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File Picture: People stand around destroyed vehicles following flash floods caused by heavy rainfall in the Grogan area, in downtown Nairobi, Kenya. (Reuters) A total of 62 people including eight children have died since heavy rains and flooding hit Kenya’s capital Nairobi and other areas late last week, police said Saturday.The capital was the worst hit with 33 deaths, the force said in a statement on X that updated the official tally of casualties. More than 2,000 families have been displaced across Kenya and intense rain was continuing in several regions, it added.Aid workers started pulling bodies from floodwaters across Nairobi last Saturday after overnight flash floods swept away dozens of cars and disrupted flights at East Africa’s biggest airport.A tally issued last Sunday put the death toll at 42. Related Story…
The US flag was raised above its embassy in Venezuela Saturday for the first time in seven years, following the US capture of authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro and the restoration of diplomatic relations.’A new era has begun. We're staying with Venezuela,’ the US charge d'affaires Laura Dogu, the embassy's most senior diplomat, wrote in a post on X with a photo of the Stars and Stripes being raised outside the embassy.Dogu wrote that she and her team raised the flag ‘exactly seven years after it was removed’ on March 14, 2019, two months after Caracas severed ties over Washington's refusal to recognise Maduro's flawed re-election in 2018.Earlier this month, the United States and Venezuela restored diplomatic ties amid a rapid thaw in relations since the US special forces raid in January that left around 100 people dead and saw Maduro and his wife flown to New York for trial on drug trafficking charges.US President Donald Trump's administration says it effectively runs Venezuela and controls the country's vast natural resources after toppling Maduro.Trump and Venezuela's interim leader Delcy Rodriguez, formerly Maduro's deputy, have signed energy and mining agreements that open the door to private investment and US access to what are the world's largest oil reserves.On Friday, Rodriguez urged Trump to totally lift the sanctions imposed on her country.Since January, the United States has eased a seven-year-old oil embargo on Venezuela and issued licences allowing a handful of multinationals to operate in the country under certain conditions. Source link
The World Health Organization (WHO) has denounced the killing of 14 health workers in southern Lebanon over the past 24 hours, demanding the necessity of protecting medical personnel and health facilities at all times.In a press statement, Director-General of the WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that these losses of life represent a tragic development amid the escalating crisis in the Middle East, emphasizing the need for urgent measures to de-escalate the crisis and protect the health of people across the region.Ghebreyesus noted that these incidents highlight the ongoing attack on the healthcare system in Lebanon, which serves as a vital pillar for the population.The WHO confirmed the deaths of 12 doctors, paramedics, and nurses in an attack that occurred last night on the Burj Qalaouiyeh Primary Healthcare Center in southern Lebanon, while two paramedics were killed in attacks on a health facility.Since the situation in Lebanon worsened on March 2, amid continuing Israeli attacks on various areas, the WHO has documented 27 attacks on healthcare facilities, resulting in 30 deaths and 35 injuries.According to international humanitarian law, medical personnel and health facilities must never be attacked or militarized. Related Story Source link
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdeltty and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaya Kallas, in a telephone call today, condemned the attacks on Arab countries stressing the importance of halting them and ending the ongoing war in the region.The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a press release that the two sides agreed, during the call, on the urgent need for joint action to end the war as quickly as possible, and the necessity of concerted regional and international efforts to develop specific ideas and a practical plan in this regard to prevent the conflict from escalating.They also emphasized, in this context, the paramount importance of continued joint coordination between Egypt and the European Union to de-escalate tensions and advance the diplomatic track and political solutions. They stressed the need for concerted efforts to reduce tensions in the region and work towards a swift end to the war, resorting to the diplomatic track as the only way to spare the region the risks of sliding into further instability and to preserve regional and international peace and security. Source link
Brazil’s Finance Minister Fernando Haddad. (Reuters/File Photo) Brazil’s government scrapped taxes on diesel while imposing a levy on oil exports in a move Thursday that could affect state-run oil firm Petrobras, as the country seeks to soften the blow of the recent spike in global oil prices. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s administration said the temporary measures would reduce the impact of price swings related to the US-Israeli war with Iran on local fuel prices, particularly diesel.The South American country cut the PIS and Cofins federal taxes levied on diesel to zero and imposed a 12% tax on crude oil exports, as well as a 50% levy on diesel shipments.”Oil prices are getting out of control,” Lula told a press conference announcing the measures in Brasilia.The spike in diesel prices has emerged as a threat to Brazil’s powerful farm sector, raising costs for producers who are harvesting a record soybean crop and planting corn they cannot afford to delay. While Petrobras has not raised local fuel prices, Brazil is still partly reliant on imported diesel, and distributors have been reluctant to sell it at Petrobras’ prices, concerned about a possible price hike in the near future.The government expects diesel prices at the pump to fall by 0.64 reais ($0.1227) per litre due to the tax cut and a direct subsidy program that will provide payments to diesel producers and importers.The export tax is aimed at increasing domestic refining and securing internal supply, the government said in a statement, though it remains unclear how much refining capacity Brazil has available to boost local diesel output.Petrobras was operating its refineries at around 91% of capacity last year and aimed to increase it to 95% in the first quarter. The company’s near $3bn net profit in the fourth quarter was due in part to record exports during the period. Sales to international markets grew 41.7% year-on-year to 42bn reais, while domestic sales dropped 6.8% to 85.4bn reais.Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said the measures would not affect Petrobras’s own fuel-pricing policy. Haddad added they are set to run until the end of the year, but that the government hopes for a short-term solution to the Middle East conflict. Related Story Source link
Chilean Architect Smiljan Radic (centre) gives a press conference from inside the 2014 Serpentine Pavillion at the Serpentine Gallery in Hyde Park, central London. (AFP/File Picture)…
Oil prices stayed over $100 per barrel yesterday with no end in sight to the disruption in supplies of crude, while stock markets slid lower. With the conflict heading towards its third week, equity markets fell further amid investor worries about an extended crisis that could fan inflation and hammer the global economy.The price of Brent crude, the benchmark international oil contract, dipped below $100 during the day, sending equities briefly higher.But stocks slid back into the red as Brent climbed back above the $100 mark. “Crude oil is continuing to dictate direction for markets as we head towards the end of a volatile week… the pressure remains with no end in sight in the Middle East conflict,” said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst with Forex.com.”Traders are trying to figure out what a fair value for crude oil is right now, given the big release of emergency oil reserves, and the temporary relaxation of sanctions on Russian oil sales that’s already at sea,” he added.Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz — through which a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas passes — has sent energy prices soaring. That in turn is causing worries of rising prices rippling through the economy. “Fears of a burgeoning energy crisis remain front and centre for investors,” noted Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets.”Inflationary fears are particularly prevalent with each day that passes,” Mahony added. Major central banks, which prior to the war’s outbreak were heavily forecast to keep cutting interest rates, are now widely expected next week to freeze borrowing costs or even hike them to keep a lid on inflation. Source link
A passenger train from China arrived in the North Korean capital Thursday, state media said, after a six-year hiatus since the service was suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic.China is North Korea's largest trading partner and a vital source of diplomatic, economic and political support for the isolated nuclear state.Train journeys between the East Asian neighbours were halted in 2020 under strict border closures to prevent the coronavirus from spreading.China's state news agency Xinhua said a train that departed from Dandong, a city in the northeast bordering North Korea, arrived in Pyongyang on Thursday evening.South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported earlier that a train had been seen crossing the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge over the Yalu River.China Railways said in a separate statement that regular train services would also resume between Beijing and Pyongyang on Thursday evening.AFP journalists aboard the K27 train departing from Beijing and bound for Pyongyang Thursday saw carriages reserved only for passengers travelling to North Korea.Several people at the station gathered around the departures board to take photos of the ‘Beijing to Pyongyang’ listing.The overnight train is set to make a few stops, including at the port city of Tianjin, and then head northeast to Dandong on the border.A railway enthusiast at the station told AFP he was taking the train only one stop and would disembark at Tianjin.’It's great that this line is reopening, because there are very few international rail connections in China,’ he said, before being subjected to an ID check by plainclothes police officers.Wagons from Beijing holding Pyongyang-bound passengers are then attached to another train in Dandong, taking them across the border to the nearby North Korean city of Sinuiju, said Rowan Beard from Young Pioneer Tours, a company specialising in North Korea travel.Those wagons, as well as North Korean domestic carriages, will then be attached to a new train heading to Pyongyang, he added.Trains will run in both directions between Beijing and Pyongyang every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, China Railway said.The Dandong-Pyongyang service would operate daily, it said.Travel agents for an official ticketing booth in Beijing told AFP on Tuesday that anyone with a valid visa can now buy train tickets to the North.That includes Chinese people working and studying in North Korea, as well as North Koreans working, studying and visiting family abroad.Entry and exit procedures would be completed at the Dandong border crossing and at Sinuiju in North Korea, China Railway said.Tickets are currently available for offline purchase in several Chinese cities, it added.The resumption of the train link symbolised a return to a stronger bilateral relationship, said Lim Tai Wei, a professor and East Asia expert at Japan's Soka University.It signalled greater access to ‘the largest trading nation on Earth’ for North Korea, Lim told AFP, while it was also important for China's ‘periphery diplomacy’.A spokesman for China's foreign ministry said Thursday that ‘maintaining regular passenger train services is of great significance for facilitating personnel exchanges’ between the two countries.Beijing has been a crucial lifeline for North Korea's moribund economy.China has fully reopened its borders since the pandemic, but North Korea has proceeded more slowly. Direct flights and train services with Russia resumed last year.While the resumption suggests a ‘re-normalisation’ of contact between China and North Korea, it does not necessarily mean increased support from Beijing, said Associate Professor Chong Ja Ian from the National University of Singapore.’A lot of the previous limit on contact seems to be due to Pyongyang's apprehensions about broader contact, which have diminished,’ Chong told AFP. Source link
Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles interacts with Indonesia’s Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin upon their meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday. (Reuters) Indonesia and Australia are planning to expand their security co-operation to include Japan and Papua New Guinea, Jakarta’s Defence Minister said Thursday after a meeting with his Australian counterpart.Trilateral security arrangements would be developed with Indonesia, Australia and Japan, and between Indonesia, Australia and Papua New Guinea, Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin told reporters after talks with Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles.The leaders of Indonesia and Australia signed a security treaty last month that commits them to consult each other if either country is threatened.Indonesia and Australia will work together on intelligence sharing, Sjafrie said, without providing details.The two ministers discussed the possibility of developing a defence training facility on the island of Morotai on North Maluku, with a proposal to upgrade its existing defence infrastructure, he said, adding: “We will work together to improve and utilise it.”Marles told reporters that the Morotai facility will belong to Indonesia “but there would be opportunities we see for Australia to engage in training there,” adding that it is up to Indonesia to determine how it will be used.Sjafrie also said military personnel from countries such as the Philippines, Australia and Singapore would have access to the facility, as well as another in North Kalimantan being developed with Singapore.Indonesia was ready to deploy troops for the international security force in Gaza, but that was dependent on the current dynamic with US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace and the conflict in the Middle East, Sjafrie also said.Indonesia had been prepared to send 20,000 troops but was now ready to deploy 8,000, in phases, he said, with the move to scale back coming in response to pledges by other countries involved in the initiative to send numbers in the hundreds.”The president has instructed us to prepare our troops, and we are ready to act, but we are awaiting developments from the BOP. I cannot confirm anything yet because the situation is very dynamic,” he added. …
The Liberia-flagged tanker Shenlong Suezmax, loaded with Saudi Arabian crude, arrives at a port after transiting the Strait of Hormuz, in Mumbai, Thursday. (Reuters) Iran will allow Indian-flagged tankers to transit the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for 40% of the South Asian nation’s crude imports, an Indian government source said Thursday, but an Iranian source outside the country denied any such deal was reached.India, the world’s No. 3 oil consumer, said Thursday the foreign ministers of the two countries have had three conversations in recent days and the latest one this week focused on “issues pertaining to the safety of shipping and India’s energy security”.”Beyond that, it would be premature for me to say anything,” foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told a weekly media briefing.The Indian source, who was briefed on the matter, declined to be identified, citing a lack of authorisation to speak to media, while the Iranian source said the matter was a sensitive one.Thursday, the Suezmax tanker Shenlong, carrying Saudi crude, arrived at a port in Mumbai after transiting the strait. The Liberia-flagged vessel was the first crude carrier to reach India from the Middle East since the war between Iran and the US and Israel broke out in late February, according to LSEG data. The customer is state-run Bharat Petroleum Corp, said a source with direct knowledge of the matter.The company did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.The Indian source said two other foreign-flagged tankers believed to be bound for India had recently transited the Strait, and that Iran had given assurances of safe passage for Indian-flagged vessels after the foreign ministers of both countries spoke by telephone late on Tuesday.The source said the situation remained fluid, with limited clarity on how instructions were being relayed across different layers of Iran’s administration.In a statement after the talks between India’s S Jaishankar and his counterpart, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign ministry said the US should be held accountable for the “insecure situation and problems arising for shipping in the Persian Gulf”.Neither side mentioned any agreement on allowing safe passage for Indian vessels.On Wednesday, India said 28 Indian-flagged vessels were operating west and east of the Strait with 778 Indian sailors aboard.”Authorities, ship managers and recruitment agencies are co-ordinating closely with Indian embassies and local authorities to ensure safety and provide assistance to Indian seafarers,” the Indian petroleum ministry said in a statement.India has given safe harbour to 183 Iranian sailors from a vessel that docked after the war broke out between Iran and the US and Israel.New Delhi had allowed three Iranian ships that departed following a naval exercise in the Bay of Bengal to dock, but one was later sunk by a US submarine in international waters, and another sought assistance from Sri Lanka.Iran has attacked at least 16 ships in the Strait since the war began in late February. Tehran has warned that oil prices could nearly double to $200 a barrel as it retaliates.A Thai vessel bound for India’s western port of Kandla was attacked in the Strait on Wednesday, prompting criticism from New Delhi.”India deplores the fact that commercial shipping is being made a target of military attacks in the ongoing conflict,” the foreign ministry said on Wednesday, adding that its citizens had also died.The near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz has compelled India to scramble for alternatives, such as buying more from Russia. Related…