UN says at least 55 migrants drowned in shipwreck off Libya
CAIRO—A rubber boat carrying dozens of Europe-bound migrants sank off the coast of Libya and at least 55 people drowned, including women and children, the UN migration agency said April 26. It was the latest tragedy in this part of the Mediterranean Sea, a key route for migrants. The International Organization for Migration said the disaster took place on April...
Indigenous communities fear toxic leaks from Canada oil industry: Report
A recent string of leaks from Canada’s oil sands tailings ponds has contaminated water, sowing mistrust among the local First Nations people. Recently, the energy giant Suncor announced a large leak from a sediment holding facility, the Guardian newspaper reported on April 23. The regulator said the leak “is not processed water from tailings, it is drainage from surrounding landscape” and doesn’t contain tailings. But...
Argentina: A desperate search for a door as currency tumbles
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—Antonela Massarelli desperately needed a front door for the new house she and her family will move into in a Buenos Aires suburb. The 29-year-old mother of two said she found one prospect April 25 at about 20,000 pesos but noted with exasperation that the price went up by afternoon to more than 30,000. And store owners—faced with...
Over one million UK children receiving food aid as cost-of-living crisis deepens: Charity
New figures released by a major British food charity organization unveil that more than a million children in the European country received food aid in the past 12 months amid a deepening cost-of-living crisis. According to the latest stats released by the Trussell Trust charity, which supports some 1,200 food banks across the UK, about 1.1 million out of nearly three million...
Civilians caught in the middle of Sudan conflict
Recent Sudanese history paints the current conflict waging between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Force (RSF) as a “byproduct” of the political and military conditions brought about by the overthrow of former president Omar El Bashir in a military coup in the wake of a popular protest in April 2019. Residents in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital city,...
UN says India to be world’s most populous nation by mid-2023
NEW DELHI—India is on track to surpass China by mid-2023 as the world’s most populous nation, United Nations data said April 19, raising questions about whether a booming, young Indian population will fuel economic growth for years to come or become a liability. While India’s 254 million people between ages 15 and 24 is the largest number in the world,...
Raeisi urges cooperation among Muslim nations to deter Israeli aggression
President Ebrahim Raeisi has called for greater cooperation among Muslim nations to defend the rights of the oppressed Palestinians and to deter the Israeli regime from continuing its aggression. Speaking to Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tariq Al Said over the phone on April 19, President Raeisi slammed “brutal crimes” of the Israeli regime against “defenseless fasting Palestinian people.” “There is no doubt...
Nicaragua bars EU envoy over ‘interventionist’ remarks
Nicaragua has barred the European Union’s designated ambassador from entering the country over the bloc’s meddlesome remarks concerning the Central American nation. The envoy Fernando Ponz was banned from entering Nicaragua on April 18 after an earlier EU communiqué accused Managua of, what it called, “systemic repression” of dissent over the past five years since anti-government protests hit the country’s...
UK unemployment rate increases as pay growth rises faster than expected
The UK unemployment rate has edged up unexpectedly, the official figures showed, highlighting a faster-than-expected spike in wage rises in the face of skyrocketing inflation across the country. According to the figures presented by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on April 18, UK job vacancies have fallen for the ninth straight month in a sign that the uncertain economic...
South Africa’s foreign minister on Russia, China and upcoming BRICS summit
In an opinion piece written by Oupa Ngwenya published April 9 in the South African Sunday World, the headline framed the country’s foreign minister as presenting “(the) clearest voice with a good aim to U.S. madness.” According to Ngwenya, a corporate strategist, writer, and freelance journalist, “no one should be surprised when Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor exhibits the same state...