Miles
Lithuania begins building barrier on border with Belarus to block migrants
Lithuania began building a barrier along its border with Belarus on Friday after accusing Belarusian authorities of flying in migrants from abroad to send illegally into the European Union. The first stretch of barrier will run 500 metres (1,640 feet) in length, measure 1.8 metres (six feet) in height and consist of concertina and razor wire, the army defence chief’s spokeswoman Ruta Montvile told Reuters. Belarus in May decided to allow migrants to enter EU member Lithuania in retaliation for sanctions imposed by the bloc after Minsk forced a Ryanair flight to land on its soil and arrested a dissident blogger who was on board. “If someone thinks we will close our border with Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Ukraine and will become a holding site for those running from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq...
UK police officer pleads guilty to woman’s murder
A police officer on Friday admitted murdering Sarah Everard whose killing sparked anger and soul-searching across Britain about what police, government and society can do to stop male violence against women. Wayne Couzens, 48, a London officer who guarded diplomatic premises, had previously admitted rape and kidnap. Everard, 33, was abducted as she walked home from a friend’s house in south London on March 3. Her body was later found in woodland around 50 miles away in southeast England. A post-mortem last month concluded she had died as a result of compression of the neck. Recommended Stories You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money...
South Africa’s Jacob Zuma mounts last-ditch legal fight against jail term
South Africa’s ex-president Jacob Zuma on Friday mounted a last-ditch legal bid to avoid prison after the country’s top court ordered him jailed for failing to appear before graft investigators. In a landmark ruling, the Constitutional Court on Tuesday handed Zuma a 15-month term for contempt after he snubbed a probe into the theft of state assets under his tenure. If the 79-year-old fails to turn himself in by Sunday, police will be given a further three days to arrest him and take him to jail to start the sentence. As the deadline loomed, Zuma pleaded on Friday that the order be “reconsidered and rescinded.” “It will not be futile,” Zuma said in papers filed to the court, “to make one last attempt to invite the Constitutional Court to relook its decision and to merely reassess whether it...
South Africa gems that sparked rush are quartz not diamonds
The South African government says that stones found in a village last month are not diamonds but quartz. A cattle herder first uncovered the stones in KwaZulu-Natal province. It prompted thousands to rush to KwaHlathi village, more than 300km (186 miles) south-east of Johannesburg. But after conducting tests, officials have said the stones are quartz crystals, which are far less valuable. After feldspar, quartz is the most abundant mineral in the Earth’s crust. “The tests conducted conclusively revealed that the stones discovered in the area are not diamonds,” a local government statement reportedly said. The rush occurred in one of South Africa’s poorest regions. The country – which already suffers from high levels of economic inequality – has seen a surge in joblessness amid the ongoing ...
Iran says nuclear talks policy won’t change after presidential vote
Iran’s policy in talks with world powers to revive the 2015 nuclear accord will remain unchanged after a June 18 presidential election because the issue is decided by its highest leadership, a government spokesman said on Tuesday. A host of barriers to the revival of the nuclear deal remain firmly in place ahead of talks due to resume this week, suggesting a return to compliance with the accord is still a way off, diplomats, Iranian officials and analysts said. “We have shown that we adhere to our international obligations under all circumstances, and this was a national decision,” cabinet spokesman Ali Rabiei told a weekly news conference. Rabiei said Iran’s nuclear policy, set by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is not linked to internal developments and that the new government wou...
Senegalese navy seizes 8 tonnes of cannabis resin from boat
The Senegalese navy on Sunday intercepted a boat smuggling over 8 tonnes of cannabis resin through the waters off the West African nation’s coast, the armed forces ministry said in a statement. The vessel, which was flying a Togolese flag, was stopped 140 kilometres (87 miles) from the coastal capital of Dakar with seven crew members on board. After escorting the boat to a naval base in Dakar, the authorities discovered the 8.37 tonnes of hashish split between 279 bags. The boat was also carrying sacks of plaster, the ministry said on Monday. It did not provide a street value for the seized drugs. Earlier this year, authorities in Niger seized 17 tonnes of cannabis resin worth around 31 million euros ($37 million), the largest bust in the country’s history. According to Interpol, drug king...
Myanmar anti-coup fighters retreat from town as U.S. makes appeal
Fighters of a local militia opposed to Myanmar’s junta have pulled back from the northwestern town of Mindat after days of assault by combat troops backed by artillery, a member of the group said on Sunday. The United States and Britain called on the army to avoid civilian casualties and a shadow National Unity Government formed by loyalists of Myanmar’s detained elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, appealed for international help. A spokesman for the junta did not answer calls for comment. The fighting in the hill town of Mindat, about 100 km (60 miles) from the Indian border in Chin state, is some of the heaviest since the coup plunged Myanmar into chaos with daily protests, strikes and the emergence of new local militias. “To avoid confrontation, we retreated out of concern over damage to ...
Myanmar army battles anti-coup rebels as armed resistance grows
Myanmar’s army battled local militia fighters in the northwestern town of Mindat on Saturday, residents said, to try to quell a rebellion that has sprung up to oppose the junta which seized power in the Southeast Asian country in February. The fighting is some of the heaviest since the coup and underlines the growing chaos as the junta struggles to impose order in the face of daily protests, strikes and sabotage attacks after it overthrew elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. “We are running for our lives,” one resident told Reuters from Mindat, a hill town just over 100 km (60 miles) from the border with India. “There are around 20,000 people trapped in town, most of them are kids, old people,” the resident added. “My friend’s three nieces were hit by shrapnel. They are not even teens.” The ju...
Edinson Cavani offered £50K pay rise to stay at Manchester United
Manchester United plan to keep Edinson Cavani at Old Trafford for the 2021-22 season by offering the striker a wage increase of £50,000, according to reports. The Uruguayan has cemented himself as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first-choice striker during the second half of the 2020-21 campaign, playing a pivotal goalscoring role both domestically and in Europe – most notably in the Europa League semi-final tie with AS Roma, against whom he scored four goals over two legs. United do not have the option to extend the 12-month deal Cavani signed last summer, and it has been generally assumed the 34-year-old would return to South America this summer. However, Cavani can choose to add another year to his current deal, and according to The Sun, United plan to give the 34-year-old extra incentive to rem...
Chadian rebels, government forces clash in area where slain leader was shot
Government troops and rebels clashed on Thursday in a region of western Chad where president Idriss Deby Itno was killed earlier this month. The fight in the desert region of Kanem, near Chad’s border with Niger, pits Libya-based rebels against forces loyal to a new military junta led by Deby’s son. Fiercely criticised for authoritarianism and inequality, Deby was seen as a trusty ally by many Western countries including the former colonial power France. He was seen as a stabilising force in the fight against jihadism in the wider Sahel region on the southern fringes of the Sahara desert. “Fighting is continuing in Kanem — we are going to have continue to fight, otherwise they will destabilise us,” junta spokesman General Azem Bermandoa Agouna told AFP. The Military Transition Council (CMT...
SpaceX launches its third astronaut crew, the first on a used Crew Dragon capsule
SpaceX launched its third crew of astronauts to the International Space Station early Friday morning, reusing a Crew Dragon space capsule to fly humans for the first time. The mission, dubbed Crew-2, is the latest flight under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, and will add four more astronauts to the orbital space station. A used Falcon 9 rocket, last flown for SpaceX’s Crew-1 mission last year, lifted off at 5:49AM ET from Cape Canaveral, Florida carrying Endeavor, the same Crew Dragon capsule that first launched SpaceX’s debut astronaut mission nearly one year ago. For this flight, the Endeavor capsule carried four astronauts from three different countries — SpaceX’s most diverse NASA-managed crew yet. “Off the Earth, for the Earth, Endeavor is ready to go,” NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough,...
Iran says 60% enrichment meant to show nuclear prowess, is reversible
Iran began enriching uranium to 60% purity in order to show its technical capacity after a sabotage attack at a nuclear plant, and the move is quickly reversible if the United States lifts sanctions, the Iranian government said on Tuesday. Talks in Vienna aimed at bringing the United States and Iran back to full compliance with a 2015 nuclear deal have been further complicated by an explosion at Iran’s main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz. Iran has responded by saying it is enriching uranium to 60%fissile purity, a big step towards weapons-grade from the 20% ithad previously achieved. The 2015 pact between Iran and world powers had capped the level of enrichment purity at 3.67% – suitable for generating civilian nuclear energy. Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon. “The start of 60% ...
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