Day: November 25, 2023
The number of people killed by floods from heavy rains in Somalia has risen to nearly 100, state news agency SONNA said Saturday.
“Somalia’s flood death toll climbs to 96,” SONNA said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, adding the figure had been confirmed by Mahamuud Moallim, the head of the country’s disaster management agency.
Like the rest of east and Horn of Africa, Somalia has been battered by relentless heavy rains that began in October, caused by the El Nino and Indian Ocean Dipole weather phenomena.
Both are climate patterns that impact ocean surface temperatures and cause above-average rainfall.
The flooding has been described as the worst in decades and has displaced about 700,000 people, according to the United Nations.
The intense rains have unleashed widespread flooding across the country, triggering displacement and exacerbating an existing humanitarian crisis caused by years of insurgency.
In neighboring Kenya, the floods have killed 76 people so far, according to the Kenyan Red Cross, and also unleashed widespread displacement, destruction of roads and bridges and left many residents without shelter, drinking and food supplies, according to the charity Doctors Without Borders.
The number of people killed by floods from heavy rains in Somalia has risen to nearly 100, state news agency SONNA said Saturday.
“Somalia’s flood death toll climbs to 96,” SONNA said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, adding the figure had been confirmed by Mahamuud Moallim, the head of the country’s disaster management agency.
Like the rest of east and Horn of Africa, Somalia has been battered by relentless heavy rains that began in October, caused by the El Nino and Indian Ocean Dipole weather phenomena.
Both are climate patterns that impact ocean surface temperatures and cause above-average rainfall.
The flooding has been described as the worst in decades and has displaced about 700,000 people, according to the United Nations.
The intense rains have unleashed widespread flooding across the country, triggering displacement and exacerbating an existing humanitarian crisis caused by years of insurgency.
In neighboring Kenya, the floods have killed 76 people so far, according to the Kenyan Red Cross, and also unleashed widespread displacement, destruction of roads and bridges and left many residents without shelter, drinking and food supplies, according to the charity Doctors Without Borders.
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NPR News: 11-25-2023 8PM EST
Two of three journalists recently kidnapped in southern Mexico have been freed unharmed, the journalists’ international free-speech group Article 19 said in a statement on Saturday.
Silvia Arce and Alberto Sanchez, who lead the digital RedSiete platform, were released early in the morning, the organization said.
Both journalists were kidnapped on Wednesday by armed men who entered the outlet’s central Taxco offices, according to testimonies collected by Article 19.
Pedro Cardenas, a member of the press group, told Reuters the release was confirmed by people close to the journalists, but he declined to give more details.
Journalist Marco Toledo, director of the weekly El Espectador de Taxco, remains kidnapped along with his son, while his wife was released, according to the organization.
Cardenas said the woman had not suffered physical violence, citing people close to Toledo.
The attorney general’s office in the state of Guerrero on Thursday said it was investigating the disappearance of five people in the tourist town of Taxco, among them journalists Toledo, Arce and Sanchez.
Guerrero’s attorney general’s office did not immediately reply to a request for comment on recent developments.
Mexico is among the world’s deadliest countries for journalists, with five killed so far this year, according to Article 19. Last year marked the deadliest since the group began records in 2000, with 13 journalists murdered.
Japan and China are hoping to hold security talks “in the near future,” Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said Saturday after meeting with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi in South Korea.
The talks between Kamikawa and Wang marked the first time the two senior diplomats had met since Kamikawa became Japan’s foreign minister in September and followed the first face-to-face talks in a year by their countries’ leaders earlier this month.
“We confirmed that we are seeking further close communication on a variety of issues … and we are hoping to hold security talks in the near future,” Kamikawa told reporters.
An account of the meeting released by China’s Foreign Ministry said Wang had emphasized the need for both sides to make clear they “do not pose a threat to one another,” while respecting “each other’s legitimate concerns.”
Kamikawa said Japan was seeking a lifting of a Chinese ban on all Japanese seafood-related exports in the wake of the wastewater release from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.
The Chinese ministry said it opposes “Japan’s irresponsible practices” and that there was a need to establish a “long-term monitoring mechanism for all stakeholders.”
Japan and China will also seek high-level talks on the economy, Kamikawa said, adding that no date had been set.
China’s President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met on the sidelines of an international conference in the United States on Nov. 17, where they agreed to pursue mutually beneficial relations.
They appeared to emphasize shared economic interests amid a series of diplomatic disputes that have plagued relations between the two countries, including the release of wastewater from Fukushima into the Pacific and the detainment of a Japanese national in China.
Kamikawa said she communicated Japan’s stance on these issues, but also emphasized that Japan and China will be in close communication on the matters that divide them.
“We also discussed issues that the countries must work together on… and we were able to have a meaningful exchange of views on climate change, international insurance, development finance, as well as the North Korea situation,” she said without elaborating.
Kamikawa and Wang will attend trilateral talks with their South Korean counterpart Park Jin on Sunday.
Two of three journalists recently kidnapped in southern Mexico have been freed unharmed, the journalists’ international free-speech group Article 19 said in a statement on Saturday.
Silvia Arce and Alberto Sanchez, who lead the digital RedSiete platform, were released early in the morning, the organization said.
Both journalists were kidnapped on Wednesday by armed men who entered the outlet’s central Taxco offices, according to testimonies collected by Article 19.
Pedro Cardenas, a member of the press group, told Reuters the release was confirmed by people close to the journalists, but he declined to give more details.
Journalist Marco Toledo, director of the weekly El Espectador de Taxco, remains kidnapped along with his son, while his wife was released, according to the organization.
Cardenas said the woman had not suffered physical violence, citing people close to Toledo.
The attorney general’s office in the state of Guerrero on Thursday said it was investigating the disappearance of five people in the tourist town of Taxco, among them journalists Toledo, Arce and Sanchez.
Guerrero’s attorney general’s office did not immediately reply to a request for comment on recent developments.
Mexico is among the world’s deadliest countries for journalists, with five killed so far this year, according to Article 19. Last year marked the deadliest since the group began records in 2000, with 13 journalists murdered.
Japan and China are hoping to hold security talks “in the near future,” Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said Saturday after meeting with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi in South Korea.
The talks between Kamikawa and Wang marked the first time the two senior diplomats had met since Kamikawa became Japan’s foreign minister in September and followed the first face-to-face talks in a year by their countries’ leaders earlier this month.
“We confirmed that we are seeking further close communication on a variety of issues … and we are hoping to hold security talks in the near future,” Kamikawa told reporters.
An account of the meeting released by China’s Foreign Ministry said Wang had emphasized the need for both sides to make clear they “do not pose a threat to one another,” while respecting “each other’s legitimate concerns.”
Kamikawa said Japan was seeking a lifting of a Chinese ban on all Japanese seafood-related exports in the wake of the wastewater release from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.
The Chinese ministry said it opposes “Japan’s irresponsible practices” and that there was a need to establish a “long-term monitoring mechanism for all stakeholders.”
Japan and China will also seek high-level talks on the economy, Kamikawa said, adding that no date had been set.
China’s President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met on the sidelines of an international conference in the United States on Nov. 17, where they agreed to pursue mutually beneficial relations.
They appeared to emphasize shared economic interests amid a series of diplomatic disputes that have plagued relations between the two countries, including the release of wastewater from Fukushima into the Pacific and the detainment of a Japanese national in China.
Kamikawa said she communicated Japan’s stance on these issues, but also emphasized that Japan and China will be in close communication on the matters that divide them.
“We also discussed issues that the countries must work together on… and we were able to have a meaningful exchange of views on climate change, international insurance, development finance, as well as the North Korea situation,” she said without elaborating.
Kamikawa and Wang will attend trilateral talks with their South Korean counterpart Park Jin on Sunday.