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India's capital chokes as air pollution levels hit 50 times the safe limit

19Nov

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World

India's capital chokes as air pollution levels hit 50 times the safe limit

A man walks wearing a face mask amidst a thick layer of smog as air pollution shoots up in New Delhi, Nov. 18, 2024. Residents woke up to thick, toxic smog enveloping the city of some 33 million as the air quality became increasingly hazardous. NEW DELHI — Authorities in India\'s capital shut schools, halted construction and banned non-essential trucks from entering the city on Monday after air pollution shot up to its worst level this season. Residents of New Delhi woke up to thick, toxic smog enveloping the city of some 33 million as the air quality became increasingly hazardous. It rose further into the severe category, according to SAFAR, the country\'s main environmental agency, which measures tiny particulate matter in the air tha...

Beirut schools closed after deadly airstrikes

19Nov

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World

Beirut schools closed after deadly airstrikes

A woman weeps as she passes in front of destroyed shops that were hit Sunday evening in an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, Nov. 18, 2024. Beirut schools were closed Monday after six people — including the media relations chief for Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon — were killed in airstrikes in the central part of the city a day earlier. The strikes prompted the education ministry to shut schools and higher education institutions in the Beirut area for two days. Hezbollah spokesperson Mohammad Afif was among four people killed in the Ras al-Nabaa district, Hezbollah and the Israeli military said. Israel has rarely hit senior Hezbollah personnel who do not have clear military roles, and its air strikes have mostly targeted Beirut\'s...

Russian attack on Ukraine's Sumy kills 11, injures 89, officials say

19Nov

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World

Russian attack on Ukraine's Sumy kills 11, injures 89, officials say

A view shows a residential building, which was damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Sumy, Ukraine, Nov. 18, 2024. A Russian attack on Ukraine’s northeast city of Sumy killed 11 people and injured at least 89, Ukrainian officials said. "Sunday evening for the city of Sumy became hell, a tragedy that Russia brought to our land," military administrator Volodymyr Artyukh said in a post on the Telegram messaging channel. Sumy regional prosecutors said the attack damaged 90 apartments, 28 cars, two educational institutions and 13 buildings. VOA News The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million pe...

Philippines, United States sign military intelligence-sharing deal

19Nov

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World

Philippines, United States sign military intelligence-sharing deal

This handout taken and released on November 18, 2024 by the Philippine Department of National Defense shows US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, left, and Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro posing after signing a military intelligence agreement. Manila, Philippines — The Philippines and the United States signed on Monday a military intelligence-sharing deal in a further deepening of defense ties between the two nations facing common security challenges in the region. Visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin signed the agreement with his Philippine counterpart, Gilberto Teodoro, at Manila\'s military headquarters where both officials also broke ground for a combined coordination center that will facilitate collaboration b...

8 killed as super typhoon strikes Philippines

19Nov

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World

8 killed as super typhoon strikes Philippines

A resident checks his damaged home that was blown off by strong winds caused by Typhoon Man-yi in the municipality of Baler, Aurora province, northeastern Philippines, Nov. 18, 2024. MANILA — At least eight people were killed as Super Typhoon Man-Yi hit the Philippine archipelago over the weekend, unleashing fierce winds and strong rains that triggered landslides and storm surges, authorities said. Man-Yi, the sixth storm to hit the country in a span of one month, made landfall in the eastern province of Catanduanes on Saturday, but weakened as it moved across the main Luzon island and was later downgraded to a typhoon as it exited the landmass Monday. A family of seven, including an eight-year-old girl, died after a landslide in a n...

Sudanese who escaped from war-torn Tuti island speak of hunger, disease

19Nov

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World

Sudanese who escaped from war-torn Tuti island speak of hunger, disease

FILE - A farmer sprinkles fertilizer onto crops at a field on Tuti Island, Khartoum, Sudan, Feb. 12, 2020. The island in the middle of the Nile serves as a microcosm for the devastation unleashed by a war that began in April 2023. OMDURMAN, Sudan — Muhammad Awad and his family are among dozens who escaped Sudan\'s Tuti island earlier this year amid a siege by the Rapid Support Forces, finding refuge at a shelter after surviving for months on scant food and the risk of disease. The island in the middle of the Nile serves as a microcosm for the devastation unleashed by a war that began in April 2023. More than 61,000 people are estimated to have died in Khartoum state during the first 14 months of Sudan’s war, significantly more than prev...

19Nov

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Asia-pacific

Myanmar junta airstrike kills children playing by a church, group says

By RFA Burmese 2024.11.18Read RFA coverage of this topic in Burmese.Myanmar’s air force bombed a church where displaced people were sheltering near the border with China killing nine of them including children, days after the junta chief reiterated a call for peace talks, an insurgent group official told Radio Free Asia.Fighting in Myanmar is expected to intensify in coming weeks as forces of the junta that seized power in 2021 take advantage of the dry season to try to recapture territory lost to guerrilla groups over the past year, and despite efforts by neighboring China to promote dialogue.In northern Myanmar’s Kachin state, fighters from the Kachin Independence Army, or KIA, have made significant gains this year, capturing numerous military positions as well as jade and rare earth min...

Leader of rebel army detained in China’s Yunnan province

19Nov

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Asia-pacific

Leader of rebel army detained in China’s Yunnan province

By RFA Burmese2024.11.18The leader of an ethnic rebel army was being held under house arrest in China’s Yunnan province in the latest move by Beijing to pressure it to withdraw from Lashio, northern Shan state’s biggest city, a source close to the army told Radio Free Asia.The insurgent Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, or MNDAA, captured the junta’s military headquarters in Lashio in July. In August, it took full control of the town, which serves as an important commercial gateway near the Chinese border.The MNDAA’s leader, Peng Daxun, traveled to Yunnan province in late October for medical treatment and was later detained by Chinese authorities, according to the source, who requested anonymity for security reasons.myanmar-mndaa-leader-china-yunnan-11182024-03 Armed police walkin...

Myanmar’s sweeping internet blackouts drive rebels, medics, scammers to satellite service

18Nov

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World

Myanmar’s sweeping internet blackouts drive rebels, medics, scammers to satellite service

FILE - Starlink satellite antennas are seen at the Internationale Funkausstellung, the international trade show for consumer electronics and home appliances, Aug. 31, 2023, in Berlin, Germany. Across Myanmar, rebel commanders and aid workers are turning to Starlink satellites. Bangkok, Thailand — Across war-torn Myanmar, rebel commanders, aid workers and cyber-scammers alike are turning to billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites to stay in touch with each other and with the outside world amid some of the most severe internet restrictions. Starlink is not licensed in Myanmar, and the military junta running much of the country has banned its use, yet orbiting satellites and smugglers on the ground still manage to meet some of the grow...

UK to put Sudan resolution to vote by UN Security Council

18Nov

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World

UK to put Sudan resolution to vote by UN Security Council

A Sudanese army soldier controls a machine gun outside a hospital in Omdurman on November 2, 2024. The UN Security Council on November 18, 2024, will take up a draft resolution calling for an immediate end to hostilities in Sudan. LONDON — Britain will seek backing from other United Nations Security Council members on Monday for its demand that Sudan\'s warring parties stop hostilities and allow deliveries of aid, the British foreign ministry said. With London holding the rotating presidency of the council, British foreign minister David Lammy is due to chair a vote on a UK/Sierra Leone-proposed draft resolution, which also calls for the protection of civilians. Lammy will say "the UK will never let Sudan be forgotten" and ann...