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Niger’s junta says jihadis kill 29 soldiers as attacks ramp up

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:11:07 GMT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — At least 29 Nigerien soldiers have been killed by jihadis near the country’s border with Mali, Niger’s junta said, as they struggle to end a spate of attacks.More than 100 extremists used homemade explosives to target the West African nation’s security forces who were deployed at the border area on a clearance operation, Niger Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Salifou Mody said in a statement late Monday. It’s the second such attack against Nigerien soldiers in a week.During the month after Niger’s military seized power, violence primarily linked to extremists soared by more than 40%, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project. Jihadi attacks targeting civilians quadrupled in August compared with the month before, and attacks against security forces spiked in the Tillaberi region, killing at least 40 soldiers, the project reported. “This attack unfortunately caused the loss of several of our valiant soldiers,” Mody said Monday. ...

Shoppers flee major shopping mall in Bangkok after hearing what sounded like gunshots

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:11:07 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Hundreds of shoppers fled a major shopping mall in the center of the Thai capital Bangkok on Tuesday afternoon after what sounded like gunshots were heard inside.It was not immediately clear if shots had been fired, though police said there were injuries and some frightened shoppers were still hunkering down inside the Siam Paragon Mall.The incident prompted authorities to shut access to the nearby Siam elevated train stop, preventing commuters from exiting the transit station, as the evening rush hour began and intense rain pounded the city, according to an Associated Press journalist at the scene.First responders could be seen entering the mall as sirens wailed outside. Police spokesman Archayon Kraithong said police officers in the area had been ordered to secure the scene, and that he would provide details as soon as possible. He didn’t provide details on casualties, but police said on their official Facebook page that there were injuries.Witnesses said crow...

Agostini, Krausz and L’Huillier win physics Nobel for looking at electrons in fractions of seconds

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:11:07 GMT

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Three scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for their work on how electrons move around the atom during the tiniest fractions of seconds, a field that could one day lead to better electronics or disease diagnoses.The award went to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier for their study of the tiny part of each atom that races around the center and that is fundamental to virtually everything: chemistry, physics, our bodies and our gadgets. Electrons move around so fast that they have been out of reach of human efforts to isolate them, but by looking at the tiniest fraction of a second possible — one quintillionth of a second known as an attosecond — scientists now have a “blurry” glimpse of them and that opens up whole new sciences, experts said.“The electrons are very fast and the electrons are really the workforce in everywhere,” Nobel Committee member Mats Larsson said. “Once you can control and understand electrons you have taken a very ...

Kenya’s president welcomes UN Security Council’s approval to send a Kenya-led mission to Haiti

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:11:07 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya’s president on Tuesday welcomed the U.N. Security Council’s resolution to send a Kenya-led multinational armed force to Haiti to help combat violent gangs and pledged that it will “not fail the people of Haiti.”President William Ruto’s remarks came hours after Monday’s vote at the United Nations, marking the first time in almost 20 years that a force would be deployed to the troubled Caribbean nation where gang violence has escalated dramatically with killings, kidnappings and rape. Ruto said the Kenya-led force “will provide a different footprint in the history of international interventions in Haiti.”“We shall succeed in Haiti,” he said. “We must not fail the people of Haiti.” The resolution, drafted by the United States and Ecuador, authorizes the force to deploy for one year, with a review after nine months. The non-U.N. mission would be funded by voluntary contributions, with the U.S. pledging up to $200 million.It wasn&...

Two earthquakes strike Nepal, sending tremors through the region

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:11:07 GMT

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Two earthquakes struck northwest Nepal on Tuesday, sending tremors through the region, the country’s earthquake monitoring center said. There were no immediate reports of any casualties or damage in the region.Nepal’s National Earthquake Monitoring & Research Center said the epicenter for both quakes, with initial magnitudes measuring at 5.3 followed by 6.3, was Bajhang district in northwest Nepal, close to the Indian border. Narayan Pandey, the chief officer in Bajhang district, said that tremors were felt in the region, which is a mountainous area and sparsely populated. Tremors were also felt in the Indian capital New Delhi. The Associated Press

South Asia is expected to grow by nearly 6% this year, making it the world’s fastest-growing region

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:11:07 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — South Asia is expected to grow by 5.8% this year, making it the fastest-growing region in the world even as the pace remains below pre-pandemic levels, the World Bank said on Tuesday.The latest South Asia Development Update from the World Bank projected growth in the region to slow slightly to 5.6% in 2024 and 2025, as post-pandemic rebounds fade and reduced global demand weighs on economic activity. At almost 6% this year, the region is growing faster than all other emerging markets, said Franziska Ohnsorge, the organization’s chief economist for South Asia.“While high inflation and interest rates have bogged down many emerging markets, South Asia seems to be forging ahead,” the World Bank noted in its report.Still, “for all of the countries here this represents a slowdown from pre-pandemic levels,” Ohnsorge said, adding that the growth wasn’t fast enough to meet various development goals set by countries in the region.Despite the progress, the region s...

China welcomes Taiwanese athletes at the Asian Games but they still can’t compete under their flag

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:11:07 GMT

SHAOXING, China (AP) — Taiwan’s baseball team took the field Tuesday sporting caps and jerseys not with “T” for Taiwan, but “CT,” for Chinese Taipei.China claims the democratic self-governing island as its own, and a decades-old agreement between Taipei and Beijing means that Taiwanese teams can only compete internationally if they don’t use the name – or flag – of Taiwan. Opposing them on the new field in Shaoxing was Hong Kong, representing what Beijing hopes is Taiwan’s future – a team playing under its own regional flag, with its own athletes, but still very much a part of China. At the Asian Games, China has been going out of its way to be welcoming to the Taiwanese athletes, as it pursues a two-pronged strategy with the goal of taking over the island, which involves both wooing its people while threatening it militarily. Unlike the Beijing Winter Olympics last year where Taiwan only sent four athletes, there are more than 500 here for the As...

Turkey detains nearly 1000, including alleged Kurdish militants, following suicide bomb attack

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:11:07 GMT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Police detained almost a thousand people in raids across Turkey on Tuesday, including dozens with alleged links to Kurdish militants, days after a suicide bomb attack in the Turkish capital.Police detained at least 67 people across Turkey on Tuesday in a sweep targeting people with alleged links to Kurdish militants, days after a suicide bomb attack in the Turkish capital.Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said police carried out raids in 16 Turkish provinces, detaining 55 people suspected of being part of the “intelligence structure” of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. At least 12 other suspected PKK members were rounded up in a separate operation in five provinces, Yerlikaya wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.The PKK has led a decades-long insurgency in Turkey and is considered a terror organization by the United States and the European Union. Tens of thousands of people have died since the start of the conflict in 1984...

A blast at an illegal oil refinery site kills at least 15 in Nigeria, residents say

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:11:07 GMT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — An explosion and fire at at an illegal oil refinery site in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region killed at least 15 people, including a pregnant woman, residents and a local environmental rights group reported Tuesday. The blast happened Monday in the southern River state’s Emohua district, where illegal refineries are common. Residents said the death toll was likely to grow because many of the bodies were completed burned and dozens of people were injured. Police confirmed the incident but did not provide details of what happened. Locals said most of the people who died had worked at the illegal refinery in the village of Rumucholu.The workers at the site were refining oil taken from a vandalized pipe, according to Chima Avadi, a local activist. “When they scoop from the point where they vandalized the pipe, they will take to where they were cooking. That is how fire got there,” Avadi said. Dozens of people were being treated in hospitals, he said. A pregnant woman wa...

Rep. Cuellar unharmed in armed carjacking in DC

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:11:07 GMT

(The Hill) - Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) was carjacked in Washington, D.C. on Monday night, according to a staffer from his office. Cuellar was parking his car outside of his apartment in Navy Yard, D.C. when three armed individuals approached the congressman and stole his car, Cuellar's chief of staff confirmed to The Hill. Rep. Henry Cuellar (Associated Press/Eric Gay)Cuellar's chief of staff said the Texas Democrat was not harmed in the incident and authorities later recovered the car. When asked about the incident, DC Metro Police did not identify Cuellar as the victim, but said a carjacking occurred shortly after 9:30 p.m. at the intersection of New Jersey Avenue and K Street SE. Cuellar's chief of staff said the congressman is working with local law enforcement, and thanked DC police and Capitol Police for their "swift action" and recovery of his car. Cuellar is serving his 10th term in the House and represents Texas's 28th Congressional District, which includes the cities of...