The UN Security Council has unanimously demanded a 30-day ceasefire in Syria, as new air strikes on the rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta took the civilian death toll from seven days of bombing to more than 500. Members of the UN Security Council voted unanimously on a resolution demanding a 30-day ceasefire in Syria With support from Russia, the Security Council adopted a resolution on the ceasefire to allow for humanitarian aid deliveries and medical evacuations, but the measure did not specify when the truce would go into force beyond saying it should be “without delay.” After the council vote on Saturday, Syrian warplanes backed by Russian air power launched new raids on a town in Eastern Ghouta, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. At least 127 children are among the 519 dead in the bombing campaign that the regime launched last Sunday on the rebel enclave, just outside Damascus, the British-based monitor said. At least 41 civilians were killed in Saturday’s strikes, including eight children. Russia has denied taking part in the assault. Quickly following up on the vote, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will speak by phone on Sunday with Russian President Vladimir Putin to push for the truce to take hold “in the coming days,” the Elysee palace said in a statement. To this end France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will also go to Moscow on Tuesday. – Dragged-out negotiations – The UN vote was initially expected to be held Thursday,… [Read full story]
Syrian regime jets pounded Eastern Ghouta on Thursday, sending the death toll for the four-day assault on the rebel enclave on the outskirts of Damascus soaring past 220. A picture taken on February 7, 2018 shows smoke plumes rising following a reported regime air strike in the rebel-held town of Erbin, in the besieged Eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of the capital Damascus Violence also flared in eastern Syria, where the US-led coalition said it killed at least 100 pro-regime fighters to fend off an attack on its Kurdish allies. The clash marked a fresh escalation between Washington, which…... [read more]
Damage caused by Friday\'s catastrophic earthquake in Japan expanded Saturday, with the combined number of people who have died or are unaccounted for is feared to top 1,700, while an explosion occurred at the nuclear reactor building of Tokyo Electric Power Co.\'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant and injured four workers. REUTERS/Yomiuri Self-Defense Force officers search for missing people by a boat after a tsunami and earthquake in Souma City in Fukushima Prefecture March 12, 2011. The four are conscious and their injuries are not life-threatening, according to the electricity firm, while the Fire and Disaster Management Agency dispatched the…... [read more]
QAMISHLI, Syria: The death toll of the powerful explosion that rocked Syria's northeastern city of Qamishli on Wednesday (Jul 27) rose to 52, China's Xinhua news agency reported citing a pro-government Syrian TV. A total of 170 people were also wounded when a booby-trapped truck, driven by a suicide bomber with the so-called Islamic State (IS) terror group, went off in Qamishli, according to Sama TV. It was the largest and deadliest attack to hit the city since the beginning of Syria's conflict in March 2011. Syrian state media earlier gave a toll of 44 dead and 140 injured in…... [read more]
More than 800 people died this Tet holiday, mostly due to road accidents and fights, hospitals across Vietnam reported. The Health Ministry said that in the eight day period spanning the four days before and after the Tet, 804 people died, with 40,000 people hospitalised. The injury toll peaked on the second and third days of the Lunar New Year, with hospitals reporting nearly 7,000 injuries from traffic accidents, out of 35,000 traffic injuries for the whole period. Meanwhile, over 5,000 people were taken to hospitals with injuries from fighting, 58 cases relating to injuries from fireworks, and 1,600 cases…... [read more]
BAGHDAD, January 30, 2014 (AFP) - Bombings near a market and a restaurant in Baghdad killed six people on Thursday as the death toll for January topped 900, with no end in sight to Iraq's worst violence since 2008. The protracted surge in bloodshed, coupled with a deadly standoff between security forces and anti-government fighters in Anbar province, has fuelled fears the country is slipping back into all-out conflict with elections looming in just three months. Washington plans to sell Iraq 24 Apache attack helicopters to help the country fight militants, but foreign leaders have also urged the Shiite-led government…... [read more]
