World Echo

Extreme food shortages in parts of the Gaza Strip have already exceeded famine levels, and mass death is now imminent without an immediate ceasefire and surge of food to areas cut off by fighting, the global hunger monitor said on Monday. The Integrated Food-Security Phase Classification (IPC), whose assessments are relied on by U.N. agencies, said 70% of people in parts of northern Gaza were suffering the most severe level of food shortage, more than triple the 20% threshold to be considered famine. The IPC said it did not have enough data on death rates, but estimated residents would be dying at famine scale imminently, defined as two people out of every 10,000 dying daily from starvation or from malnutrition and disease. Gaza's health ministry has said 27 children and three adults have died so far from malnutrition. "The actions needed to prevent famine require an immediate political decision for a ceasefire together with a significant and immediate increase in humanitarian...

The Kremlin said on Monday that President Vladimir Putin's re-election showed the Russian people were consolidated around him and that Moscow was not interested in Washington's criticism as the United States was de-facto at war with Russia in Ukraine. Putin won 87%, or 76 million votes, by far the biggest landslide in post-Soviet Russian history, according to official results after nearly all the votes had been counted. Turnout was more than 77%, also the biggest in Russia's post-Soviet history. "This is the most eloquent confirmation of the level of support from the population of the country for its president, and its consolidation around him," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. The White House said the Russian elections were "obviously not free nor fair" as Putin had imprisoned his opponents and prevented others from running against him. "We strongly disagree with this assessment from the United States," Peskov said. "Such a...

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Monday that a direct conflict between Russia and the US-led NATO military alliance would mean the planet was one step away from World War Three but said hardly anyone wanted such a scenario. The Ukraine war has triggered the deepest crisis in Moscow's relations with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Putin has often warned of the risks of nuclear war but says he has never felt the need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron last month said he could not rule out the deployment of ground troops in Ukraine in the future, with many Western countries distancing themselves from that while others, especially in eastern Europe, expressed support. Asked by Reuters about the Macron remarks and the risks and possibility of a conflict between Russia and NATO, Putin quipped: "everything is possible in the modern world." "It is clear to everyone, that this will be one step away from a full-...

A volcano in Iceland that erupted on Saturday for the fourth time since December was still spewing smoke and bright orange lava into the air early on Monday although infrastructure and a nearby fishing town were safe for now, authorities said. The eruption was the seventh on the Reykjanes peninsula near Iceland's capital Reykjavik since 2021 when geological systems that had lain dormant for around 800 years again became active. Man-made barriers have been successful in steering the lava away from infrastructure including the Svartsengi geothermal power plant and Grindavik, a fishing town of some 4,000 residents. Footage from public broadcaster RUV showed lava flowing a few hundred metres from the town which was evacuated during an eruption in November and again during another one in February. "The defences at Grindavik proved their value ... they have guided the lava flow in the intended direction," local utility HS Orka said, adding that infrastructure running to the Sva...

Afghanistan's Taliban said on Monday that Pakistan carried out two air strikes in Afghan territory, killing five women and three children, with a spokesman condemning the strikes as a violation of sovereignty. The strikes came as the neighbours have traded blame over responsibility for recent militant attacks in Pakistan, which says they were launched from Afghan soil, although Afghanistan's ruling Taliban deny this. "The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan does not allow anyone to compromise security by using Afghan territory," Zabiullah Mujahid, the spokesman of the Taliban administration, said in a statement. The strikes killed five women and three children in the eastern border provinces of Khost and Paktika, he added. “Last night at around 3 am, Pakistani planes bombed the houses of civilians,” said the IEA spokesperson. He added that the bombings resulted in the deaths of six civilians, including three women and three children in Paktika, with an additional two women...

At least 38 workers were injured when a blast occurred in a factory in northern Haryana state in India, according to police. The explosion happened in the Dharuhera area of the Rewari district late Saturday. Read also: Blast at Indian firecracker factory kills 11, dozens injured – media Police wrote on X that the employees were injured when a “dust collector” exploded at a company and the injured are being treated at different hospitals. The blast occurred around 5.50 p.m. local time at the factory of a spare parts manufacturing facility, the Press Trust of India reported, adding that there were no casualties reported. from Latest World News, International News | Breaking World News https://ift.tt/RDdEPXL

Russia started its final day of presidential voting on Sunday with Moscow accusing Ukraine of using air attacks to try to sabotage the election that is expected to keep President Vladimir Putin in power for another six years. More than half of Russian voters have already gone to the polls in the first two days of the three-day-election, according to officials. The final day will test the strength of the country's opposition, which called for all its supporters to vote at the same time at noon, in an action dubbed "Noon Against Putin." Sporadic protests have already marked the election but the latest developments in the war with Ukraine have cast a greater shadow on the vote so far. On Friday, Putin accused Kyiv of trying to disrupt the election with its intensified drone and missile attacks inside Russia and on Moscow-held territory in Ukraine. He also vowed to punish Ukraine. Local Russian officials said early Sunday that Kyiv's forces continued their strikes on Russ...