Wed, 15 Jan 2025 15:24:50 GMT
Future of Diego Garcia military base should be considered before handover to Mauritius signed off, No 10 says
The UK government will not sign off a deal to hand back the Chagos Islands to Mauritius until Donald Trump’s administration has had a chance to consider the future of the joint military base, Downing Street has confirmed.
Allies of the US president-elect have been critical of the deal because of the implications for the strategically important Diego Garcia base, with concerns that it could bolster Chinese interests in the Indian Ocean.
Continue reading...Wed, 15 Jan 2025 12:12:02 GMT
Healthcare workers among suspected cases of Ebola-like disease as WHO issues warning of high risk to the country and its neighbours
A suspected outbreak of Marburg virus disease (MVD) in Tanzania has killed eight people and poses a high risk to the country and its neighbours, global health leaders have said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said nine suspected cases of the Ebola-like virus had been reported as of 11 January, in two districts of the Kagera region in the north of the country, including the eight deaths.
Continue reading...Wed, 15 Jan 2025 05:00:10 GMT
Law to stop armed groups profiting from trade in gold, tin, tungsten and tantalum is being breached, rights groups say
The European Union has been urged to clamp down on illegal imports of conflict minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) after evidence was found that current regulations had been breached.
The advocacy group Global Witness (GW) said there remained a “high risk” of the EU’s mineral imports being used to fund militias and state repression in several countries.
Continue reading...Tue, 14 Jan 2025 11:31:28 GMT
Thirty-six bodies brought to surface amid claims 109 are dead and between 400 and 800 people still alive and trapped
Thirty-six bodies have been brought out of an illegal goldmine in South Africa and 82 people have been taken out alive since Monday, after police blocked supplies of food, water and medicine to the workers underground in October in an attempt to force them out.
On Thursday, a letter brought up to the surface claimed there were 109 dead bodies underground. A video circulated by the NGO Mining Affected Communities United in Action (Macua) appeared to show more than 50 wrapped bodies laid out in a tunnel.
Continue reading...Mon, 13 Jan 2025 18:27:36 GMT
Phone video shared by mining NGO appears to show dozens of wrapped bodies in underground tunnel
The South African government has launched a mission to bring to the surface potentially hundreds of people in an illegal mine who last year had supplies of food, water and medicine blocked by police in an attempt to force them out.
The government agreed to the attempt on Friday after the sister of one of those underground initiated a court case in response to letters from miners brought to the surface on Thursday.
Continue reading...Mon, 13 Jan 2025 10:02:30 GMT
Tropical storm batters eastern parts of Africa, including French territory still recovering from Cyclone Chido
Over the weekend, eastern parts of Africa were threatened by Tropical Cyclone Dikeledi. What started as a slight tropical disturbance between Indonesia and Australia on 2 January progressed westwards while developing into a depression over the week that followed.
The depression strengthened into a moderate tropical storm with heavy downpours and gusty winds exceeding 39mph (63km/h) across central parts of the Indian Ocean. At this time, the system was named Dikeledi. It continued westwards and deepened into a tropical cyclone on the evening of 10 January as maximum sustained wind speeds hit 74mph – the equivalent of becoming a category 1 hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean.
Continue reading...Wed, 15 Jan 2025 12:00:10 GMT
Exclusive: US companies are increasingly shipping toxic waste to other countries, where some argue it poses a risk
US companies ship more than 1m tons of hazardous waste to other countries each year, raising questions over possible impacts on health and the environment, an investigation by the Guardian and Quinto Elemento Lab has found.
Exports of toxic waste, most of which is shipped to Mexico and Canada, have climbed 17% since 2018, US records show. And while sending it away for recycling and disposal is legal, some experts are concerned that more and more of America’s most dangerous discards are leaving the country.
Continue reading...Tue, 14 Jan 2025 22:49:09 GMT
Deal negotiated through Catholic church will involve ‘gradual’ release of 553 political prisoners, says Havana
The Biden administration has notified Congress that it will remove Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism in a deal the country’s communist government said would involve the “gradual” release of 553 political prisoners.
The deal, which administration officials said was negotiated through the Catholic church, was announced on Tuesday, just five days before Biden exits the White House and Donald Trump is inaugurated as the country’s 47th president.
Continue reading...Tue, 14 Jan 2025 19:16:39 GMT
Responses range from conciliation to retaliation, including cutting off electricity and halting the purchase of US liquor
Canada’s provincial premiers are sharply divided on how to prepare for US trade tariffs, less than a week before Donald Trump takes office with a threat to dramatically reshape the relationship between the two countries.
Canadian officials have sought to defuse the crisis with personal appeals to the president-elect, multimillion-dollar advertising sprees and targeted threats, but the country remains gripped by uncertainty over how Trump’s tariffs might take effect. On Monday, Bloomberg reported that the incoming US administration is weighing hiking tariffs by 2%-5% a month to avoid spiking inflation.
Continue reading...Tue, 14 Jan 2025 18:43:52 GMT
Parliament unanimously agrees on three-month extension of security measures after gang warfare kills six last week
Escalating violence in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) has caused the country’s government to extend emergency security measures declared in December, after a week of bloody gang warfare that left at least six dead.
Late on Monday evening, the T&T parliament unanimously agreed on a three-month extension of a state of emergency announced on 30 December after police said they received intelligence about an imminent gang war.
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