Indonesian police say Mehrtens has been flown out of mountainous Nduga and appears in good health. New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens has been freed by rebels in Indonesia’s troubled eastern region of Papua 19 months after he was kidnapped. “Today, we have picked up pilot Phillip, who is in good health, and we flew him … Read more
Floods brought on by Typhoon Yagi have killed at least 226 people in Myanmar, state media have reported. The death toll could rise with several dozen people missing, state media said on Tuesday. Yogi, which swept across the region over the past week or so, battered the central provinces of the conflict-torn Southeast Asian country. … Read more
Firefighters have been battling wildfires spreading through a national park in Brazil and choking the capital, Brasilia, in smoke. More than 490 firefighters on Monday were trying to extinguish blazes that have already burned through 2,000 hectares (4,942 acres) of the Brasilia National Park conservation area. It’s just the latest of many wildfires in the … Read more
Leaflets dropped on a Lebanon border village urging residents to leave were unsanctioned, the Israeli military has said. The leaflets, which were released on Sunday, were the first evacuation order that residents of south Lebanon have received amid 11 months of cross-border fire between Hezbollah and Israel, sparked by the war on Gaza. However, Israel’s … Read more
The Israeli military has said there is a “high probability” that three hostages found dead in a tunnel at the end of last year were mistakenly killed in a strike that also took the life of Hamas’s northern Gaza brigade chief, Ahmed al-Ghandour, in November. The families of Col Nik Beizer and Sgt Ron Sherman, … Read more
A pioneering duo of astronauts has made history by becoming the first private civilians to perform a spacewalk, hailed by NASA as “a giant leap forward” for the commercial space industry. The SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission, led by fintech billionaire Jared Isaacman, launched early Tuesday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, journeying deeper into … Read more
In response, many universities began the new academic year with a slate of new rules and guidelines that critics say dampen free speech. At New York University, for instance, a paragraph about the word “Zionism” was added to the school’s official “Guidance and Expectations on Student Conduct” on August 25. “Using code words, like ‘Zionist,’ … Read more
Severe flooding in northeastern Nigeria has killed at least 30 people and affected more than one million others, the authorities have said. The collapse of the Alau dam on the Ngadda river in Borno State on Tuesday caused some of the state’s worst flooding since the same dam collapsed 30 years ago, and prompted residents … Read more
Defence minister cancels awards of small number of officers over alleged war crimes committed on their watch. Australia has moved to strip senior military officers of their distinguished service medals over alleged war crimes committed on their watch in Afghanistan. The announcement on Thursday comes after the 2020 Brereton Report found credible evidence that Australian … Read more
Moscow’s troops have retaken some 10 settlements, claims major general; no comment from Ukraine. A senior military commander says Russian forces have launched a major counteroffensive in Kursk, claiming gains in some territory seized by Ukrainian forces last month. Major General Apti Alaudinov, speaking to Russia’s TASS news agency on Wednesday, said the campaign has … Read more