Abyzemen

A sacked security aide to French President Emmanuel Macron is under fresh scrutiny over the nature of his recent work as a consultant. The presidency confirmed on Thursday it had written to Alexandre Benalla in the last few days demanding more details of business trips to several African countries and telling him not to claim any links to the government. Alexandre Benalla, 27, was at the center of a scandal that marked a turning point for Macron's presidency and popularity from which the president has found it hard to recover as other problems have piled up, including a series of anti-government marches and riots by "yellow vest" protesters. In July, a video emerged of Benalla beating a May Day protester in Paris. Macron fired him, but was accused by political rivals of acting too slowly and being out of touch. Patrick Strzoda, Macron's cabinet chief, asked the former bodyguard to provide "all relevant information" about his consultancy work, accord...

Indonesia on Thursday raised the alert level for the erupting Anak Krakatau volcano to the second-highest, and ordered all flights to steer clear, days after it triggered a tsunami that killed more than 400 people. A crater collapse on the volcanic island at high tide on Saturday sent waves up to 5 meters (16 feet) high smashing into the coast on the Sunda Strait, between the islands of Java and Sumatra. Authorities have warned that the crater of Anak Krakatau, or child of Krakatau, remains fragile, raising fears of another collapse and tsunami, and have urged residents to stay away from the coast. The volcano has been rumbling on and off since June but has been particularly active since Sunday, spewing lava and rocks, and sending huge clouds of ash up to 3,000 meters into heavily overcast skies. The national geological agency, in raising the alert level to the second-highest, set a 5-km exclusion zone around the island. “Since December 23, activity has not stopped ... We ...

Germany's military is planning to recruit EU citizens to fill expert posts seven years after scrapped conscription. The German military, or Bundeswehr, has stepped up its recruitment efforts as part of a broader reset since 2014.  Last year, Germany said it would increase the size of its armed forces to 198,000 active soldiers by 2024 from 179,000. Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen wants to recruit Poles, Italians and Romanians, according to a ministry document. The document also said that some 255,000 Poles, 185,000 Italians and 155,000 Romanians, aged between 18 and 40, live in Germany - about half all foreign EU nationals. If 10 percent of them could be interested in the Bundeswehr, that could generate 50,000 new applicants. It did not say if they would serve alongside Germans in regular regiments, or would form theirs on units akin to the French Foreign Legion. Pressure on Berlin mounted again in July when U.S. President Donald Trump told a NATO summit that W...

From Madrid, starting in the middle of 2018, we were regularly traveling to southern Spain, along the Mediterranean and near the Strait of Gibraltar, to cover the story of how Spain gained the dubious distinction of becoming Europe's ground zero for economically strapped African migrants in 2018. Our CGTN crew was at the locations where the migrants arrived or were being held temporarily or were being forwarded by NGOs. The coverage took us to Cadiz, Tarifa, Algeciras, Valencia, and also to the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla on Morocco's north coast. Spain became ground zero for migrants not only because the shortest sea route is just nine miles across the Strait of Gibraltar from northern Morocco to southern Spain. Italy had been ground zero in 2017, with 118,000 migrant arrivals by sea from Africa, the UN's migration agency reports, compared to just 20,000 for Spain last year. But in 2018, that changed dramatically under Italy's new far-right Interior Mi...

Nobody had a clue that a 20-meter wave was approaching the coastal town of Banten, Indonesia on Saturday night, December 22. Before the strong waves, one of the country's largest volcanoes, Anak Krakatau (the child of Krakatau), released thick columns of ash and spewed bright red lava into the air. But this became a common occurrence since July this year, according to locals. It didn't trigger any warning or anything suspicious.  Indonesia is a country located in the red zone, which means it is prone to natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. The country desperately needs high-quality equipment that can help to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.  When the waves started to approach at 9:00 p.m. local time on that clear Saturday night, people still went about their activities as usual. Moments later at 9:27 p.m., residents recall how big waves began to crash against the town of Banten within minutes. H...

An eight-year-old Guatemalan migrant boy died shortly after midnight on Tuesday after being detained by U.S. border agents, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said, making him the second migrant child this month to die in U.S. detention. The boy and his father were in CBP custody on Monday when a Border Patrol agent noticed the child showing signs of illness, CBP said in a statement. The father and son were taken to the Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center in Alamogordo, New Mexico, where the boy was diagnosed with a common cold and fever, and eventually released by hospital staff. But later that evening, the boy began vomiting and was transferred back to the hospital. He died there shortly after midnight, CBP said, adding that the official cause of death is not known. The father and son were not identified, and the agency said it would release more details "as available and appropriate." Guatemalan officials have been notified of the death, CBP said. ...

Israeli warplanes attacked unspecified targets near Damascus, the Syrian capital, with missiles on Tuesday and injured three Syrian soldiers, Syrian state media quoted a military source as saying. "Our air defenses confronted hostile missiles launched by Israeli warplanes from above the Lebanese territories and downed most of them before reaching their targets," the military source said. An arms depot was hit and three soldiers were injured due to the attack, the source added. The nature of the Israeli missiles targets was unclear. Syrian state media reported earlier in the evening downing several "hostile targets" near Damascus. An Israeli military spokeswoman declined to comment on the reports. "An IDF aerial defense system activated in response to an anti-aircraft missile launched from Syria," the official Israeli army Twitter account later said. Lebanese state-run National News Agency said Israeli warplanes performed mock raids above s...

The establishment of the maritime and aerial communication mechanism between China and Japan's defense departments can positively help both sides increase mutual trust, manage differences and maintain peace and stability in the region, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said at a routine news briefing. Spokesperson Hua Chunying confirmed on Wednesday that the first annual meeting of China and Japan's maritime and aerial communication mechanism between two sides' defense departments was recently held in Beijing She recalled that two sides signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on setting up a maritime and aerial communication mechanism during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Japan in May and officially launch the mechanism in June. Noting that the defense relationship is important to Sino-Japanese ties, Hua hoped the two sides' defensive departments can strengthen exchanges as this year marks the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Sino-Japa...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will easily win a snap election set for April 9, according to an opinion poll on Tuesday, the first to be published since the ballot was announced.  Netanyahu announced the early election on Monday, appealing directly to voters for a fresh political mandate that could help him weather possible charges in corruption investigations. An election had not been due until November 2019.  The survey, published in Israel's Maariv newspaper, showed Netanyahu's Likud party winning 30 of parliament's 120 seats, the same number it took in the last election in 2015, and a governing majority for a Likud-led right-wing coalition bloc.  The closest challenger, the poll said, was a hypothetical party led by former Israeli army chief Benny Gantz, who has been widely touted as a potential center-left candidate.  Gantz has not publicly declared a political affiliation or any intention to run. The center-left Yesh Atid party led by Yair...

Five more people have been arrested in connection with the murder of two Scandinavian tourists in Morocco's High Atlas mountains last week, the country's counter-terror chief said on Monday. This brings to 18 the total number of suspects detained over the double murder, said Abdelhak Khiam, head of Morocco's central office for judicial investigation. The latest arrests were made in several cities in the kingdom. The four main suspects in what the authorities describe as a terrorist act were arrested between Monday and Thursday last week in the tourist hub city of Marrakesh. Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, from Denmark, and Maren Ueland, 28, from Norway were found dead early on December 17 near the village of Imlil on route to Toubkal, North Africa's highest peak and a popular hiking and trekking destination. "The two victims were stabbed, had their throats slit and were then beheaded," Khiam told AFP news agency. The four main suspects, aged be...

A suicide and gun attack on a Kabul government compound killed at least 43 people, an official said on Tuesday, in the latest bloody violence to strike the Afghan capital. Another 10 were wounded in Monday's raid on a site where the Ministry of Public Works and other offices are located, spokesman Waheed Majroh said. Gunmen stormed the compound mid-afternoon after detonating a car bomb at the entrance, sending terrifying government workers running for their lives.  Some jumped from the windows. Hundreds more were trapped inside buildings as security forces swarmed the area, engaging in a fierce gun battle with the attackers.  At least four militants, including the suicide bomber, were killed and more than 350 people freed, officials said.  Monday's attack was one of the deadliest assaults on the Afghan capital this year, since a suicide bomber blew himself up in the middle of a religious gathering last month, killing at least 55 people. 

The head of the UN team, which is monitoring and helping implement a ground-breaking ceasefire across Yemen's crucial port city of Hudaydah, had his first face-to-face meeting with authorities there on Monday. Retired Dutch General Patrick Cammaert and his advance team also undertook "a familiarization visit" to the port itself, where about 80 percent of life-saving humanitarian aid, food, and commercial goods arrive before being distributed, said the UN spokesperson's office. The UN office also said that the team noted current boundaries and related access roads, particularly eastern and southern access roads into and out of the city. Houthi opposition fighters have control of the center of Hudaydah and the port, and an offensive launched by the internationally-recognized government and their allies last June, to take the port, threatened the lives of around 300,000 children trapped in the city, said the UN.  Historic consultations, which were convened in ...

The foreign ministers of China and Pakistan agreed that political reconciliation was the only viable solution to the Afghanistan issue.  Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and visiting Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood reached the consensus during bilateral talks in Beijing on Tuesday. The two had an in-depth discussion on the recent changes concerning the situation in Afghanistan. Both sides believe that the Afghanistan issue could not be solved through military solutions, and political reconciliation is the only viable way. The two sides welcomed all efforts made by relevant parties and expressed willingness to keep close communication and strategic coordination over the issue.  Both sides also pledged to further strengthen the China-Pakistan all-weather strategic cooperative partnership so as to elevate the level of all-round cooperation.  Earlier this month, China, Afghanistan, and Pakistan agreed to work more closely to support Af...

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani presented a state budget of 4,700 trillion rials to parliament on Tuesday, saying U.S. sanctions would affect Iranians' lives and economic growth but not bring the government to its knees. In May, U.S. President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of a multilateral nuclear deal with Iran and reimposed sanctions on Iran, including on its vital oil industry. "America's goal is to bring Iran's Islamic system to its knees... and it will fail in this, but sanctions will no doubt affect people's lives, and the country's development and economic growth," Rouhani told parliament in a speech carried live on state television. He gave the value of the draft budget at about 4,700 trillion rials for the next Iranian year which starts on March 21, 2019. Under the unofficial exchange rate, the budget is equal to about 47 billion U.S. dollars. Rouhani said state employees would get a 20 percent pay raise next year and the budget in...

The death toll from a volcano-triggered tsunami that struck beaches around the Sunda Strait in Indonesia on Saturday night has risen to 429, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesperson for Indonesia's national disaster agency, told media on Tuesday. Authorities said that the tsunami, which took place at 9:27 p.m. local time (1427 GMT), may have been triggered by an undersea landslide resulting from volcanic activity on Anak Krakatau and was exacerbated by an abnormally high tide because of the current full moon. The Sunda Strait, between the islands of Java and Sumatra, connects the Java Sea to the Indian Ocean. Indonesia's disaster agency initially said there was no tsunami threat at all, but was later forced to issue a correction and an apology as it pointed to a lack of early warning systems for the high death toll. "The lack of an early tsunami warning system resulted in heavy casualties because people did not have the time to evacuate," said the agency spokes...

A cluster of 99 ancient tombs, more than 2,000 years old, has been found in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, according to local authorities. An archaeological team from the regional institute of cultural relics and archaeology discovered a complex of tombs in Jungar Banner, including 99 tombs and a sacrificial pit dating between the late Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.) and the early Western Han Dynasty (202 B.C.-8 A.D.). Most of the tomb owners were found without coffins in tombs that vary in size. The biggest one measured about five meters in length, three meters in width and three meters in height, and the smallest one was barely larger than a human body. Animal offerings, including skeletons of goats, cattle, and dogs, were found in nearly one-third of the tombs. Animal sacrifice was a familiar burial ritual among residents living along the Great Wall during the Warring States Period, according to archaeologists. The Great Wall wound through part o...