Chad security forces repel Boko Haram assault on presidential complex; 19 dead

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A combination of screenshots from video posted on Facebook shows Abderaman Koulamallah, Chad government spokesman and foreign minister, announcing that presidential guards had repelled a coup attempt against President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno on Wednesday. (Screen grabs from FB video)
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Updated 09 January 2025
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Chad security forces repel Boko Haram assault on presidential complex; 19 dead

  • The attackers were members of the Boko Haram jihadist group, which Chadian forces are fighting in the western Lake Chad region: security source
  • Government spokesman and FM Abderaman Koulamallah later announced that the coup attempt had been repulsed

N’DJAMENA: Gunmen attempted to storm the presidential complex in Chad’s capital N’Djamena on Wednesday, sparking a battle that left 18 attackers and one security personnel member dead, the government said.
AFP reporters heard gunfire erupt near the site and saw tanks on the street, while security sources reported that armed men had tried to overrun the complex.
The government later said 19 people were killed in the fighting, of which 18 were members of the 24-strong commando unit that launched the assault.
“There were 18 dead and six injured” among the attackers “and we suffered one death and three injured, one of them seriously,” government spokesman and Foreign Minister Abderaman Koulamallah told AFP.
Hours after the shooting, Koulamallah appeared in a video posted to Facebook, surrounded by soldiers and with a gun on his belt, saying “the situation is completely under control... the destabilization attempt was put down.”
A security source said the attackers were members of the Boko Haram jihadist group, which Chadian forces are fighting in the western Lake Chad region that borders Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger.
Landlocked Chad is under military rule and faces regular attacks by Boko Haram.
It recently ended a military accord with former colonial power France and has been accused of interfering in the conflict ravaging neighboring Sudan.
Several security sources said that an armed commando unit opened fire inside the presidency on Wednesday evening around 7:45 p.m. (1845 GMT), before being overpowered by the presidential guard.
All roads leading to the presidency were blocked and tanks could be seen on the streets, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.
As civilians rushed out of the city center in cars and motorcycles, armed police were seen at several points in the district.
Hours before the fighting broke out, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno and other senior officials.

The former French colony hosted France’s last military bases in the region known as the Sahel, but at the end of November, Chad ended defense and security agreements with Paris, calling them “obsolete.”
Around a thousand French military personnel were stationed in the country and are in the process of being withdrawn.
France was previously driven out of three Sahelian countries governed by juntas hostile to Paris — Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
Senegal and Ivory Coast have also asked France to vacate military bases on their territory.

The gunfire erupted less than two weeks after Chad held a contested general election that the government hailed as a key step toward ending military rule, but that was marked by low turnout and opposition allegations of fraud.
A call by the opposition for voters to boycott the polls left the field open for candidates aligned with the president, who was brought to power by the military in 2021 and then legitimized in a May presidential election that opposition candidates denounced as fraudulent.
Deby took power after the death of his father, who had ruled the country with an iron fist for three decades.
The desert country is an oil producer but ranked fourth from bottom in the United Nations Human Development Index.
To consolidate his grip on power, Deby has reshuffled the army, historically dominated by the Zaghawas and Gorane, his mother’s ethnic group.
On the diplomatic front, he has sought new strategic partnerships, including with Russia and Hungary.
 


India’s monsoon rains arrive eight days early, says weather bureau

Updated 5 sec ago
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India’s monsoon rains arrive eight days early, says weather bureau

  • Summer rains, critical for economic growth in Asia’s third-largest economy, usually begin to lash Kerala around June 1
MUMBAI: Monsoon rains hit the coast of India’s southernmost state of Kerala on Saturday, eight days earlier than usual, the weather office said, offering respite from a grueling heat wave while boosting prospects for bumper harvests.
Summer rains, critical for economic growth in Asia’s third-largest economy, usually begin to lash Kerala around June 1 before spreading nationwide by mid-July, allowing farmers to plant crops such as rice, corn, cotton, soybeans and sugarcane.

Ukraine says downed 6 missiles, 245 drones overnight

Updated 3 min 5 sec ago
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Ukraine says downed 6 missiles, 245 drones overnight

KYIV: Ukraine’s air force said Saturday that it had downed six ballistic missiles and 245 drones from a massive Russian barrage overnight that was mainly targeted at the capital Kyiv.
“Air defense shot down 6 Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles (Kyiv) and neutralized 245 enemy Shahed-type UAVs,” the air force said in a statement.


Kyiv comes under large-scale Russian drone and missile attack with explosions heard throughout city

Updated 55 min 45 sec ago
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Kyiv comes under large-scale Russian drone and missile attack with explosions heard throughout city

KYIV: Ukraine’s capital came under a large-scale Russian drone and missile attack early Saturday with explosions and machine gun fire heard throughout the city, forcing many Kyiv residents to take shelter in underground subway stations.
The nighttime Russian attack came hours after Russia and Ukraine began a major prisoner exchange, swapping hundreds of soldiers and civilians in the first phase of an exchange that was agreed on by the two sides at a meeting in Istanbul last week. The agreement was a moment of cooperation in otherwise failed efforts to reach a ceasefire in the 3-year-old war.
The debris of intercepted missiles and drones fell in at least four city districts of the Ukrainian capital early Saturday, acting head of Kyiv military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, wrote on Telegram. According to Tkachenko, six people required medical care after the attack and two fires were sparked in the Solomianskyi district of Kyiv.
Yurii Bondarchuk, a local resident, said the air raid siren “started as usual, then the drones started to fly around as they constantly do.”
Moments later, he heard a boom and saw shattered glass fly through the air.
“The balcony is totally wiped out, as well as the windows and the doors,” he said, describing the damage to his apartment as he stood in the dark in the middle of the night. He smoked a cigarette to calm his nerves while firefighters worked to extinguish the flames.
The air raid alert in Kyiv lasted more than seven hours overnight, warning of incoming missiles and drones.
Prior to the attack, city mayor Vitalii Klitschko warned Kyiv residents of more than 20 Russian strike drones heading toward Kyiv. As the attack continued, he said drone debris fell on a shopping mall and a residential building in Obolon district of Kyiv. Emergency services were headed to the site, Klitschko said.
The prisoner swap Friday was the first phase of a complicated deal involving the exchange of 1,000 prisoners from each side.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the first phase brought home 390 Ukrainians, with further releases expected over the weekend that will make it the largest swap of the war. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it received the same number from Ukraine.
The swap took place at the border with Belarus in northern Ukraine, according to a Ukrainian official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
The released Russians were taken to Belarus for medical treatment, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
As the freed men entered the medical facility Friday, people holding signs and photos of their relatives shouted names or brigade numbers, seeking any news of a loved one.
“Vanya!” cried Nataliia Mosych, among the gathered relatives, “My husband!”
The exchange, the latest of dozens of swaps since the war began and the biggest involving Ukrainian civilians at one time, didn’t herald any halt in fighting.
Battles continued along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, where tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed, and neither country has relented in its deep strikes.
After the May 16 Istanbul meeting, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called the prisoner swap a “confidence-building measure” and said the parties had agreed in principle to meet again.
But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that there has been no agreement yet on the venue for the next round of talks to end the fighting as diplomatic maneuvering continued.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday night that Moscow would give Ukraine a draft document outlining its conditions for a “sustainable, long-term, comprehensive” peace agreement once the ongoing prisoner exchange had finished.
European leaders have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of dragging his feet in peace efforts while he tries to press his larger army’s battlefield initiative and capture more Ukrainian land.
The Istanbul meeting revealed that both sides remained far apart on key conditions for ending the fighting. One such condition for Ukraine, backed by its Western allies, is a temporary ceasefire as a first step toward a peaceful settlement.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had shot down 788 Ukrainian drones away from the battlefield between May 20 and May 23.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired 175 Shahed and decoy drones, as well as a ballistic missile since late Thursday.


Hong Kong to open universities to more foreign students after US ban

Updated 24 May 2025
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Hong Kong to open universities to more foreign students after US ban

HONG KONG: Hong Kong has said it will open its universities to more international students, highlighting those affected by the US government’s move this week to block Harvard from enrolling foreign nationals.
The sharp escalation in US President Donald Trump’s longstanding feud with the prestigious university came as tensions simmer between Washington and Beijing over trade and other issues.
The Trump administration’s decision on Thursday — which was temporarily halted by a US judge after Harvard sued — has thrown the future of thousands of foreign students and the lucrative income stream they provide into doubt.
On Friday, Hong Kong Education Secretary Christine Choi called on universities in the Chinese city to welcome “outstanding students from all over the world.”
“For international students affected by the United States’ student admission policy, the Education Bureau (EDB) has appealed to all universities in Hong Kong to provide facilitation measures for eligible students,” Choi said in a statement, noting the ban on Harvard’s admission of international students.
She said local universities were making use of government measures, including relaxing the maximum limits on foreign students to attract more to Hong Kong.
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology on Friday invited international students enrolled at Harvard, as well as anyone with offers to attend the elite school, to continue their studies at HKUST.
“HKUST is extending this opportunity to ensure talented students can pursue their educational goals without disruption,” it said in a statement.
The university “will provide unconditional offers, streamlined admission procedures, and academic support to facilitate a seamless transition for interested students,” it added.
Harvard is ranked number one in US News and World Report’s most recent list of the world’s top universities, while HKUST is 105 out of more than 2,000 ranked.
President Trump is furious at Harvard for rejecting his administration’s push for oversight on admissions and hiring amid his claims the school is a hotbed of anti-Semitism and “woke” liberal ideology.
A US judge on Friday halted the administration’s move to prevent Harvard from admitting foreign students after the university sued, calling the government’s action unlawful.
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday that the administration’s decision would hold Harvard “accountable for fostering violence, anti-Semitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus.”
Beijing condemned the “politicization of educational cooperation,” adding that the move by Washington would “only harm the image and international standing of the United States.”
Around 1,300 Chinese students are enrolled at Harvard, around a fifth of its international student body, according to university data.
Hundreds of thousands more attend other US colleges and universities, long viewed by many in China as beacons of academic freedom and rigour.


Thousands remain isolated as floods ease in eastern Australia

Updated 24 May 2025
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Thousands remain isolated as floods ease in eastern Australia

  • Floodwaters were slowly subsiding but more than 20 emergency warnings remain in place
  • Many communities were still isolated, with 50,000 people estimated to be impacted

SYDNEY: Tens of thousands of Australians remained isolated and thousands were without power on Saturday, authorities said as conditions in New South Wales eased after days of heavy rain that caused widespread flooding.
Floodwaters were slowly subsiding but more than 20 emergency warnings remained in place, with the focus shifting to assessing properties and delivering supplies to cut-off communities.
NSW emergency authorities estimated up to 10,000 properties had been damaged by flooding, mostly in central and northern parts of the state.
Many communities were still isolated, with 50,000 people estimated to be impacted, NSW State Emergency Services (SES) said.
“We will continue to resupply those isolated residents by land, water and air as part of our multi-agency response,” SES Chief Superintendent Paul McQueen said.
“We ask you to be patient, remain in a safe location and please don’t be tempted to drive through floodwaters or go sightseeing.”
The death toll stood at five after the body of a man in his 80s was found at a property near Taree, one of the worst-hit towns.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was unable to visit Taree, as planned, because of treacherous access.
“Conditions remain critical with flood and evacuation warnings in place,” Albanese said on X.
“We’re continuing to work closely across federal, state and local governments to make sure Australians get the support they need now and through recovery.”
More than 600 flood rescues were carried out over the previous three days, prompting NSW Premier Chris Minns to praise the work of emergency services.
“We would have had hundreds of deaths if it wasn’t for the bravery, the courage of emergency service workers in the last 72 hours,” he told journalists.
SES deputy commissioner Daniel Austin said he expected the number of warnings to decrease over the weekend but urged motorists to avoid driving in floodwaters.
He said stagnant water posed a health risk and that vermin and snakes could make their way into homes.
The storms dumped more than six months’ worth of rain over three days, according to the government weather bureau, smashing records in some areas.
Although difficult to link to specific disasters, scientists warn that climate change is already fueling more extreme weather patterns.