Category: Foreign

The death toll from a storm that struck three southern African countries rose to 70 yesterday as emergency teams battled to repair damaged infrastructure and help tens of thousands of victims.

Packing torrential rains, Tropical Storm Ana made landfall Monday in Madagascar before ploughing into Mozambique and Malawi.

Rescue workers and authorities across the three countries were still assessing the full extent of the damage.

Madagascar has reported 41 dead, with 18 others killed in Mozambique and 11 in Malawi.

Remnants of the storm have passed over Zimbabwe, but no deaths have been reported there.

In the three hardest-hit countries, tens of thousands of homes were damaged. Some collapsed under the heavy rain, trapping victims in the rubble.

Bridges were washed away by swollen rivers, while livestock drowned and submerged fields, destroying the livelihoods of rural families.

In Madagascar, 110,000 had to flee their homes. In the capital Antananarivo, schools and gyms were turned into emergency shelters.

“We only brought our most important possessions,” Berthine Razafiarisoa, who sheltered in a gym with his family of 10, told AFP.

In northern and central Mozambique, Ana destroyed 10,000 homes, dozens of schools and hospitals, and downed power lines.

Mozambique’s weather service expects another storm to form over the Indian Ocean in the coming days. Up to six tropical cyclones are expected before the rainy season ends in March.

In neighbouring Malawi, the government declared a state of natural disaster.

Most of the country lost electricity early in the week, after flood waters hit generating stations. Power was restored by yesterday in parts of the country, but parts of the electric grid were destroyed.

Economic Community of West African States’ (ECOWAS) leaders will hold an extraordinary summit on Burkina Faso and Mali today, after military takeovers in both countries.

Army officers in Burkina Faso ousted President Roch Kabore on Monday in West Africa’s third coup in nine months, following military takeovers in Mali and Guinea.

The regional bloc strongly condemned Kabore’s ouster, saying he was forced to resign under threat and intimidation.

The coup came amid an increasingly bloody Islamist insurgency that has killed thousands and displaced millions across West Africa’s Sahel region, eroding faith in the countries’ democratic leaders.

ECOWAS has already slapped broad sanctions on Mali, where the military-led government said this month it planned to hold power through 2025, going back on a previous agreement to organise elections this February.

Burkina Faso’s new military regime, led by Lt.-Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, said on Monday it would propose a return to constitutional order “within a reasonable time frame”.

Malians have come out in huge numbers to protest the ECOWAS sanctions.

A crowd also gathered in Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou on Tuesday to celebrate the coup, with some saying they felt ECOWAS was not on their side.

But, the junta that overthrew Burkina Faso’s government has warned ex-ministers not to leave the capital or obstruct its military officers during talks over how to return to democratic elections.

The officers, who called themselves the Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration (MPSR), ousted President Roch Kabore on Monday, blaming him for failing to contain worsening violence by Islamist militants.

The MPSR has said it would propose a calendar for a return to constitutional order “within a reasonable time frame”, but has not elaborated on its plans for a transition.

The MPSR’s leader, Lt. Col. Henri-Paul Damida, met members of Kabore’s government on Wednesday, according to one of the ex-ministers present, who asked not to be named.

Damida warned them not to do anything to obstruct the junta or to travel outside the capital, but added that he welcomed any contribution they could offer to the transition, the former minister said.

The junta was also due to meet a group of trade unions, according to an internal note from Burkina Faso’s main labour organisation.

Indian actress Mouni Roy, who shot to fame for her TV shows Devon Ke Dev Mahadev and Naagin, started dating Dubai-based banker Suraj Nambiar in 2019. The couple, who remained tight-lipped about their relationship, reportedly met each other in a Dubai nightclub on New Year’s Eve three years ago.

The wedding of Indian actress Mouni Roy, 36, and her banker fiance Suraj Nambiar has taken the internet by storm after the newly-wed couple posted a glimpse of their big day on social media on Thursday.

 

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The picture-perfect bride was dressed in a traditional red and white silk saree paired with jewellery from the south of the country, while the groom sported a beige kurta and mundu (a garment worn around the waist by men).

Nambiar also shared the same photos on Instagram and wrote, “27.01.2022 – Married my best friend and the love of my life. Feel like the luckiest man alive.”

Several stars including actress Mandira Bedi, Arjun Bijlani, and Karishma Modi – who attended the wedding in the scenic coastal state of Goa – shared photos of the happy couple on their Instagram accounts.

Netizens are gushing over the newly-wed couple and flooding social media with congratulatory messages.

Sputnik

it North Korea, a self-declared nuclear power, from testing ballistic missiles, some types of which were capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

The country fired two apparent cruise missiles on Tuesday, according to South Korea.

Unlike ballistic missiles, cruise missiles have their own permanent propulsion.

They are not subjected to sanctions.

North Korea has drawn criticisms from the United States, South Korea and Japan for its missile tests this year.

According to Pyongyang, its testing has included hypersonic missiles in this type of weapon, a hypersonic glider can launch from a ballistic missile.

Hypersonic weapons are difficult to intercept because of their high speed and manoeuvrability.

READ ALSO: North Korea in fresh missile test, says South Korea

Some observers said that North Korea was trying to demonstrate its military strength as well as develop its missile technology.

The country was subject to tough sanctions, including from the UN Security Council.

After the U.S. recently imposed new sanctions, Pyongyang indicated it might resume testing nuclear bombs and intercontinental missiles.

North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, declared at the end of 2019 that he no longer considered the country bound by a self-imposed testing moratorium.

This came after negotiations with the U.S. over North Korea’s nuclear programme stalled.

This month, the U.S. Treasury Department decided to impose new sanctions, including punitive measures against five North Koreans it accused of procuring goods for their country’s weapons of mass destruction and missile programmes. (dpa/NAN)

Ozzie, the oldest male and third-oldest gorilla in the world has died at 61.

According to Zoo Atlanta, Ozzie was found dead by his care team on Tuesday, January 25, 2022.

Although his cause of death isn’t known yet, he recently exhibited a decreased appetite, facial swelling and weakness.

A necropsy, the equivalent of an autopsy for a gorilla, will be performed on Ozzie, the zoo confirmed to determine the real cause of death.

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“This is a devastating loss for Zoo Atlanta. While we knew this time would come someday, that inevitability does nothing to stem the deep sadness we feel at losing a legend,” Raymond B. King, president and CEO of Zoo Atlanta, said in the news release.

Ozzie made history in 2009 after becoming the “first gorilla in the world ever to participate in a voluntary blood pressure reading,” according to the zoo.

The western lowland silverback is survived by daughter Kuchi, sons Kekla, Stadi, and Charlie, granddaughter Lulu, great-granddaughter Andi, and great-grandson Floyd, all of whom live at Zoo Atlanta.

He also has other children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren living at other accredited zoos in the US and Canada.

The Burkina Faso military yesterday undertook to propose a “timetable” for the country’s return to constitutional order “within a reasonable period of time and after consultation with the active forces of the nation”.

Shortly before midnight on Monday, Roch Kabore resigned from the presidency of Burkina Faso through a letter addressed to Lieutenant Colonel Paul Henry Sandaogo Damiba, who led the coup d’état carried out on Sunday.

“In the interest of the nation, after the events that have occurred since yesterday, I have decided to resign from my functions as President of Burkina Faso, Head of Government, and Supreme Commander of the National Armed Forces,” Kabore wrote in a letter that was released after the military confirmed the coup, the dissolution of the government and Parliament, and the suspension of the Constitution.

The decision to topple Kabore was taken “with the sole objective of allowing our country to return to the right path and gather all its forces to fight for its territorial integrity… and its sovereignty,” said a spokesman for the Patriotic Movement for the Safeguarding and the Restoration (MPSR), which the military created to carry out their assault against the constitutional order.

“In the face of the continuous deterioration of the security situation that threatens the foundations of our nation, the manifest inability of the power of Roch Kabore to unite the Burkinabe to deal with the situation effectively, and following the aspirations of different social strata of the nation, the MPSR has decided to assume its responsibilities before history,” the spokesman added.

The coup plotters also announced the closure of air and land borders and the establishment of a curfew from 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. local time throughout the national territory. These measures will remain in force “until further order”.

But, the West African Elders Forum (WAEF) yesterday strongly condemned the military coup in Bukina Faso, calling it a democratic sacrilege that betrays hope and rewinds the clock of democratic progress in Burkina Faso and the sub-region.

Read Also: UN chief, AU, ECOWAS condemn Burkina Faso coup

A statement yesterday by former President Goodluck Jonathan, WAEF’s convener and Chairman of the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation (GJF) said the forum was disturbed by the gradual ceding of the region’s civic space to military adventurers and un-elected leaders.

Describing military coup as an unacceptable aberration, WAEF declared that Africa could not afford to be returned to an “inglorious era when the people’s rights, freedoms and development impetus were restricted”.

The forum called for the immediate release of deposed Kabore and all others being detained and urged the military leaders to return the country to constitutional rule.

The statement reads: “The West African Elders Forum (WAEF) condemns the military takeover of government and suspension of constitutional order in Burkina Faso by a group of military officers.

“The coup is a political sacrilege that betrays hope, as it rewinds the clock of democratic progress and successes recorded in Burkina Faso and the sub-region in the past decades.

“As a forum, we  are disturbed  by the gradual ceding of our civil and democratic spaces to military adventurers and unelected leaders.

“We state without equivocation that the military should not be seen as the alternative to civil rule. Africa had experienced a long spell of military rule in the past and the people of the continent cannot afford to be returned to an inglorious era when the people’s rights, freedoms and development impetus were restricted.”

Russia is watching with great concern as the United States (U.S.) continues its aggressive drive to war, with more than 8,000 US troops ready to be deployed to Europe, a Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said yesterday.

Peskov accused Washington of fuelling tensions over Ukraine, insisting that the crisis is being driven by NATO and U.S. actions in the region.

Moscow has reiterated calls for diplomacy and laid out security demands earlier this month in two treaties, which have been rejected by Washington. It is expecting a written response this week.

Russia insists that it is not the instigator but the target of aggression, citing as evidence the U.S. delivery of a package of “lethal aid,” including 90 tons of weapons, to Kiev on Sunday.

NATO said on Monday that it was putting its forces on standby and reinforcing its members in eastern Europe with more ships and fighter jets, a move that Russia denounced as Western “hysteria.”

Read Also: Russia: no deals ahead of talks with U.S. over Ukraine

Peskov said that the mobilisation of Russian troops was in response to Nato’s “increased activities near our borders, [which] cannot be ignored by our military, which is responsible for the security of our country.”

Moscow has denounced a propaganda war being waged through the Western mainstream media as part of a “py-ops” campaign by intelligence services to soften up public opinion for war.

The U.S. is in discussions with major natural gas producers in response to a potential cut by Russia due to sanctions that will take effect in the event of an invasion of Ukraine, according to officials on Tuesday.

One senior Biden administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity during a teleconference call said the U.S. is engaging its European allies to “coordinate our response planning, including talking to them how they deploy their existing energy stockpiles, which are obviously at significantly low levels this year due to the reduced Russian supplies over the last several months.”