Author: France 24

Ukraine said Tuesday it had identified almost 37,000 people, including military personnel, who are unaccounted for since Russia’s invasion began in February 2022, warning the actual figure may be “much higher”.  Issued on: 16/04/2024 – 17:53 1 min Calculating the exact number of missing is difficult, as Russian forces still occupy around a fifth of the country and neither side regularly releases data on military casualties.  “Almost 37,000 people are considered missing — children, civilians and military. These figures may be much higher,” Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said.He said Ukraine and the Red Cross had identified about 1,700…

The sacred flame for the Paris 2024 Olympics was lit Tuesday in ancient Olympia, birthplace of the ancient Games, setting off an epic three-month torch relay to the July 26 opening ceremony.  Issued on: 16/04/2024 – 12:21 3 min Cloudy skies prevented the traditional lighting, when an actress dressed as an ancient Greek priestess uses the sun to ignite a silver torch.Instead, a backup flame was used that had been lit on the same spot Monday, during the final rehearsal.The torch relay will culminate with the lighting of the Olympic flame in the French capital at the Games’ opening ceremony.…

Issued on: 16/04/2024 – 14:32Modified: 16/04/2024 – 14:42 02:02 The occupied West Bank has seen a surge in violence since Hamas’s October 7th attacks on Israel, with the situation escalating further last week as Israeli settlers attacked and killed several Palestinians over the death of a 14-year-old Israeli. While Israeli authorities have urged people not to resort to vigilante attacks, many accused Israeli forces of ignoring settler attacks or even taking part in them. Read more on related topics: Source link

A fire ripped through Copenhagen’s Old Stock Exchange, one of the Danish capital’s best-known buildings, on Tuesday, engulfing its spire which collapsed in a scene reminiscent of the 2019 blaze at the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.  Issued on: 16/04/2024 – 13:58 3 min The historic building, whose spire was shaped as the tails of four dragons intertwined, had been under renovation and clad in scaffolding when the fire broke out.Parts of the roof had collapsed and the fire spread to several floors of the building, Copenhagen fire department chief Jakob Vedsted Andersen told reporters.”This is our Notre-Dame! This is a…

China’s National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday that the country’s economy grew to the tune of 5.3 percent in the first three months of the year, ahead of economists’ expectations. Manufacturing and infrastructure are fuelling that growth, while housing and domestic consumption are still a source of concern. Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is on a three-day visit to China, Berlin’s top trading partner. Source link

British-American author Salman Rushdie recounts the 2022 stabbing at a public event that left him blind in one eye in “Knife”, his first memoir since the near-fatal attack, which hits English language bookstores on Tuesday. The French edition, “Le Couteau”, will be released Thursday.  The Indian-born author, a naturalised US citizen based in New York, has faced death threats since his 1988 novel “The Satanic Verses” was declared blasphemous by Iran’s supreme leader, making Salman Rushdie a global symbol of free speech.But after years remaining unscathed, a knife-wielding assailant jumped on stage at an arts gathering in rural New York…

Israel and Iran have been on a collision course throughout Israel’s six-month war against Hamas militants in Gaza. While Iran has considered Israel a sworn enemy since the 1979 revolution, Teheran had refrained from attacking Israel head-on until now with both countries opting instead to confront each other through third parties. Source link

Australian police on Tuesday said a brutal live-streamed knife attack at a church service in Sydney was a religiously motivated “terrorist” act, as they urged calm from the angered local community. Issued on: 16/04/2024 – 03:23 3 min Two people were stabbed when a 16-year-old suspect rushed the dais at an Assyrian church in western Sydney late Monday, slashing wildly at the bishop who was giving a sermon.The teen was immediately subdued by outraged congregants and taken into police custody.The alleged perpetrator was “known to police” but was not on any terror watchlists, senior officers said.”After consideration of all the…

US House Speaker Mike Johnson said Monday that his Republican-controlled chamber would vote this week on separate aid bills for Ukraine and Israel, after stalling for months over pressure from his party’s right-wing. Follow our liveblog for the latest updates on the situation in the Middle East. Source link

The sacred flame for the Paris 2024 Olympics is to be lit Tuesday in ancient Olympia, birthplace of the ancient Games, for an epic torch relay stretching from the Acropolis to the South Pacific. Issued on: 16/04/2024 – 05:01 2 min Hundreds of dignitaries and spectators are expected to attend the ritual in the small Peloponnese town in southwestern Greece where the Olympics were born in 776 BCE, and where the ceremony is held every two years for the summer and winter Olympics.For the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic imposed toned-down events for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and 2022…