U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday pledged on a Middle East mission that Washington would rally support to rebuild Gaza as part of efforts to bolster a ceasefire between its Hamas Islamist rulers and Israel.
Blinken however made it clear that the United States would ensure that Hamas, which it regards as a terrorist organization, did not benefit from the humanitarian aid.
Blinken started his regional visit in Jerusalem, where he held talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who alongside the top U.S. diplomat at his side, threatened a very powerful response if Hamas renewed cross-border rocket strikes.
The truce, brokered by Egypt and coordinated with the United States, began on Friday after 11 days of the worst fighting between Palestinian militants and Israel in years. Now in its fifth day, it has been holding.
Blinen said the United States, would work to rally international support around that effort and make its own “significant contributions,” to be announced later in the day.
Blinken will be in the region through Thursday, and will also travel to Egypt and Jordan. In tandem with his visit, Israeli authorities allowed fuel, medicine and food earmarked for Gaza’s private sector to enter the territory for the first time since the hostilities began on May 10.
Blinken, who said he hoped to rebuild relationships with the Palestinian people and the Palestinian Authority, was due to meet Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank later in the day.
A suicide Bomber was blown to pieces after failing to gain access into a primary school in Ebonyi state.
The incident happened in Afikpo town, Afikpo local government area of Ebonyi state at around 12 noon on Tuesday.
Sources say the man made an attempt at entering Amaizu/ Amangballa Primary School but was turned back by school security since he couldn’t justify the reason for his visit. He immediately started running inside a nearby bush before an explosion was heard.
On hearing the explosion, residents scampered to safety but reconvened at the scene of the incident few minutes after to discover the suspected suicide bomber laying dead in the pull of his own blood.
The incident happened close to the Eke Market Afikpo which is said to be the biggest market in the area, this has caused tension and panic in the community.
It was gathered that the upper part of the suspected suicide bomber’s body was completely destroyed from the impact of the bomb.
Tuesday 25 May is commemorated by African governments “Africa Day”.
The day, formerly known as African Freedom Day and African Liberation Day is the annual commemoration of the founding of the Organisation of African Unity on 5 May 1963.
The organisation was later transformed into the African Union on 9 July 2002 in Durban, South Africa, but the holiday continues to be celebrated on 25 May. It is celebrated in various countries on the African continent as well as around the world.
This year’s theme of Africa Day is Arts, Culture And Heritage: Levers for Building the Africa We Want.
The celebration however comes on a backheel of a number of issues; the Covid-19 pandemic having piled up pressure on the African economy.
Only last week, Democratic Republic of Congo’s president Felix Tshisekedi who is also the current head of the African Union alongside a dozen other African heads of state, concluded a summit in Paris where they argued among other issues for an increase in the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) from 33 billion dollars to 100 billion dollars.
Chad’s military government after the sudden death of president Idris Deby has raised concerns while Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict which has led to thousands of civilian deaths and displacements and allegations of war crimes.
There is Ethiopia, the second most populous country on the continent also has a dispute with Sudan and Egypt concerning its dam on the Nile River’s main tributary.
ICC Prosecutors say Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, Leader of Sudan’s infamous Janjaweed militia, personally committed murders in Darfur.
Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, also known by the nom du Guerre Ali Kushayb, was in court for a hearing to decide if there is enough evidence for a full trial on 31 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Prosecutors told the court in The Hague that Abd-Al-Rahman, an ally of deposed Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir, was an energetic perpetrator of murders in the Darfur war in 2003-04.
The 70-year-old suspect, who becomes the first to face charges at the International Criminal Court over the conflict and who handed himself in last year after more than a decade on the run, denies the charges.
ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told the court in The Hague that Abd-Al-Rahman was feared and revered in equal measure as the colonel of colonels and was a senior leader of the infamous Janjaweed militia
The United Nations says 300,000 people were killed and 2.5 million people were displaced in the Darfur conflict.
Fighting broke out in 2003 when ethnic African rebels, complaining of systematic discrimination, took up arms against Bashir’s government.
Khartoum responded by unleashing a notorious Arab-dominated militia known as the Janjaweed, recruited from among the region’s nomadic tribes. Abd-Al-Rahman fled to the Central African Republic in February 2020 when the new Sudanese government announced its intention to cooperate with the ICC’s investigation
Powerful aftershocks from the Mount Nyiragongo volcano have rocked the eastern DR Congo city of Goma as the death toll from the disaster climbed to 32 and thousands were feared homeless.
Tremors were reportedly shaking the region every 10 to 15 minutes three days after Africa’s most active volcano roared back into life, spewing lava that reached the outskirts of the city.
Two rivers of molten rock flowed from the volcano at a height of 1,800 metres with one heading towards Goma, stopping at the very outskirts of the city.
It engulfed homes in its wake, smothering the surrounding area with suffocating gas and cutting off the road between Goma and Butembo, the main highway in North Kivu province.
Tens of thousands of residents fled in panic, many of them to neighbouring Rwanda, when the much-dreaded volcano began erupting on Saturday evening.
The lava flow stopped on Sunday, but there have been repeated earthquakes since the eruption and the lava lake in the volcano’s crater appears to have refilled, prompting fears of new fissures opening or another eruption.
Humanitarian groups estimate that between 900 and 2,500 dwellings were destroyed, he said, adding that this meant at least 5,000 people were without a home.
Reports have also said that many of these displaced people have started to return to Goma, with some coming back to the site of the disaster, near the lava flow.
Air France, Finnair and Singapore Airlines have become latest carriers to suspend flights over Belarus on Tuesday after Minsk forced a jet to land to arrest a dissident.
Air France said in a statement it had “taken note” of the conclusions of Monday’s EU summit and had suspended flights over Belarus “until further notice”.
The announcements came a day after European Union leaders called on EU-based airlines to avoid Belarusian airspace and banned the country’s airlines from the 27-nation block.
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko sparked international outrage by dispatching a fighter jet Sunday to intercept a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius carrying wanted reporter Roman Protasevich, 26, and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega.
Singapore Airlines was also rerouting flights “that are bound for Europe to avoid the Belarusian airspace” and would continue to “closely monitor the situation.
Finnair said the next flight that will be affected by its decision to reroute planes is one that was heading to the Turkish coastal town of Gazipasa on Wednesday.
Scandinavian airline SAS, Germany’s Lufthansa and Latvia-based regional airline Air Baltic made similar announcements on Monday.
Britain also issued instructions for British aircraft to avoid Belarusian airspace while Ukraine decided to halt direct flights between the two countries and over Belarus.
Iran and the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog has agreed to a one-month extension to a deal on surveillance cameras at Tehran’s atomic sites, buying more time for ongoing negotiations seeking to save the country’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers.
Last-minute discussions, including the International Atomic Energy Agency pushing back a statement planned for Sunday, further underscored the narrowing window for the U.S. and others to reach terms with Iran.
Speaking at a news conference Monday in Vienna, IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi told journalists that came after a discussion with Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s civilian nuclear program. He acknowledged that challenges remain, however, as the agency still can’t access images taken by its cameras.
Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s representative to the IAEA, acknowledged the deal at the same time on Twitter stating that Tehran’s civilian nuclear agency, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, would keep the material already recorded by the IAEA cameras.
Under a confidential agreement called an “Additional Protocol” with Iran, the IAEA collects and analyzes images from a series of surveillance cameras installed at Iranian nuclear sites.
Iran’s hard-line parliament in December approved a bill that would suspend part of U.N. inspections of its nuclear facilities if European signatories did not provide relief from oil and banking sanctions by February.
Air France, Finnair and Singapore Airlines became the latest carriers to suspend flights over Belarus on Tuesday after Minsk forced a jet to land to arrest a dissident.
The announcements came a day after European Union leaders urged EU-based airlines to avoid Belarusian airspace and banned the country’s airlines from the 27-nation block.
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko sparked international outrage by dispatching a fighter jet Sunday to intercept a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius carrying wanted reporter Roman Protasevich, 26, and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega.
Air France said in a statement it had “taken note” of the conclusions of Monday’s EU summit and had suspended flights over Belarus “until further notice”.
Planes already in the air will have their flight plans modified, the French company said.
Singapore Airlines was also rerouting flights “that are bound for Europe to avoid the Belarusian airspace” and would continue to “closely monitor the situation”, a spokesperson said.
“The safety of our customers and crew is our top priority,” a spokesperson told AFP.
Finnair said the next flight that will be affected by its decision to reroute planes is one that was heading to the Turkish coastal town of Gazipasa on Wednesday.
Scandinavian airline SAS, Germany’s Lufthansa and Latvia-based regional airline Air Baltic made similar announcements on Monday.
Britain also issued instructions for British aircraft to avoid Belarusian airspace while Ukraine decided to halt direct flights between the two countries and over Belarus.
Western leaders have accused Belarusian authorities of essentially hijacking a European plane, while Minsk claimed it had reacted to secure the flight after receiving a bomb threat.
Tens of thousands of people were evacuated Tuesday in low-lying areas of two Indian states and moved to cyclone shelters to escape a powerful storm barreling toward the eastern coast.
The India Meteorological Department said Cyclone Yaas is set to turn into a very severe cyclonic storm with sustained wind speeds of up to 177 kilometers per hour.
The cyclone coming amid a devastating coronavirus surge complicates India’s efforts to deal with both just 10 days after Cyclone Tauktae hit India’s west coast and killed more than 140 people.
The cyclone is expected to make landfall early Wednesday in Odisha and West Bengal states.
S.N. Pradhan, director of India’s National Disaster Response Force said thousands of emergency personnel have been moved to coastal regions of the two states for evacuation and any possible rescue operations.
In West Bengal, authorities were scrambling to move tens of thousands of people to cyclone shelters. Officials said at least 20 districts in the state will feel the brunt of the storm.
Last May, nearly 100 people died in Cyclone Amphan, the most powerful storm in more than a decade to hit eastern India, including West Bengal state.
In a televised address Monday, the state’s chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, appealed to people being moved to cyclone shelters to wear double masks and maintain social distancing. He asked authorities to distribute masks to the evacuated people.
Residents are seen gathering in a busy street after an eruption from Mount Nyiragongo on May 23, 2021 in Goma in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo. - A river of boiling lava came to a halt on the outskirts of Goma Sunday, sparing the city in eastern DR Congo from disaster after the nighttime eruption of Mount Nyiragongo sent thousands of terrified residents fleeing in panic.
Fire and strong fumes emanated from the blackish molten rock as it swallowed up houses, heading towards Goma airport on the shores of Lake Kivu. (Photo by Guerchom Ndebo / AFP)
Powerful aftershocks from the Mount Nyiragongo volcano rocked the eastern DR Congo city of Goma on Tuesday as the death toll from the disaster climbed to 32 and thousands were feared homeless.
Three days after Africa’s most active volcano roared back into life, spewing lava that reached the outskirts of the city of 1.5 million, tremors were shaking the region every 10 to 15 minutes.
Cracks several centimetres (more than an inch) wide appeared in the ground and on roads in several areas, including near the city’s main hospital, an AFP reporter saw.
“The situation in the city is confused. People don’t know which way to go,” a resident said.
“Some are coming back, some are leaving, people are still afraid.”
Goma, a city on the shores of Lake Kivu, lies just 12 kilometres (eight miles) or so from Mount Nyiragongo.
Tens of thousands of residents fled in panic, many of them to neighbouring Rwanda, when the much-dreaded volcano began erupting on Saturday evening.
Two rivers of molten rock flowed from the volcano at a height of 1,800 metres (5,900 feet).
One headed towards Goma, stopping at the very outskirts of the city.
– Rising toll –
It engulfed homes in its wake, smothering the surrounding area with suffocating gas and cutting off the road between Goma and Butembo, the main highway in North Kivu province.
“Thirty-two people died in incidents linked to the eruption, including seven people killed by lava and five asphyxiated by gases,” the UN’s refugee agency, the UNHCR, said in Geneva.
“The lava flow stopped on Sunday, but there have been repeated earthquakes since the eruption and the lava lake in the volcano’s crater appears to have refilled, prompting fears of new fissures opening or another eruption.”
The previous toll, drawn from NGOs and other sources, was 20.
Five people died from suffocation on Monday after they tried to cross the cooling lava some 13 kilometres (eight miles) north of Goma, civil society leader Mambo Kawaya told AFP.
Several strong aftershocks were also felt in Rwanda on Monday, including a 5.1-magnitude earthquake under Lake Kivu, the Rwanda Seismic Monitor said.
A so-called strato-volcano nearly early 3,500-metres (11,500 feet) high, Nyiragongo straddles a notorious rupture called the East African Rift.
The smoldering lava from the Mount Nyiragongo eruption is seen in Goma on May 23, 2021. – A river of boiling lava came to a halt on the outskirts of Goma Sunday, sparing the city in eastern DR Congo from disaster after the nighttime eruption of Mount Nyiragongo sent thousands of terrified residents fleeing in panic.
Fire and strong fumes emanated from the blackish molten rock as it swallowed up houses, heading towards Goma airport on the shores of Lake Kivu. (Photo by Moses Sawasawa / AFP)
Its last major eruption, in 2002, claimed around 100 lives.
– Need for water –
In an interview with AFP, Raphael Tenaud, deputy head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delegation in Goma, said lava had destroyed four large villages and damaged 12 others.
Humanitarian groups estimate that between 900 and 2,500 dwellings were destroyed, he said, adding that this meant at least 5,000 people were without a home.
On the evening of the eruption, and on Sunday, 25,000 people fled, Tenaud said.
“Many of these displaced people have started to return to Goma, some have even come back to the site of the disaster, near the lava flow,” he said.
“Some are still displaced as they are afraid to come back, others have been able or are able to go back to their homes, and there are others who no longer have a home.”
Damage to a reservoir has potentially affected water supplies for around half a million people, said Tenaud.
“The main problem will be a problem of access to potable water, and all the consequences that may stem from that,” he said, referring to the risk of disease.
The ICRC will start up a disused pumping station to draw water, and water will also be distributed by tanker truck, Tenaud added.
Most of the hospitals in the east of the city have been closed, although four hospitals in the west are functioning, he said.
Another problem is that of children who became separated from their parents in the panic. The Red Cross has received 735 requests for help.
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