MINSK(Xinhua) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has called for withdrawing U.S. nuclear weapons from Eurasia to reduce global tensions. Taking the floor at the Second Minsk International Conference on Eurasian Security, Lukashenko outlined several measures to reduce global tensions. “In order to truly defuse the situation and create conditions for dialogue, it is necessary to withdraw American nuclear weapons from the territory of Eurasian countries,” the BelTA news agency reported, citing the Belarusian leader. Lukashenko also said it is necessary to end illegal sanctions imposed without the approval of the United Nations Security Council and create an effective mechanism of international legal guarantees against such pressures.

 

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JAKARTA (Reuters) - Eight people died in a large fire at a cooking oil factory near the Indonesian capital Jakarta, local fire authorities said on Friday. Around 20 firefighting trucks are at the site and have contained the blaze in most areas of the factory, authorities said. Footage from Metro TV showed flames and billowing black smoke coming out of a building in the center of an industrial complex in Bekasi, a city on Jakarta’s eastern edge. The report said roads had been closed around the factory.

 

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LHOKSEUMAWE (Reuters) - Human traffickers left dozens of Rohingya refugees, including children, stranded on a shoreline in westernmost Indonesia, while six dead bodies were found nearby, local officials said. Members of the persecuted minority risk their lives each year on long and dangerous sea journeys, often crowding into rickety boats in the hopes of reaching Malaysia or Indonesia. The refugees were abandoned before dawn on Thursday around 100 meters off a beach in Aceh Province, Saiful Anwar, a village official in East Aceh, told AFP. The group included 46 women, 37 men and seven children, he said, while locals found two bodies on the shore and four floating in the sea.

 

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LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria faces one of its worst hunger crises with more than 30 million people expected to be food insecure next year, a one third jump from this year due to economic hardship, a joint report by the government and United Nations said on Friday. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, is grappling with a cost of living crisis that led to deadly protests in August. Economic hardship has worsened after President Bola Tinubu started austerity reforms, including devaluing the naira and ending a decades-old petrol subsidy, fuelling inflation. The analysis, conducted twice a year in 26 states and the federal capital, projected that 33.1 million people would be food insecure by August next year. That compares with 24.8 million by end of this year.

 

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BELGRADE (Reuters) - Classes in many schools in Serbia were cancelled or cut short on Friday as teachers took to the streets to demand higher wages. Serbia’s teachers complain of being underpaid compared to other public sector workers and of worsening working conditions, including violence in schools. Scores of teachers rallied in front of the parliament in Belgrade in a union-led protest. “The state which has such an attitude to the education is an unsuccessful state which ... cannot progress in any way,” said Ana Dimitrijevic, a union activist. In a statement, the education ministry said that around a half of schools were operating normally on Friday and the remainder have either shortened or cancelled classes. The unions demand that starting wage across the entire education sector must match the national average monthly salary of around 97,000 dinars (about $900). The Serbian government has offered an 11% wage increase for teachers, starting in January, and a one-time payment of 15,000 dinars, which the unions said was not enough and have rejected.