(Refiles to correct typo in quote)
DUBAI, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian, in remarks broadcast on state TV on Saturday, blamed the United States for the failure of an interim deal with Iran, but said there should be a new attempt at concluding it.
"We were having negotiations, the cowards (Americans) messed everything up...I still think we should go and conclude it," Pezeshkian said.
(Reporting by Dubai newsroom)
Houthi media reported that Saudi strikes killed 11 people in Yemeni capital Sanaa on Saturday, shortly after the Saudi-led coalition fighting them said it had intercepted two missiles targeting Saudi cities.
The Houthis’ Al-Masirah outlet reported a series of “Saudi enemy air strikes” targeting Sanaa, including one on a house that killed at least four people and wounded several others.
A separate strike at a residence building for cement factory workers in the Sanaa governorate killed six women...
Ras Al Khaimah authorities said on Saturday that all beaches in the emirate would be closed until further notice, a day after an offshore oil leak prompted beach closures in neighbouring Umm Al Quwain and Sharjah.
The Public Services Department announced the closures in a statement shared by Ras Al Khaimah Police General Headquarters. No reason was given.
The United Arab Emirates said on Friday that efforts were underway to contain oil leaking from a tanker offshore, with its Ministry of Climate Change and Environment conducting an environmental assessment.
All beaches and coastal areas around the city of Umm Al Quwain were temporarily closed until technical teams completed their assessments and determined the necessary safety and marine protection measures, the ministry said.
The ministry also urged fishermen and other sea users to avoid affected areas and follow official instructions.
Authorities in Sharjah temporarily closed Al Hamriyah Beach, on the UAE’s northern coast near the border with Umm Al Quwain, as a precaution, the Sharjah Government Media Bureau said.
Residents reported unusual odours in parts of Sharjah, Ajman and Umm Al Quwain, but the UAE’s environment ministry said they posed no health risks. The smell remained pungent across Umm Al Quwain on Friday.
UAE authorities have not named the tanker involved in the incident or said what caused the spill.
Since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran, attacks on commercial vessels in Gulf shipping lanes have heightened concerns about maritime security and the conflict’s environmental fallout.
A powerful storm swept towards China on Saturday after battering Taiwan and Japan’s southernmost islands, knocking out power to thousands of households and forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights.
Typhoon Champi was downgraded to a tropical storm as its wind speed dropped to 102 kilometres (63 miles) per hour, according to the latest update from the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre.
Taiwanese authorities evacuated more than 5,000 people from their homes ahead of the storm, which toppled trees, brought down power lines and triggered brief flooding.
One person was killed and more than 600 injured since Thursday, when the government began issuing warnings about the typhoon.
Power has been restored to more than 90 per cent of over 340,000 affected households, after the storm unleashed fierce winds and heavy rain over swathes of Taiwan.
Most shops across northern and central Taiwan were closed for a second day, as the typhoon moved away from the island’s northeast and headed north towards China.
“Although the typhoon is gradually departing, we would like to remind the public that coastal areas will still experience swells and strong wind gusts,” the Central Weather Administration’s Wuu Woan-hwa said at a briefing.
Champi is the latest in a busy Pacific storm season turbocharged by the El Nino weather phenomenon that has caused unprecedented warming in the equatorial Pacific.
The storm was briefly a super typhoon as it crossed the ocean in recent days, with reported maximum sustained wind speeds of nearly 300kph.
Its intensity weakened overnight as it made a loop off Taiwan’s northeastern county of Yilan, where it has dumped at least 65 cm (26 inches) of rain since Thursday, the forecaster said.
Martha Wang said she was afraid of being “blown away” by the wind as she rode her scooter across a bridge in New Taipei City on Saturday morning.
“I was really scared because I was on the bridge. My scooter was shaking,” the 55-year-old secretary told AFP.
William Yu, however, was unfazed by the storm, saying it “wasn’t any stronger than other typhoons.”
“I went to the convenience store to eat yesterday (evening), and everything was fine,” the 55-year-old librarian said.
Heading for China
Authorities in China warned of “strong winds and heavy rain” as Champi approaches the country’s east coast, state broadcaster CCTV said.
Some train services have been suspended and tens of thousands evacuated from their homes in Shanghai.
“Some areas of Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, and other regions are expected to experience heavy to torrential rainfall,” it said.
Hundreds of flights have been cancelled in the region, including in Japan’s southernmost prefecture of Okinawa, where the government said two people were injured in the typhoon.
Tourists on Ishigaki island waited for flights to resume so they could return home.
“We hope it’s our last day,” Eva Malek, 49, from Poland told AFP.
“It’s not easy to have information. We were not aware of the situation and didn’t expect something like this to happen. When the typhoon arrived, we didn’t think it would be that strong.”
The United Nations said Wednesday that the El Nino system gripping the planet is heading off the charts and that countries should take urgent action to prepare for the worst.
El Nino is expected to peak in December, but the human impact is set to last into 2027 and beyond.
The warming phase of a natural climate cycle, El Nino temporarily raises sea temperatures in the tropical Pacific, triggering changes in weather that can increase the risk of drought and flooding and exacerbate human-caused global warming.
Indonesia cut exports of natural gas to Singapore on Saturday to prioritise domestic demand, an official said, with the two countries at loggerheads over regional air pollution emanating from wildfires on the vast archipelago.
The head of SKK Migas, a state agency supervising the oil and gas sector, said Indonesia would cut a total of 31 million standard cubic feet per day from its supply to Singapore.
Fifteen million standard cubic feet per day was being cut from Natuna in Indonesia’s Riau...
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth alleges Confucius Institutes operating in disguise on US university campuses
The US defense department has designated Chinese-funded cultural centers on university campuses known as Confucius Institutes as a threat to US national security, defense secretary Pete Hegseth said on Friday.
Washington has long accused Confucius Institutes of being Chinese propaganda tools and has taken steps to crack down on them.
Continue reading...
By Bo Erickson and Kanishka Singh
FORT MYERS, Florida, Oct 23 (Reuters) - US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on those seeking change in Cuba to partner with the CIA as President Donald Trump said Washington would "take care of Cuba" after dealing with Iran and send in the top US diplomat to finish the deal.
DETAILS AND QUOTES:
• "We'll take care of Cuba on our way back from Iran ...then we're going to send Marco Rubio in to finish up the deal," Trump told a rally in Florida.
Israel’s military launched an operation in the occupied West Bank on Friday it said would last several days and include searches and building demolitions, after gunmen killed two soldiers days ahead of Israeli elections featuring security as a key focus.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is locked in a tight race to keep his job in Tuesday’s vote, having campaigned on promises to keep Israelis safe, and he and his right-wing allies visited the scene of the attack to pledge an even harder line on...
Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton warned in a memo to Secretary of State Rubio that Iran has "substantially increased efforts to target U.S. personnel," and the plots have "reached advanced stages."
Case filed in 2022 by patient unable to afford medicine leads to cap on drug prices for millions who face ruin if diagnosed
The Indian government has moved to reduce the price of cancer drugs after a retired bank clerk took her case to the supreme court.
From next month, 137 cancer drugs in India will be cheaper as the government tries to tackle the tragedy of poorer patients either forgoing treatment, selling land or falling into debt to meet the high cost of some medicines, which are making large profits for hospitals and pharmacists.
Continue reading...
Cross-border strikes by Yemeni Houthi fighters on Saudi energy and transport infrastructure have shattered a period of relative calm, pushing oil prices higher and prompting allied security deployments.
