Here is some international news in brief.
Posted at 7:17 a.m.
Updated at 2:02 p.m.
Australia is bracing for potentially devastating wildfires fueled by a heatwave. Peru declared a coastal tourist province in the north of the country in a state of “environmental emergency” on Wednesday evening after an oil spill.
Heatwave sets up ferocious wildfires in Australia
Communities and firefighters in Australia's second most populous state were bracing for potentially devastating wildfires on Thursday, as a heatwave fanned by erratic winds created the worst conditions for fires in several years.
With temperatures in Victoria reaching 37 degrees Celsius and wind changes expected throughout the day, fire chiefs have issued stark warnings to rural communities to delay travel or leave their homes and seek safety in shelters.
Several fires are currently out of control across the state and Victorian Deputy Premier Ben Carroll said the possibility of further fires in the coming days was likely.
“Dangerous fire conditions are developing today and will continue until Saturday,” he told a news conference in Melbourne. “New fires can start anywhere and become dangerous very quickly.”
The largest uncontained fire is currently in the Grampians National Park and has burned 55,000 hectares so far, but no houses have been reported lost.
However, Emergency Management Commissioner Rick Nugent said many residential properties on the edge of the fire could be at risk.
Associated Press
Environmental emergency in Peru after fuel leak
Peru declared a coastal tourist province in the north of the country in a state of “environmental emergency” on Wednesday evening, after an oil spill by the national company Petroperu last weekend.
The measure, in force for 90 days, should allow the authorities to “carry out restoration and sanitation work” in the area of Talara province contaminated by this oil slick, according to the Ministry of the Environment cited by state news agency Andina.
According to Petroperu, cleaning work on the half-dozen affected beaches in Lobitos district “is virtually complete.” Measures to mitigate the impact on wildlife and commerce in this area whose population lives from fishing and tourism still need to be put in place.
The oil slick was detected on Las Capullanas beach on Friday, as a loading of crude oil onto the Polyaigos vessel was about to begin, the company said in a statement on Saturday, without specifying the cause of the incident. This beach is located 10 kilometers from the Talara refinery, operated by Petroperu.
Peru's public prosecutor's office opened an investigation against the company on Sunday for alleged environmental pollution. “Birds and marine wildlife seriously affected by water pollution” were found, it said.
Agence France-Presse
Peacekeepers “concerned” by destruction carried out by Israel in Lebanon
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said Thursday it was “concerned” by “the continued destruction” carried out by the Israeli army in southern Lebanon, despite a truce that came into force almost a month.
“It is concerning that Israeli army forces continue to destroy residential areas, agricultural lands and road networks in southern Lebanon, in violation of Resolution 1701,” UNIFIL wrote in a statement.
The truce came into effect on November 27 after two months of open war between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah. Under the agreement, the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers must deploy in southern Lebanon and the Israeli army must withdraw within 60 days. But both camps accuse each other of repeated violations.
UNIFIL on Thursday again called for “the rapid withdrawal” of the Israeli army, as well as the “full implementation” of Resolution 1701.
The resolution, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, stipulates that only Lebanese troops and UNIFIL must carry weapons in the south of the country and demands that Israeli troops withdraw from Lebanese territory.
“Any action endangering the fragile ceasefire must stop,” UNIFIL said.
Agence France-Presse
S. Korean opposition files impeachment motion against interim president
The South Korean opposition announced Thursday that it had filed an impeachment motion against interim President Han Duck-soo, a new episode in the political crisis facing Asia's fourth-largest economy since the president's failed coup. now deposed Yoon Suk-yeol in early December.
“We tabled the motion just before the plenary session,” Democratic Party lawmaker Park Sung-joon told reporters at the National Assembly. “We will put it to a vote tomorrow,” he added.
The opposition criticizes Mr. Han for refusing to fill three vacant seats on the Constitutional Court, which must within six months validate or invalidate the dismissal of conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol, voted by the deputies on December 14, for his attempt failed to impose martial law and muzzle Parliament by sending the army there 11 days earlier.
The three new judges were in principle to be appointed by the president on Thursday from among the candidates chosen by the National Assembly, controlled by the opposition.
But Mr. Han, a 75-year-old career civil servant, maintains that his status as interim president does not give him the power to make major appointments, and demands that the choice of judges first be subject to a agreement between the People's Power Party (PPP, in power) and the opposition groups.
Agence France-Presse
Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh dies at 92
Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, whose economic reforms made India a world power, died Thursday at the age of 92, current Indian leader Narendra Modi announced.
Mr. Modi confirmed the former prime minister's death with a message on the X network saying that India “mourns the loss of one of its most eminent leaders.”
Manmohan Singh was taken to a hospital in New Delhi after losing consciousness at his home on Thursday, but could not be revived, according to a statement from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
Mr. Singh, who served from 2004 to 2014, is credited with overseeing during his first term an economic boom in India, Asia's fourth-largest economy, although growth slowed during in the following years wasted his second term.
Agence France-Presse
Kenyan police deny involvement in wave of “kidnappings”
Kenyan police on Thursday denied being involved in a wave of alleged kidnappings of government protesters.
On Wednesday, the Working Group on Police Reforms, an alliance of human rights organizations, denounced, in a press release, “the recent kidnappings” of three young Kenyan influencers.
In addition, dozens of disappearances have been denounced by human rights groups since the violent police repression of anti-government demonstrations in Kenya in June-July, during which more than 60 people were killed.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, KNCHR and VOCAL Africa claim that security forces are behind these kidnappings.
“The National Police is deeply concerned about allegations that police officers are involved in kidnappings in Kenya,” the Office of the Inspector General of Police said in a statement.
The three missing young influencers, Billy Mwangi, 24, Peter Muteti, 22, and Bernard Kavuli, 24, were allegedly kidnapped after criticizing the government of President William Ruto.
While rejecting accusations of involvement, police have not given any information on the identification of the people believed to be responsible for the alleged disappearances.
Agence France-Presse
Panama's president rejects any talks with the United States on the Panama Canal
Panamanian President José Raul Mulino has refuted any Chinese “interference” in the Panama Canal and rejected any discussion of changes with the United States, after US President-elect Donald Trump threatened to regain control of the passageway. between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
“There is no possibility for this president [Mulino] to discuss something that would seek to rethink the legal-political reality of the Panama Canal under Panamanian control. If the intention is to speak, there is nothing to say,” Mr. Mulino said during his weekly press conference in Panama.
“The canal belongs to the Panamanians, so there is no possibility of starting any type of conversation about a reality that has cost the country tears, sweat and blood,” he added.
“In the canal, tolls are not set at the whim of the president or the manager” of the canal, “there is an established process for setting the prices of canal tolls which has been respected from day one until today, it is a public and open process,” continued Mr. Mulino.
The American president-elect, who is due to take office on January 20, also accused China of being behind the operations of the canal, although operated by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), a public and autonomous Panamanian body.
“There is absolutely no Chinese interference or participation in anything relating to the Panama Canal […]there are no Chinese soldiers in the canal, for God's sake,” Mr. Mulino rejected.
Agence France-Presse
Death toll from Brazil bridge collapse rises to eight
The collapse of a bridge in northern Brazil killed eight people and nine people remained missing on Thursday, according to a new report from the authorities, who provided reassuring news about the risks of pollution of the adjoining river.
A fire department spokesperson told AFP that the truck tanks containing sulfuric acid were “intact” after they fell into the Tocantins River.
At the time of the disaster, on Sunday, eight vehicles were crossing the Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira bridge, the main connecting route between the states of Maranhao (Northeast) and Tocantins (north). The bridge, built in the 1960s, was approximately 500 meters long.
Among the vehicles that fell into the river, three heavy goods vehicles “carried 22,000 liters of pesticides and 76 tonnes of sulfuric acid, a corrosive chemical”, according to the National Water Agency (ANA).
The priority remains the search for missing people, which has been taking place since Wednesday with divers.
This was not possible at first, until the risk of high exposure to sulfuric acid was ruled out.
Agence France-Presse
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