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CNN —Thousands of foreign nationals have been evacuated from Sudan as clashes between two rival military factions vying for control of the country continue despite a supposed truce. Another eyewitness told CNN that Rapid Support Forces had moved in to the Wad Al-Bashir area, west of Omdurman (a major city just northwest of the capital Khartoum). Residents on the ground have told CNN that markets and shops have been heavily targeted by looters in the past few days. China, meanwhile, said it had evacuated 940 Chinese citizens and 231 foreign personnel from Sudan to Saudi Arabia between Wednesday and Saturday. “In order to protect the lives and property of Chinese citizens in Sudan, the Chinese military has been ordered to evacuate Chinese personnel in Sudan,” said Senior Colonel Tan Kefei.

None of the agencies disputed the allegation, and each paid penalties of $5,050, the maximum state levy for a child labor violation. The U.S. and Alabama investigations began after a Reuters report last July first exposed the use of child labor at Hyundai parts makers in the state. The U.S. Department of Labor said in February the number of child labor violations in 2022 had soared by nearly 70% compared with the tally recorded in 2018. They said false documentation, even shoddy credentials like those filed by the boy's employers, makes child labor laws difficult to enforce. An Alabama labor department spokesperson told Reuters the agency is still working to determine who exactly hired the child to work at Hyundai Glovis.

CNN —A once powerful member of the former Sudanese government wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity has been freed from prison in the capital Khartoum. Prisoners of Kober prison were released by authorities after inmates protested the lack of food and water by burning two cars inside the prison grounds, two Sudanese police sources told CNN. Unconfirmed reports claimed the former President al-Bashir was among the prisoners released from Kober prison. Sudan’s then-President, Omar al-Bashir, was charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity by the ICC, including genocide, related to the Darfur conflict in 2009. He was ousted in a military coup in April 2019 following a lengthy popular uprising and jailed in Khartoum.

☆ At least 78 killed in stampede in Yemen
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Mohammed Tawfeeq | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —Dozens of people were killed in a crowd surge in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, on Wednesday night, the Houthi-run Interior Ministry said in a statement. The director of the Houthi-run Health office in Sanaa, Mutahar al-Marouni, told the Houthi-run Al-Masirah news agency that at least 78 people were killed, and dozens were injured. A view of houses in the old city of Sanaa, Yemen on June 15, 2022. “The dead and injured people were transferred to hospitals, and two merchants in charge of the matter were arrested,” the statement added. During this time of the month, people give alms known as Zakat al-Fitr to the needy.

☆ At least 78 people killed in stampede in Yemeni capital - Houthi-run TV
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 20 (Reuters) - At least 78 people were killed in a stampede in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, the official media of the Houthi movement reported early on Thursday, with several more critically injured. Al Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement, said that in addition to the dead several people were injured, including 13 in a critical situation, citing the director of health in Sanaa. The Houthi-controlled Ministry of Interior's spokesman said in a statement that the stampede took place during the distribution of charitable donations by merchants during the final days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The interior ministry also said in a separate statement that the two merchants responsible for organising the donation event had been detained and an investigation was underway. Reporting by Hatem Maher Editing by Chris ReeseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ India's Modi raises embassy security with UK's Sunak after vandalism
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 13 (Reuters) - Britain should take action after a violent incident during protests outside India's embassy in London last month, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi told British counterpart Rishi Sunak on Thursday. New Delhi has been upset about protests and vandalism by Sikh separatists - who seek an independent Sikh homeland called Khalistan - outside the Indian High Commission in London and elsewhere in the U.S. and Canada. In a telephone conversation with Sunak, Modi called for "strong action against anti-India elements" by the British government following the incident, Modi's office said in a statement. "He stressed that extremism had no place in the UK and updated on the steps being taken to ensure the security of Indian High Commission staff," Sunak's office added. The demonstration outside the Indian High Commission was staged to denounce recent police action in the Sikh-majority Indian state of Punjab against a pro-Khalistan Sikh preacher.

☆ A Psychedelics Pioneer Takes the Ultimate Trip
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +15 min

Mamadi Doumbouya for The New York Times Talk A Psychedelics Pioneer Takes the Ultimate TripAs the founding director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, Dr. Roland Griffiths has been a pioneer in investigating the ways in which psychedelics can help treat depression, addiction and, in patients with a life-threatening cancer diagnosis, psychological distress. He has also looked at how the use of psychedelics can produce transformative and long-lasting feelings of human interconnectedness and unity. “So I believe that in principle we shouldn’t need this Stage 4 cancer diagnosis to awaken. Is your perspective maybe one that a 40-year-old, say, with a terminal cancer diagnosis would be able to inhabit so profoundly? If I had a regret, it’s that I didn’t wake up as much as I have without a cancer diagnosis.

☆ Spain tells 'fire tourists' to stay away from forest blaze
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( Guillermo Martinez | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] A plane throws water over a wildfire in Pina de Montalgrao, Castellon, following a wildfire raged in eastern Spain, March 26, 2023. REUTERS/Lorena SopenaBARRACAS, Spain, March 26 (Reuters) - Officials urged 'fire tourists' to keep away from blazes raging in eastern Spain on Sunday, saying onlookers were putting themselves at risk and disrupting efforts to quell the flames. Police had spotted 14 cyclists near the scene trying to get a closer look, Gabriela Bravo, the regional head of interior affairs in the Valencia region, told reporters. "We ask once again and above all tourists not to engage in fire tourism, not to approach the perimeter area," she said. In Spain, 493 fires destroyed a record 307,000 hectares of land last year, according to the Commission's European Forest Fire Information System.

☆ Spain firefighters working to control blaze that has destroyed 4,000 hectares
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

VILLANUEVA DE VIVER, Spain, March 25 (Reuters) - Firefighters said on Saturday they had stopped Spain's first major wildfire of the year from spreading further through the eastern Valencia region, where it destroyed more than 4,000 hectares (9,884 acres) of forest and forced 1,500 residents to abandon their homes. In Spain, 493 fires destroyed a record 307,000 hectares of land last year, according to the Commission's European Forest Fire Information System. More than 500 firefighters supported by 20 planes and helicopters were working to bring the blaze under control near the village of Villanueva de Viver, in the Valencia region, emergency services said on Saturday. [1/2] A wildfire burns parts of rural areas in Monte Pino, Spain, March 24, 2023. "On Saturday morning, airplanes will try to stop the fire spreading to other communities," Bravo told a news conference on Friday night.

☆ First major fire of year destroys 3,000 hectares in Spain
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

VILLANUEVA DE VIVER, Spain, March 24 (Reuters) - Spain's first major wildfire of the year raged in the eastern Valencia region on Friday, destroying more than 3,000 hectares (7,413 acres) of forest and forcing 1,500 residents to abandon their homes, authorities said. In Spain, 493 fires destroyed a record 307,000 hectares of land last year, according to the Commission's European Forest Fire Information System. Spain is experiencing a long-term drought after three years of below-average rainfall. A European Commission report this month observed a lack of rain and warmer-than-normal temperatures during the winter, raising drought warnings for southern Spain, France, Ireland, Britain, northern Italy, Greece and parts of eastern Europe. The Commission report warned that low levels of water could affect strategic sectors including agriculture, hydropower and energy production.

☆ The Biden administration is offering to pay Colorado River farmers to let fields go dry during a devastating drought. They're worried it's just the first step in losing their way of life.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Ethan Dodd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The Biden administration is paying Colorado River farmers and ranchers to let their fields run dry. Climate change has made the Colorado River the dryest it's been in more than a thousand years. Knowing they have to do something, Grand Valley farmers and ranchers want better compensation to make fallowing worth their while. At this better price they received enough applications from agricultural producers to cover the thousand acres Grand Valley offered, he said. Are you a farmer, rancher, or resident of the Colorado River basin concerned about water conservation?

☆ More than 2,000 Afghan evacuees in detention in UAE - Human Rights Watch
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Jonathan Landay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, March 15 (Reuters) - Human Rights Watch on Wednesday accused Emirati authorities of arbitrarily detaining for more than 15 months as many as 2,700 Afghan evacuees who have no legal pathways to refugee status or resettlement elsewhere. Many of those housed in Emirates Humanitarian City are suffering from depression and other psychological ailments, have no access to legal counsel, and have inadequate educational services for their children, a Human Rights Watch report said. The report said Human Rights Watch received no responses to requests for comment from the UAE ministries of interior and foreign affairs. Emirati officials previously have said the UAE offered to temporarily host thousands of Afghan refugees evacuated after the Taliban takeover of Kabul in August 2021. "Emirati authorities have kept thousands of Afghan asylum seekers locked up for over 15 months in cramped, miserable conditions with no hope of progress on their cases," said Joey Shea, Human Rights Watch's UAE researcher.

☆ Britain's BBC battles mutiny in its sports department after social media clash
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Hannah Ward-Glenton | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Gary Lineker's tweets and the BBC's response caused public backlash and a weekend of disrupted sports programing as fellow presenters walked out in protest. LONDON — The BBC, Britain's public service broadcaster, is trying to navigate itself out of crisis mode following a mutiny within its sports department regarding social media usage. The BBC suspended Lineker, who is employed by the broadcaster on a freelance basis, on Friday. "We consider [Lineker's] recent social media activity to be a breach of our guidelines," a BBC statement read. The BBC's response led to walkouts among Lineker's colleagues, which disrupted sports programing across Saturday and Sunday.

Alaska's elected officials say the project will create hundreds of jobs and bring billions of dollars in revenue to state and federal coffers. The state relies heavily on revenue from oil production, but output there has declined dramatically from its peak in the 1980s. "I feel the people of Alaska have been heard," U.S. Representative Mary Peltola, a Democrat from Alaska, said on a call with reporters. The Interior Department approved the project with three drill pads after saying last month it was concerned about the greenhouse gas impacts of Willow. "This was the right decision for Alaska and our nation," ConocoPhillips Chief Executive Ryan Lance said in a statement.

ConocoPhillips had sought to build up to five drill sites, dozens of miles of roads, seven bridges and pipelines. The Interior Department approved the project with three drill pads after saying last month that it was concerned about the greenhouse gas impacts of Willow. Its Bureau of Land Management last month recommended a "preferred alternative" that includes three drill sites and less surface infrastructure than originally proposed. The decision comes after the Biden administration on Sunday announced new protections for Alaskan land and water. Environmental groups criticized the Biden administration, saying it was trying to have it "both way" on climate change.

☆ Blast at Afghanistan journalist event kills at least one, injures eight
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KABUL, March 11 (Reuters) - A blast hit a cultural centre during an event for journalists in northern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing at least one person and wounding eight, according to authorities and journalists, a few days after the province's governor died in an explosion claimed by Islamic State. Takor added that five journalists and three children were among the injured and a security guard was killed. Sajad Mosawi, a journalist in Balkh who was injured in the blast, said it had torn through the centre during an event to celebrate journalists. Taliban authorities were already investigating the explosion that killed provincial governor Mawlawi Mohammad Dawood Muzamil and two others at his office on Thursday. Reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar; Writing by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by William Mallard and Mark PotterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/5] An employee works at the Chisinau-1 gas distribution plant of Moldovatransgaz energy company in Chisinau, Moldova March 4, 2023. REUTERS/Vladislav CuliomzaCHISINAU, March 10 (Reuters) - A coup attempt, bomb hoaxes, internet hacks, fake conscription call-ups, mass protests: Moldova says it's had them all in the past year. Moldova hosts the breakaway statelet of Transnistria - a sliver of land running along its eastern border with Ukraine that's controlled by pro-Russian separatists and garrisoned by Russian troops. FAKE CONSCRIPTION NOTICESMounting tensions between Moscow and the West over Ukraine have raised the temperature in Moldova. RUSSIAN TROOPS IN TRANSNISTRIAAn estimated 1,500 Russian troops are stationed in Transnistria, most of them recruited locally from Transnistrians with Russian passports.

LONDON, March 10 (Reuters) - Former England soccer captain Gary Lineker will step back from his role at the BBC following his criticism of the country's migration policy that has sparked a furious row between the government and the corporation's highest paid presenter. Lineker recently likened the government's language on asylum seekers to that used by Germany in the 1930s. Lineker has hosted Match of the Day for more than 20 years and the charismatic 62-year-old has never been afraid to voice his opinions about political issues. The BBC said it considered Lineker's recent social media activity to be a breach of its guidelines. Reporting by James Davey; writing by Kate Holton; editing by Muvija MOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Manchin accuses the Biden administration of appeasing 'radical activists' on climate and pledges to block Interior Department nominee
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin says he will block one of President Biden's nominees and potentially others. Manchin says he'll judge nominees on whether they're "political partisans first or Americans first." He's taking issue with the administration's framing of a law he supported as an effort to address climate change. Manchin, of West Virginia, wrote in an op-ed in the Houston Chronicle, noting that energy leaders are gathered in the city for an annual conference. Biden has touted the bill's $370 billion devoted to tackling climate change as the most significant investment the US has made to fight climate change.

The row overshadowed a migration deal struck between British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron, with the BBC accused of bowing to political pressure. "Gary Lineker off air is an assault on free speech in the face of political pressure," the opposition Labour party said, calling for the BBC to re-think its decision. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said: "Individual cases are a matter for the BBC." MOTD commentator Steve Wilson later tweeted that the show's commentators had also pulled out from Saturday's broadcast, leaving BBC management reliant on World Feed commentary. But the BBC said it considered his recent social media activity to be a breach of its guidelines.

Life has become solitary confinement.” Some women went into hiding, fearing retribution after the Taliban seized power. When the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, women were among the most profoundly affected. A Wrenching Change Afifa, 47, wishes more Afghan men would fight for women’s rights KABUL, Afghanistan — Walk around the capital, Kabul, and it often feels as if women have been airbrushed out of the city. When the Taliban seized power, girls’ schools remained open in a kind of limbo — neither officially sanctioned nor forbidden — for months. Zubaida, 20, teaches high school girls in secret “Regimes come and go all the time in Afghanistan.

☆ Nigerian soldiers patrol ahead of election, land borders shut
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Camillus Eboh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"Internal movements have been restricted to the polling units. There will also be no movement of persons across national borders," the ministry of interior said in a statement. The candidate for Enugu East district and the driver of a campaign minibus belonging to another party were killed in coordinated attacks in Enugu State in the southeast. "Materials already delivered for the senatorial election will remain in the custody of the central bank in the state until the new date for the election," Yakubu told a news conference. Flanked by the head of the police, Yakubu said INEC was on guard against possible attacks on its electronic system.

☆ South Korea to scrap COVID test on arrival rule for travellers from China
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SEOUL, Feb 22 (Reuters) - South Korea will not require travellers from China to test for COVID-19 upon arrivals from next month although they will still need to take pre-departure tests, a South Korean official said on Wednesday, its latest easing of rules to stop the virus. South Korea imposed several restrictions on passengers from China after it lifted its stringent zero-COVID policy late last year, but it has been easing them, citing an improved COVID situation in its neighbour. Effective March 1, South Korea will also allow flights from China to land in airports other than its main Incheon International Airport, which has been the sole gateway for flights from China since early January. Mandatory PCR tests before departure for passengers from China will remain in place until March 10, Kim said, to monitor and evaluate the impact of the rule relaxation. South Korea earlier resumed issuing short-term visas for travellers from China, followed by Beijing's lifting of similar visa curbs that were imposed in a response for Seoul's border restrictions.

☆ South Korea to lift post-arrival COVID test requirement for travellers from China
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SEOUL, Feb 22 (Reuters) - South Korea will not require travellers from China to test for COVID-19 after arrival starting next month, although they will still need to take pre-departure tests, a senior South Korean official said on Wednesday, in the country's latest relaxing of rules that were put in place after China's reopening. South Korea had imposed a number of border measures on passengers from China after Beijing's decision to lift stringent zero-COVID policies, but has been easing some of them citing an improved COVID situation in its neighbour. Mandatory PCR tests before departure for passengers from China will remain in place until March 10, Kim said, to monitor and evaluate the impact of the relaxation of other COVID rules. South Korea earlier resumed issuing short-term visas for travellers from China, followed by Beijing's lifting of similar visa curbs that were imposed in a retaliatory move against Seoul's border restrictions. Reporting by Hyonhee Shin and Soo-hyang Choi; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Stephen CoatesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ South Korea's parliament votes to impeach minister over Halloween crush
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Hyonhee Shin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SEOUL, Feb 8 (Reuters) - South Korean lawmakers voted on Wednesday to impeach the interior minister over his responses to a deadly Halloween crush, setting the stage for him to become the first cabinet member ousted by the legislature. The Democrats and other opposition parties had pushed for expulsion of the interior minister, Lee Sang-min, urging him to take responsibility for botched responses to the crush. A presidential official said there was no evidence that the minister had severely violated the constitution or any law. In 2017, President Park Geun-hye became South Korea's first elected leader to be expelled from office when the Constitutional Court upheld her impeachment. The court dismissed an impeachment motion in 2004 for President Roh Moo-hyun.

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