Rural Daily

8 killed as super typhoon strikes Philippines

19Nov

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8 killed as super typhoon strikes Philippines

A resident checks his damaged home that was blown off by strong winds caused by Typhoon Man-yi in the municipality of Baler, Aurora province, northeastern Philippines, Nov. 18, 2024. MANILA — At least eight people were killed as Super Typhoon Man-Yi hit the Philippine archipelago over the weekend, unleashing fierce winds and strong rains that triggered landslides and storm surges, authorities said. Man-Yi, the sixth storm to hit the country in a span of one month, made landfall in the eastern province of Catanduanes on Saturday, but weakened as it moved across the main Luzon island and was later downgraded to a typhoon as it exited the landmass Monday. A family of seven, including an eight-year-old girl, died after a landslide in a northern provincial town in Nueva Vizca...

19Nov

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World

Myanmar junta airstrike kills children playing by a church, group says

By RFA Burmese 2024.11.18 Read RFA coverage of this topic in Burmese. Myanmar’s air force bombed a church where displaced people were sheltering near the border with China killing nine of them including children, days after the junta chief reiterated a call for peace talks, an insurgent group official told Radio Free Asia. Fighting in Myanmar is expected to intensify in coming weeks as forces of the junta that seized power in 2021 take advantage of the dry season to try to recapture territory lost to guerrilla groups over the past year, and despite efforts by neighboring China to promote dialogue. In northern Myanmar’s Kachin state, fighters from the Kachin Independence Army, or KIA, have made significant gains this year, capturing numerous military positions as well as jade and rare e...

19Nov

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World

Leader of rebel army detained in China’s Yunnan province

By RFA Burmese2024.11.18 The leader of an ethnic rebel army was being held under house arrest in China’s Yunnan province in the latest move by Beijing to pressure it to withdraw from Lashio, northern Shan state’s biggest city, a source close to the army told Radio Free Asia. The insurgent Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, or MNDAA, captured the junta’s military headquarters in Lashio in July. In August, it took full control of the town, which serves as an important commercial gateway near the Chinese border. The MNDAA’s leader, Peng Daxun, traveled to Yunnan province in late October for medical treatment and was later detained by Chinese authorities, according to the source, who requested anonymity for security reasons. myanmar-mndaa-leader-china-yunnan-11182024-03 Armed pol...

18Nov

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World

Myanmar’s sweeping internet blackouts drive rebels, medics, scammers to satellite service

FILE - Starlink satellite antennas are seen at the Internationale Funkausstellung, the international trade show for consumer electronics and home appliances, Aug. 31, 2023, in Berlin, Germany. Across Myanmar, rebel commanders and aid workers are turning to Starlink satellites. Bangkok, Thailand — Across war-torn Myanmar, rebel commanders, aid workers and cyber-scammers alike are turning to billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites to stay in touch with each other and with the outside world amid some of the most severe internet restrictions. Starlink is not licensed in Myanmar, and the military junta running much of the country has banned its use, yet orbiting satellites and smugglers on the ground still manage to meet some of the grow...

18Nov

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World

UK to put Sudan resolution to vote by UN Security Council

A Sudanese army soldier controls a machine gun outside a hospital in Omdurman on November 2, 2024. The UN Security Council on November 18, 2024, will take up a draft resolution calling for an immediate end to hostilities in Sudan. LONDON — Britain will seek backing from other United Nations Security Council members on Monday for its demand that Sudan\'s warring parties stop hostilities and allow deliveries of aid, the British foreign ministry said. With London holding the rotating presidency of the council, British foreign minister David Lammy is due to chair a vote on a UK/Sierra Leone-proposed draft resolution, which also calls for the protection of civilians. Lammy will say "the UK will never let Sudan be forgotten" and announce a doubling of Britain\'s aid to $285 mil...

18Nov

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World

Gabon votes yes on new constitution a year after the military seized power

An election official burns ballots after the counting has finished at a voting station in Libreville on November 16, 2024. Gabon on Saturday held a referendum on a new constitution after a coup ended 55 years of rule by the Bongo dynasty in the oil-rich nation. LIBREVILLE, Gabon — Voters in Gabon overwhelmingly approved a new constitution, authorities said Sunday, more than one year after mutinous soldiers overthrew the country\'s longtime president and seized power in the oil-rich Central African nation. Over 91% of voters approved the new constitution in a referendum held on Saturday, Gabon\'s Interior Minister Hermann Immongault said in a statement read on state television. Turnout was an estimated 53.5%, he added. The final results...

18Nov

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World

New global carbon trade rules adopted at UN climate summit expand inclusion, draw ire

Activists participate in a protest at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 16, 2024. Baku, Azerbaiijan — A new set of global carbon credit trade market standards has been agreed to during the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, or COP29, following years of deadlock. Some analysts say that under the guidelines, a bigger number of entities could join a more regulated voluntary carbon credit trading system to reduce emissions. Known as Article 6.4, delegates agreed on the rules for establishing a system that allows trade in carbon credit between individual countries and companies, under the supervision of a centralized U.N. body. These include how to validate, verify and issue credits. Another ...

18Nov

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World

Protesters in separatist Georgian region occupy government buildings, call for leader's ouster

Protesters rally outside the parliament building in Sukhumi, the capital of Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia, Nov. 15, 2024. (DNA News Abkhazia/Handout via Reuters) Tbilisi, Georgia — Opposition protesters in Georgia\'s breakaway province of Abkhazia on Sunday refused to cede control of key government buildings seized during rallies earlier in the week during which at least 14 people were injured in clashes with police. Demonstrators stormed the buildings Friday to protest new measures allowing Russians to buy property in the seaside region. Protesters on Sunday continued to demand the ouster of self-styled Abkhazian President Aslan Bzhania, and one prominent politician vowed that the opposition would form a rival government ...

18Nov

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World

Reports: Biden OKs Ukraine’s use of US-supplied long-range missiles to strike Russia

FILE - U.S. Army soldiers conduct live fire testing of an ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, Dec. 14, 2021. (John Hamilton/U.S. Army via AP) In a major policy shift, U.S. President Joe Biden has for the first time authorized Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied long-range missiles to strike inside Russia, according to U.S. news accounts. The reported decision comes two months before Biden leaves office and ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump. The incoming president has voiced skepticism of continued U.S. support for the government in Kyiv and claimed, without offering any details, that he will end Russia’s 33-month war on Ukraine before he takes office. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has for months pushed th...

18Nov

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World

Putin critics lead march in Berlin calling for democracy in Russia and end to war in Ukraine

Yulia Navalnaya, center, with Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza, center left, and Ilya Yashin, center right, lead a demonstration under the slogan "Stop Putin! Stop the War! Freedom for Political Prisoners!" in Berlin, Germany, Nov. 17, 2024. Berlin — Prominent Russian opposition figures led a march of at least 1,000 people in central Berlin Sunday, criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin and his war in Ukraine and calling for democracy in Russia. Behind a banner that read "No Putin. No War," the protesters were led by Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of top Putin critic Alexei Navalny, as well as Ilya Yashin and Vladimir Kara-Murza, who were freed from Russian detention in a high-profile prisoner exc...