whether to reelect President Nicolas Maduro, whose 11 years in office have been beset by crisis, or allow the opposition a chance to deliver on a promise to undo the ruling party’s policies that caused economic collapse and forced millions to emigrate.
Historically fractured opposition parties have coalesced behind a single candidate, giving the United Socialist Party of Venezuela its most serious electoral challenge in a presidential election in decades.
Maduro is being challenged by former diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia, who represents the resurgent opposition, and eight other candidates. Supporters of Maduro and Gonzalez marked the end of the official campaign season Thursday with massive demonstrations in the capital, Caracas.
Philippines plans to siphon off oil cargo from sunken tanker to avert ‘environmental catastrophe’
The Philippine coast guard says there has been no indication that a big cargo of industrial fuel oil stored in a tanker that sank in stormy weather in Manila Bay has started to leak out.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — There is no indication that a big cargo of industrial fuel oil stored in a tanker that sank in stormy weather in Manila Bay has started to leak, the Philippine coast guard said Friday, and plans are being firmed up to try to siphon off the highly toxic shipment to prevent a major spill that could reach the bustling capital.
The tanker Terra Nova had left Bataan province en route to the central province of Iloilo with about 1.4 million liters (370,000 gallons) of industrial fuel oil stored in watertight tanks when it got lashed by huge waves and took on water. The crew struggled to steer the tanker back to port but it eventually sank shortly after midnight Thursday. The coast guard rescued 16 crewmembers but one drowned, coast guard spokesperson Rear Adm. Armando Balilo said.
“We’re racing against time to siphon off the oil to avoid an environmental catastrophe,” Balilo told reporters, adding that the plans could be hampered if the weather turns bad.
Former Ukrainian prisoners of war who survived the explosions two years ago in the Russian-held barracks at Olenivka still puzzle over the strange events leading up to that night.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The former prisoners of war still puzzle over the strange events leading up to the night now seared into their memories, when an explosion ripped through the Russian-controlled Olenivka prison barracks and killed so many comrades two years ago.
Among the survivors: Kyrylo Masalitin, whose months in captivity and long beard age him beyond his 30 years. Arsen Dmytryk, the informal commander of the group of POWs that was shifted without explanation to a room newly stocked with bare bunks. And Mykyta Shastun, who recalled guards laughing as the building burned, acting not at all like men under enemy attack.
“Before my eyes, there were guys who were dying, who were being revived, but it was all in vain,” said Masalitin, who is back on the front line and treated as a father-figure by the men he commands.
Bones dug up from a wartime Army Medical School site in Tokyo decades ago and linked to victims of human experiments by Unit 731, Japan’s germ and biological warfare outfit, remain in a repository still waiting to find their home.
TOKYO (AP) — Depending on who you ask, the bones that have been sitting in a Tokyo repository for decades could be either leftovers from early 20th century anatomy classes, or the unburied and unidentified victims of one of the country’s most notorious war crimes.
A group of activists, historians and other experts who want the government to investigate links to wartime human germ warfare experiments met over the weekend to mark the 35th anniversary of their discovery and renew a call for an independent panel to examine the evidence.
Japan’s government has long avoided discussing wartime atrocities, including the sexual abuse of Asian women known as “comfort women” and Korean forced laborers at Japanese mines and factories, often on grounds of lack of documentary proof. Japan has apologized for its aggression in Asia, but since the 2010s it has been repeatedly criticized in South Korea and China for backpedalling.
Around a dozen skulls, many with cuts, and parts of other skeletons were unearthed on July 22, 1989, during construction of a Health Ministry research institute at the site of the wartime Army Medical School. The school’s close ties to a germ and biological warfare unit led many to suspect that they could be the remains of a dark history that the Japanese government has never officially acknowledged.
How do you have outstanding warrants and decide to knock over a lemonade stand
I think it was one of the animators got killed in the east
The date was announced by the independent elections commission, which said nominations will be accepted on Aug. 15.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka will hold a presidential election on Sept. 21 that will likely be a test of confidence in President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s efforts to resolve the country’s worst economic crisis.
The date was announced by the independent elections commission Friday, which said nominations will be accepted on Aug. 15.
Wickremesinghe is expected to run while his main rivals will be opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and Anura Dissanayake, who is the leader of a leftist political party that has gained popularity after the economic debacle.
It will be the first election in the South Asian island nation after it declared bankruptcy in 2022 and suspended repayments on some $83 billion in domestic and foreign loans.
That followed a severe foreign exchange crisis that led to a severe shortage of essentials such as food, medicine, fuel and cooking gas, and extended power outages.
The election is largely seen as a crucial vote for the island nation’s efforts to conclude a critical debt restructuring program and as well as completing the financial reforms agreed under a bailout program by the International Monetary Fund.
Seems somewhat easy to me, fisherman goes out for a catch, finds stranger and stranger fish, until one finds him
Trump is also just very tall in general, most agents would be shorter than him I imagine
I believe it was the old well the company used for soda when it first opened. I think when it went dry they started throwing bottles down there before covering it
I pirated it and still felt ripped off. When people were praising the nonsense plot when it first came out it felt like I was taking crazy pills
Got this album on discount and never heard of it, so figured I'd get it just on the cool cover
Pakistan’s high court gives more seats to imprisoned ex-PM’s party
Pakistan’s top court on Friday found that the party of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan was improperly denied at least 20 seats reserved parliament, in a significant blow to the country’s fragile governing coalition.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s top court on Friday found that the party of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan was improperly denied at least 20 seats reserved parliament, in a significant blow to the country’s fragile governing coalition.
The ruling by the Supreme Court was hailed by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, which was previously excluded from a system that gives parties extra seats reserved for women and minorities in the National Assembly or lower house of the parliament.
Though the verdict is a major political win for Khan, it will not put his party in a position to oust the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who came into power following a Feb. 8 election that Khan allies say was rigged.
Authorities say a New Jersey man who authorities say was on his way to Ukraine to join a volunteer fighting unit has been arrested in an alleged plot to attack a U.S. electrical substation to advance his white supremacist ideology.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A New Jersey man who authorities say was on his way to Ukraine to join a volunteer fighting unit has been arrested in an alleged plot to attack a U.S. electrical substation to advance his white supremacist views, the Justice Department said Thursday.
Andrew Takhistov, 18, was arrested Wednesday at the Newark Liberty International Airport, where he was headed to Paris before going to Ukraine to join the Russian Volunteer Corps, a pro-Ukrainian group fighting Russian forces, officials said.
Authorities say Takhistov began talking in January with the person he did not realize was an undercover agent, and he began discussing a plan to attack an electrical substation. They drove together to two electrical substations in North Brunswick and New Brunswick, New Jersey, and Takhistov provided information on how to construct Molotov cocktails, the type of clothing to wear and where to park to avoid detection, authorities said.
Why would you even think to do this? Make soup or some shit that doesn't need oil instead
Samsung Electronics workers announce ‘indefinite’ strike
Unionized workers at Samsung Electronics have declared an indefinite strike to pressure South Korea’s biggest company to accept their calls for higher pays and other benefits.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Unionized workers at Samsung Electronics declared an indefinite strike Wednesday to pressure South Korea’s biggest company to accept their calls for higher pays and other benefits.
Thousands of members of the National Samsung Electronics Union launched a temporary, three-day strike on Monday. But the union said Wednesday that it was announcing an indefinite strike, accusing the management of being unwilling to negotiate. Samsung Electronics says there have been no disruptions to production.
Samsung Electronics will ensure no disruptions occur in the production lines,” a Samsung statement said. “The company remains committed to engaging in good faith negotiations with the union.”
However, in a statement posted on its website, the union said it has engaged in unspecified disruptions on the company’s production lines to get management to eventually come to the negotiating table if the strikes continue.
“We are confident of our victory,” the union statement said.
Even by desert standards, the prolonged baking that Nevada’s largest city is experiencing is nearly unprecedented.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Used to shrugging off the heat, Las Vegas residents are now eyeing the thermometer as the desert city is on track Wednesday to set a record for the most consecutive days over 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46.1 Celsius) amid a lingering hot spell that will continue scorching much of the U.S. into the weekend.
On Tuesday, Las Vegas flirted again with the all-time temperature record of 120 F (48.8 C) reached on Sunday, but settled for a new daily mark of 119 F (48.3 C) that smashed the old one of 116 F (46.6 C) set for the date in 2021. Forecasters say the city will likely hit a record fifth straight day above 115 F (46.1 C) on Wednesday.
From the article:
Prisoners can get the conditional release after an interview, medical exam, and a review of their conviction. Those convicted of rape, sexual assault, murdering two or more people or crimes against Ukraine’s national security aren’t eligible.
Ukrainian officials are keen to draw a distinction between their program and recruitment in Russia of convicts to serve in the notorious Wagner mercenary group. Those fighters typically have been funneled to the deadliest battles, the officials say, but the Ukrainian program aims to integrate the inmates into regular Ukrainian frontline units.
I bet if they do reforestation I bet it would be some monoculture crap job that may as well have been a palm oil field