Author: admin@primenews

It is still dark when an early train pulls into the station in central Ukraine and aid workers crowd expectantly around one of the carriages. The doors then open and a small child steps into the platform light. Hands stretch out to help her down as her mother follows, carefully passing her baby in a tiny pink carrycot to the helpers below. These are Ukraine’s newest war refugees. Last week, the authorities ordered the forced evacuation of children from 31 towns and villages close to the frontline. This train has brought several families from the Donetsk region to relative safety further west.…

Thousands of Afghans living in Pakistan have raced to the border to beat a Wednesday deadline for undocumented foreigners to leave the country. Pakistan says 1.7 million such people must leave by 1 November or face arrest and deportation. Most are Afghans. Many refugees are terrified, having fled Afghanistan after the Taliban retook control in 2021. Others have been in Pakistan for decades. The deadline to leave technically expired at midnight on Wednesday. However Pakistani media report that those who are in transit to leave the country will be allowed to continue their journeys throughout the day. “Where will we go if…

For months now, Zimbabwe has been battling to stem the spread of deadly cholera in its cities and villages because the country simply lacks clean water. “If the water comes at all it’s often dirty,” Regai Chibanda, a 46-year-old father of five from the sprawling township of Chitungwiza, told me. Cholera, an acute diarrhoeal infection caused by consuming food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, can spread quickly in cramped and dirty conditions. It has become a kind of grim reaper to this southern African nation – back in 2008-2009 more than 4,000 went to their graves when…

The online retailer Temu has had an advert banned for sexualising a child. It showed a girl aged between eight and 11 wearing a bikini in a pose that was “was quite adult for a girl of her age”, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said. It banned four other adverts for showing sexual images and pictures which objectified women. Temu said the picture of the child violated their marketing policy and would not be shown again. It disputed the other complaints but all were ruled to be inappropriate by the ASA. Temu is a Chinese-owned online marketplace where sellers can…

The Panama Canal will make more cuts to the number of ships using the waterway due to the worst drought in over 70 years, authorities say. The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) says it has been forced to make the decision due to the driest October since records began in 1950. The El Niño weather phenomenon has contributed to the severe drought, the ACP says. It is expected to increase the cost of shipping goods around the world. The Panama Canal greatly reduces the time and distance for ships to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Operating 24 hours a day, 365…

Police in New York have arrested a Cornell University student who is accused of posting violent threats to Jewish classmates over the weekend. In a series of posts to a website called Greekrank, a user with the name “hamas” threatened to shoot Jewish students at the prestigious university. Patrick Dai, 21, is in his third year at the university. Police say he made threats to bring a gun to campus and rape Jewish women and “behead any Jewish babies”. Mr Dai has been charged by the FBI with posting threats to kill or injure another using interstate communications. The crime…

Channing Tatum and Zoe Kravitz have become engaged, according to US media reports. The Magic Mike actor, 43, and Batman actress, 34, have been dating for two years since reportedly working together on a film. On Saturday Kravitz was reportedly seen out wearing an engagement ring as the couple attended Kendall Jenner’s Halloween party. Sources confirmed to American news outlets the pair were getting married. Speaking in a GQ interview in November last year, Kravitz gushed over Tatum, describing him as a “wonderful human”. The couple met after she cast Tatum whilst making her debut directing thriller, Pussy Island. During the filming…

Demis Hassabis, the co-founder of Google Deepmind, one of the UK’s biggest AI firms, says the booming industry should not follow the same path adopted by the older tech giants. “Move fast and break things” was a motto coined by Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook. It was intended to encourage rapid innovation and company growth. But for some it became a phrase that symbolised big tech firms acting rashly and causing disruption. “I don’t think we should move fast and break things, you know, the typical Silicon Valley mantra. It has been extremely successful in building massive…

Troubled office-sharing firm WeWork may file for bankruptcy as early as next week, according to US media reports. WeWork declined to comment when contacted by the BBC. Earlier on Tuesday, the company told the US financial regulator it had agreed with creditors to temporarily postpone payments for some of its debt. The firm, which as a private business was once valued at $47bn (£38.7bn), has lost almost 98% of its stock market valuation in the last year. WeWork is considering filing for bankruptcy in New Jersey, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the story. The Reuters news agency also…

The family of an Australian writer jailed in China are calling on their government to urgently secure his release, warning he “may be dying”. Yang Hengjun has been detained for almost five years on espionage allegations denied by him and Canberra. His sons have written to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ahead of the leader’s landmark visit to Beijing this weekend, which aims to improve ties. Dr Yang was secretly tried in 2021, and his charges have not been made public. His sons – who had remained silent about his detention until now – say they were “inspired” to act after the…