World

Juan De La Cruz works on a water pipe break at an intersection on February 19, 2021 in Galveston, Texas. – A fierce and deadly winter storm that wreaked havoc in the southern and central US and blanketed the East Coast in snow was forecast Friday to start tapering off.<br />After days of bone-chilling cold that left millions without power and caused water pipes to burst in oil-rich Texas, temperatures were forecast to be well above freezing on Friday in much of the Lone Star state and rise into the 50s Fahrenheit (10 to 15 Celsius) into the weekend. (Photo…

Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita talks to FRANCE 24 and RFI on Feb. 10, 2020 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. © France 24Mali’s interim government said Friday that it would pursue dialogue with jihadists and stage elections, amid fears that it is dawdling on previous promises. Presenting a plan for the government in the capital Bamako, six months after a military coup in the Sahel state, Interim Prime Minister Moctar Ouane said he would make “every effort” to organise free and fair elections by the end of his mandate. Young military officers ousted president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on August 18 after…

In this picture taken on February 11, 2021 a snowcapped Himalayan mountains peak is seen in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district. – Long before this month’s deadly flash flood in a remote Indian Himalayan valley, Kundan Singh Rana knew that all the construction work in the fragile region would one day mean disaster. (Photo by Sajjad HUSSAIN / AFP) / TO GO WITH: INDIA-CLIMATE-ENVIRONMENT-MOUNTAINS-FLOOD, FOCUS by Jalees ANDRABI Long before this month’s deadly flash flood in a remote Indian Himalayan valley, Kundan Singh Rana knew that all the construction work in the fragile region would one day mean disaster. “The rivers, mountains…

Makhtar Diop PHOTO: AFP The World Bank on Thursday announced it selected former Senegal finance minister Makhtar Diop to lead the agency responsible for private sector finance at a critical time for the global recovery. He would be the first African to lead the International Finance Corporation (IFC) which leverages financing to support private firms in developing nations. The announcement comes just days after the World Trade Organization selected Nigeria’s former finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as its new director-general, the first African and first woman to serve in that role. Noting his “deep development and finance experience,” World Bank President…

Vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines are seen on a countertop at the Chiba Rosai Hospital in Ichihara, Chiba perfecture on February 17, 2021, as the country launches its inoculation campaign against the virus. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP) Germany’s BioNTech said Thursday it still intends to provide Taiwan with coronavirus vaccine doses after the island’s health chief warned “political pressure” had scuppered a deal with the company. Taiwanese health minister Chen Shih-Chung said Wednesday that negotiations with the German firm to acquire five million Pfizer/BioNTech shots fell through in December “because someone doesn’t want Taiwan to be too…

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (Photo by – / KCNA VIA KNS / AFP) / South Korea OUT / The US Justice Department charged three North Korean military intelligence officials Wednesday in a campaign of cyberattacks to steal $1.3 billion in crypto and traditional currencies from banks and other targets. The first action against Pyongyang by President Joe Biden’s administration took aim at what the department called “a global campaign of criminality” being waged by North Korea. The department accused the three of a wide-ranging hacking and malware operation to obtain funds for their government while avoiding punishing UN…

NATO defence ministers looked to reinvigorate ties Wednesday as they held their first talks since US President Joe Biden took office after four years of tensions under Donald Trump. Key on the agenda at the two-day virtual conference is the future of NATO’s 9,600-strong support mission in Afghanistan after Trump sidelined allies and struck a deal with the Taliban to pull out troops. Biden’s administration is reviewing whether to stick to a looming May 1 deadline to withdraw or risk a bloody backlash from the insurgents by staying. New US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin is not set to make any…