News in Brief

Date: 07 November 2023 - 21:53

News ID: ۱۲۱۲۰۲

LAGOS (Reuters) -- Canada is investigating an explosion at its embassy in Nigeria that killed two people, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said, as Ottawa joined Washington and London in issuing a warning against nonessential travel to the West African nation. Nigerian President Bola Tinubu’s spokesperson said that there were deaths and injuries in a fire on Monday at the High Commission of Canada but did not give any figures. Canada’s High Commission in Nigeria, without commenting on the explosion, said on social media that it had “temporarily suspended operations until further notice.” The embassy issued a travel advisory, warning against non-essential travel to Nigeria, including capital Abuja, “due to the unpredictable security situation throughout the country and the significant risk of terrorism, crime, inter-communal clashes, armed attacks and kidnappings.” The United States and Britain had said on Friday there was an “elevated threat to major hotels in Nigeria’s larger cities” and warned against travelling to Africa’s most populous nation.

***

LIMA (Reuters) -- Peru’s foreign minister Ana Cecilia Gervasi resigned after less than a year, amid questions over how she handled President Dina Boluarte’s visit last week to the United States. Gervasi made no reference to Boluarte’s U.S. trip in her resignation letter. However, local news outlets reported that she was under pressure after failing to arrange a formal meeting between Boluarte and President Joe Biden. Her resignation was confirmed by Prime Minister Alberto Otarola at a press conference, though he made no explicit reference to the U.S. trip. He said Gervasi’s replacement could be announced on Tuesday. Peru’s ambassador to the U.S., Gustavo Meza Cuadra, also quit on Monday. In his resignation letter, he cited Boluarte’s trip, stating he had been “responsible for preparing” it. Instead of a bilateral meeting, Boluarte and Biden had a private conversation on the fringes of the Alliance for Economic Prosperity in the Americas summit in Washington, the foreign ministry has said.

***

KYIV (Guardian) -- A close adviser to the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s army has been killed after a grenade amongst his birthday presents exploded, according to officials. “Under tragic circumstances, my assistant and close friend, Major Gennadiy Chastiakov, was killed … on his birthday,” Gen Valery Zaluzhny posted on Telegram, saying that an “unknown explosive device detonated in one of his gifts”. Chastiakov’s death was initially reported as a suspected assassination using a booby-trapped gift until further details emerged. Ukraine’s interior minister, Igor Klymenko, released a statement saying Chastiakov had been showing his son a box with grenades inside that he had received as a gift. “At first, the son took the munition in his hands and began to turn the ring. Then the serviceman took the grenade away from the child and pulled the ring, causing a tragic explosion,” Klymenko said. Ukrainian police said the 13-year-old son was also seriously injured.

***

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Three people were arrested late on Monday in a protest against negotiations between Spain’s acting government and Catalan separatist parties over a possible amnesty for thousands involved in Catalonia’s independence movement. Government authorities said that the arrests took place during a gathering by over 3,000 people in front of the national headquarters of Spain’s Socialist Party in Madrid. Two men were arrested for violent behavior against police, and one woman for disobedience, the representative of Spain’s national government in the Madrid region said. The leader of the far-right Vox party, which holds the third-most seats in the national Parliament, was at the rally. Several protestors waved Spanish flags and pushed back against police in riot gear. There were other similar protests in other Spanish cities, but no additional arrests were reported.

***

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Kenyan government announced a surprise public holiday on Nov. 13 for a nationwide tree planting day, part of its ambitious plan to plant 15 billion trees by 2032 Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki made the announcement via a gazette notice posted on the social network X, formerly known as Twitter, following a cabinet meeting held last week and chaired by President William Ruto. Kenya’s current forest cover currently stands at about 7% but the government has set aside more than $80 million this financial year, as it bids to increase tree cover to more than 10%. Climate change is worsening droughts in the Horn of Africa, including Kenya, where rains have failed for five seasons in a row. The Kenyan environment, climate change and forestry ministry said it would provide tree seedlings for what it said was “an unprecedented show of commitment by the Government towards our climate action obligations”.

***

SAO PAULO (Reuters) -- Half a million residents of Sao Paulo remained without electricity three days after a storm knocked down power cables, leaving much of Brazil’s largest city in the dark. The storm snapped branches and knocked down hundreds of trees that fell on overhead power lines in many streets of the city, initially cutting off 2.1 million customers in Metropolitan Sao Paulo, energy distribution company ENEL said. ENEL said it had restored its service to 76% of its customers but 500,000 were still without electricity. The company, which is the second largest energy distributor in Brazil and owned by Italy’s energy group ENEL, said the gale-force winds that hit Sao Paulo on Friday were the strongest in recent years and caused severe damage to the power grid due to falling trees and branches.