BBC News: The situation on Ukraine’s eastern front lines is getting tough, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said. Ukrainian troops are facing a very difficult situation in three heavily contested towns in Donetsk – Bakhmut, Vuhledar and Lyman – Mr Zelensky said. The UK’s defence ministry said Ukrainian soldiers are becoming isolated in embattled Bakhmut. The […]
BBC News: Pakistan’s former president General Pervez Musharraf, who seized power in a coup in 1999, has died aged 79. The former leader – who was president between 2001 and 2008 – died in Dubai after a long illness, a statement from the country’s army said. He had survived numerous assassination attempts, and found himself […]
BBC News: The US has shot down a giant Chinese balloon that it says has been spying on key military sites across America. The Department of Defence confirmed its fighter jets brought down the balloon over US territorial waters. China’s foreign ministry later expressed “strong dissatisfaction and protest against the US’s use of force to […]
Al Jazeera: Washington, DC – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has postponed a visit to China, calling the presence of an alleged Chinese spy balloon in United States airspace an “unacceptable” violation of the country’s sovereignty. The balloon incident “undermined” the purpose of the trip, which was set to start on Sunday, Blinken told […]
BBC News: Several people have died in Chile after wildfires swept through 14,000 hectares. The government has declared a state of emergency in two regions – Biobío and Ñuble. The fires took hold amid high temperatures across the country and hundreds of homes have been damaged.
BBC News: The US says additional military aid to Ukraine worth $2.2bn (£1.83bn) will include long-range missiles capable of doubling its attack range. It brings the total amount of military aid given to Ukraine to more than $29.3bn (£24.31bn) since February 2022. The package includes ground-launched small-diameter bombs (GLSDB) which can hit targets 150km (93 […]
BBC News: When Juliette Lamour won a lotto jackpot on her first try, the sensible teen immediately turned to a financial planner, or Dad, as she calls him. The 18-year-old just scooped C$48m ($35.8; £29.7m), becoming the youngest Canadian ever to win such a big prize. But while many teens suddenly endowed with unimaginable wealth […]
BBC News: Emergency agencies in Nigeria say 24 people have been rescued from a collapsed building in Abuja and three people have died after suffering fatal injuries. The three-storey structure with a basement was under construction when it came down on Thursday morning trapping an unidentified number of people, many of them workers. The building […]
BBC News: An alleged spy balloon spotted over the US is a Chinese “civilian airship” which had deviated from its planned route, China says. US defence officials said they believed the balloon, seen above sensitive areas in recent days, was in fact a “high-altitude surveillance” device. But in a statement, China’s foreign ministry said it […]
Reuters: JAKARTA, Feb 3 – The conflict in Myanmar dominated the year’s first meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers in Jakarta on Friday, with Indonesia’s top diplomat saying that member states had “frank” discussions on the issue. The foreign minister of Indonesia, which chairs the Association of Southeast Asian Nations this year, said the bloc was […]