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Afghanistan’s gold rush upends lives and landscapes
KABUL, Aug 9 — In Afghanistan’s northeastern Badakhshan province, dozens of excavators operate day and night to extract gold from the mountains where villagers and their livestock once roamed. Thousands of miners are deployed across the Shiwa area, about 50
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So hot: Hong Kong weather observatory posts record high temperature
HONG KONG, Aug 9 — Hong Kong’s weather observatory posted a record high temperature of 36.9 degrees Celsius today as Typhoon Dolphin swept warm air over the city, the meterological service said. The approaching storm has already triggered mass flight cancellations
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Houthis claim drone strike on Saudi oil refinery in latest Red Sea flare-up
SANAA, Aug 9 — Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said on Sunday they had struck an oil facility on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast after the Gulf kingdom said it had extinguished a fire at the site. The group’s military spokesman
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Indonesian firefighters take to the skies as Mount Bromo wildfire forces park closure, fifth in 2026
JAKARTA, Aug 9 — Indonesian authorities have closed access to a national park on Java island as firefighters battle a wildfire that has raged for nearly a week. The blaze has razed 176 hectares (435 acres) since breaking out on
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Grassroots activists wage war on US police tracking their cars, one disabled camera at a time
WASHINGTON, Aug 9 — A growing grassroots backlash against surveillance cameras that scan vehicle number plates is spreading across the United States, with privacy activists organising online campaigns and some even vandalising the equipment. The surveillance start-up Flock has installed
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Hamas says still ready to go ahead with Gaza plan
GAZA CITY, Aug 8 — Hamas said today it remained ready to proceed with a US-backed Gaza peace plan and urged pressure on Israel, which insists it did not agree to the latest part of the deal. Hamas informed US
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Nepal rescuers find bodies of five climbers killed last year
KATHMANDU, Aug 8 — Rescuers in Nepal have found the bodies of five mountaineers, including three foreigners, killed in an avalanche last year near the Chinese border, a local government official said today. “Five bodies, three foreigners and two Nepalis, who
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Fire crews tame Rotterdam waste plant blaze
THE HAGUE, Aug 8 — A fire broke out last night at a recycling plant near the port of Rotterdam, spewing thick smoke across the area before being brought under control in an all-night operation, authorities said. The blaze prompted
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India’s youth protests leave Modi government facing pressure over jobs, trust and dissent
NEW DELHI, Aug 8 — Two weeks after youth-led protests forced India’s education minister to resign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is grappling with the fallout from one of its toughest political challenges in years. Led by the online Cockroach Janta
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Trump moves to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook again over mortgage fraud allegations
WASHINGTON, Aug 8 — US President Donald Trump is moving forward with an attempt to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook over mortgage fraud allegations, according to a White House letter seen by AFP yesterday, after the Supreme Court batted
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