Portugal hopes cooler temperatures will tame wildfires

Lisbon, Aug 22 (AFP/APP):Portugal, hit by a third heatwave after weeks of wildfires, said Monday that it hoped cooler temperatures and increased air humidity in the coming days would help tame the blazes. A current national alert would not be prolonged beyond midnight on Tuesday, […]

Kenya presidential polls’ results challenged in Supreme Court

NAIROBI, Kenya – August 22 (ONLINE) Presidential candidate Raila Odinga has formally filed a petition challenging the election results in Kenya’s Supreme Court on Monday, according to one of Odinga’s lawyers, Daniel Maanzo. The petition was filed online Monday morning with a physical copy expected […]

20 killed, dozens injured as gunman storms Mogadishu hotel

MOGADISHU, Somalia – August 21 (ONLINE) Somali forces have ended the siege at an upscale hotel in the country’s capital Mogadishu, police told CNN, following an attack from unidentified gunmen that left at least 20 dead. Somali security forces had been trying to clear the […]

Death toll from NW China flood rises to 26

XINING, Aug. 21 (Xinhua/APP) –:The death toll from a mountain torrent triggered by heavy rains in northwest China’s Qinghai Province has risen to 26 as of 4 p.m. Sunday, with another five people still missing, according to local authorities. A total of 6,245 residents of […]

Biden to headline anti-extremism conference

Washington, Aug 19 (AFP/APP): President Joe Biden will host a conference on combating racist, anti-democratic and other extremist threats in September, less than two months before tense midterm elections, the White House said Friday. The “United We Stand” summit on September 15 will address “the […]

Canada nominates O’Bonsawin as first Indigenous Supreme Court judge

Montreal, Aug 19 (AFP/APP): Canada on Friday nominated Michelle O’Bonsawin as the first Indigenous person to serve on its Supreme Court, a historic first for a country seeking to make amends for abuses against native peoples. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said O’Bonsawin, a member of […]

Danger part of job in Mexico’s coal mining heartland

Agujita, Mexico, Aug 19 (AFP/APP): Water is the worst enemy of Mexican miner David Huerta, who once survived an accident similar to the one that has trapped 10 workers in a flooded tunnel for more than two weeks. On the day of his own brush […]

Algeria fires mostly contained but more residents forced to evacuate

Algiers, Aug 19 (AFP/APP): Wildfires which killed at least 38 people across northern Algeria have been largely contained, firefighters said Friday, but new blazes forced further evacuations and the closure of some roads near the Tunisian border. Fierce fires have become an annual fixture in […]

Australia looks to foreign workers to help ease labor shortage

SYDNEY, Aug. 17 (Xinhua/APP):Australia’s peak union body, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), has joined calls to increase the nation’s cap on overseas workers to help address widespread labor shortages, a problem drawing attention across industry and government. The report came following the Australian […]