World Echo

The United Nations on Friday said ​it is doubling the amount of money it says it needs ‌to help Lebanon meet surging humanitarian needs, as the war enters its fourth month. Lebanon was drawn into the wider regional war in early March when the Tehran-backed Hezbollah ​militia fired rockets at Israel in solidarity with Iran, which was ​under US-Israeli attack, prompting a major Israeli air and ground ⁠campaign. "In the past three months, communities across Lebanon have faced an appalling ​situation due to the escalation of hostilities," UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator ​Imran Riza said. "The toll on civilians is alarming and worsening by the day." The UN said it will launch a fresh aid appeal with the Lebanese government to seek an additional $331.5 ​million to reach 1.4 million people, bringing the total appeal to $639.9 million. It ​had received $185.9 million as of May 31. Read: Israeli army warns residents of 3 Lebanese towns to evacuate desp...

The Delhi government will launch a crackdown on properties violating fire safety ​norms after a fire at a hotel in ‌the capital city killed 21 people on Wednesday, including 12 foreign nationals, the chief minister's office said. Here are ​some details: The blaze - the deadliest the city ​has seen since 2022 - broke out at ⁠a hotel in Delhi's Malviya Nagar, which media ​said was popular among patients being treated at ​a hospital nearby and their relatives. A criminal case has been lodged and the owner of the building has ​been arrested, police said. A city-wide crackdown will be ​undertaken against all guest houses and other establishments operating in ‌violation ⁠of fire safety norms and building by-laws, the chief minister's office said in a post on X late on Wednesday. Non-compliant premises will be ​sealed and those ​responsible prosecuted, ⁠it said. The foreign nationals killed in the incident included people from ​Bangladesh, N...

The United Nations weather agency forecast on Tuesday a moderate or possibly a strong El Nino that could drive up global temperatures and increase the risk of extreme weather over the coming months. El Nino is a periodic warming of sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean, ​which typically lasts between nine and 12 months, according ​to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). The WMO said warm ocean waters were driving El Nino’s development and predicted above-average temperatures in most parts of the world from June to August. The WMO said it is likely El Nino will continue until November. It also said it remained uncertain how strong El Nino will be as models differ on its severity, but officials warned of the need to be ready. “We need to prepare for a potentially strong El Nino event - which will exacerbate drought and heavy rainfall and increase the risk of heatwaves both on land and in the ocean," said WMO Secretary-General C...

Under the shade of recently planted poplars in northeastern Afghanistan, village leader Ghulam Ali Poya is proud to see residents rediscover the value of trees after years of wartime deforestation. "There were forests of pistachio trees," he told AFP, gesturing to the bare mountains that surround Char Bagh's mud homes. "During the conflicts and the civil war, they were destroyed; no one could stop the logging." From the 1979 Soviet invasion until the fall of the first Taliban government in the early 2000s, "around 50 percent of Afghanistan's forest cover was lost", said Mohammad Nasir Shalizi, a researcher at North Carolina State University. In eastern Afghanistan, timber smuggling to Pakistan drove massive logging, while in the more arid central and northern "pistachio belt", residents used wood for heating and cooking. But in the last two decades, deforestation has slowed "substantially", Shalizi said. Forest cover ...

South Korea and the United States held inaugural talks this week to discuss nuclear cooperation under a joint fact sheet on security agreed by US President Donald Trump and South Korean leader Lee Jae Myung last year, Seoul said on Wednesday. The talks, held on Tuesday and Wednesday, were due to cover Seoul's push for expanded uranium enrichment and spent-fuel reprocessing rights to support its plan to build nuclear-powered submarines, South Korea's Foreign Ministry said previously. South Korea's delegation was led by First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo, while the US side was headed by Allison Hooker, the State Department's under secretary for political affairs, the ministry said. Read: South Korea says it cannot stop US forces from redeploying weapons to Middle East The meeting agenda included both "the issue of expanding enrichment and reprocessi...

At least 21 people were killed in a fire at a hotel in Delhi on Wednesday, police said, in one of the worst such incidents in the national capital in recent years. The hotel was located in Malviya Nagar in south Delhi, they said, a predominantly residential area popular with students and young professionals. The fire reportedly broke out at around 8:50am local time (0320GMT). A Delhi Police statement confirmed the death toll, adding that over 40 people were rescued and shifted to nearby hospitals for medical treatment. Television visuals showed a building on fire, smoke billowing out and charred exteriors as residents watched from a narrow lane nearby. They also showed two people jumping from a higher floor of the building. "There was reportedly a restaurant operating on the ground floor of the building; it is most likely that the fire was connected to that restaurant," local administration official Jitendra Kumar told reporters. Read: Fire breaks out on Tezgam ...