International

Fifty People Die In Pakistan Monsoon Floods

Published

3 years ago

July 7, 2023

310 Views

At least 50 people, including eight children, have been killed by floods and landslides triggered by monsoon rains that have lashed Pakistan since last month, officials said Friday.

The summer monsoon brings South Asia 70-80 percent of its annual rainfall between June and September every year.

It is vital for the livelihoods of millions of farmers and food security in a region of around two billion people — but it also brings landslides and floods.

“Fifty deaths have been reported in different rain-related incidents all over Pakistan since the start of the monsoon on June 25,” a national disaster management official told AFP, adding that 87 people were injured during this period.

The majority of the deaths were in eastern Punjab province, and were mainly due to electrocution and building collapses, official data showed.

In northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the bodies of eight children were recovered from a landslide in the Shangla district on Thursday, according to the emergency service Rescue 1122’s spokesman Bilal Ahmed Faizi.

He said rescuers were still searching for other children trapped in the debris.

Officials in Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city, said it had received record-breaking rainfall on Wednesday, turning roads into rivers and leaving almost 35 percent without electricity and water this week.

The Meteorological Department has predicted more heavy rainfall nationwide in the days ahead and warned of potential flooding in the catchment areas of Punjab’s major rivers.

The province’s disaster management authority said Friday it is working to relocate people living along the waterways.

Scientists have said climate change is making seasonal rains heavier and more unpredictable.

Last summer, unprecedented monsoon rains put a third of Pakistan under water, damaging two million homes and killing more than 1,700 people.

Storms killed at least 27 people, including eight children, in the country’s northwest early last month.

Pakistan, which has the world’s fifth largest population, is responsible for less than one percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to officials.

However, it is one of the most vulnerable nations to the extreme weather caused by global warming.

International

Trump says he thinks Putin is helping Iran

“I think he might be helping them a bit, yeah.”“I guess, and he probably thinks we’re helping Ukraine, right?”

Published

2 days ago

March 13, 2026

OCHEFA

41 Views

President Donald Trump on Friday said he believed that Russian leader Vladimir Putin is helping Iran in its war against the United States and Israel.

According to CNBC, Trump’s comment came in a radio interview with Fox News host Brian Kilmeade, and a week after the president lashed out at Fox News reporter Peter Doocy for asking him at the White House about reports that Russia was aiding Iran.

Kilmeade asked Trump on Friday: “You think Putin is helping them?”

Trump replied, “I think he might be helping them a bit, yeah.”“I guess, and he probably thinks we’re helping Ukraine, right?” Trump continued.

“Yeah, we’re helping them also,” Trump said, referring to Ukraine, which has been at war against Russia since being invaded in early 2022.

“So he [Putin] says that, and China would say the same thing, you know,” Trump told Kilmeade.

“It’s like, ‘Hey, they do it, and we do it, in all fairness,’ ” Trump said. “They do it, and we do it.”

International

IEA agrees to release record 400 million barrels of oil to address Iran war supply disruptions

The IEA did not set out a timeline for when the stocks would hit the market

Published

4 days ago

March 11, 2026

OCHEFA

74 Views

Merchant ship on fire hits by Iran in Strait of Hormuz.

The International Energy Agency on Wednesday agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil to address the supply disruption triggered by the Iran war, the largest such action in the organization’s history.

The IEA did not set out a timeline for when the stocks would hit the market.

It said that the reserves would be released over a time frame that is appropriate to the circumstances of each of its 32 member countries.

IEA members are primarily advanced economies in Europe, North America and northeast Asia. The organization is tasked with maintaining global energy security.

It was founded in 1974 in response to the oil embargo imposed by Arab producers over U.S. support for Israel during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

(CNBC)

International

Iran tells world to get ready for oil at $200 a barrel as it fires on merchant ships

The war unleashed with joint U.S. and Israeli air strikes nearly two weeks ago has so far killed around 2,000 people, mostly Iranians and Lebanese, as it has spread into ‌Lebanon and thrown global energy markets and transport into chaos.

Published

4 days ago

March 11, 2026

OCHEFA

70 Views

(REUTERS): Iran said the world should be ready for oil at $200 a barrel as its forces hit merchant ships on Wednesday and the International Energy Agency recommended a massive release of strategic reserves to dampen one of the worst oil shocks since the 1970s.

Despite what the Pentagon has described as the most intense airstrikes since the start of the war, Iran also fired at Israel and targets across the Middle East on Wednesday, demonstrating it can still fight back.

On Wednesday, three vessels were reported to have been hit in Gulf waters as Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said their forces had fired on ships in the Gulf that had disobeyed their orders.

While Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said the operation “will continue without any time limit, as long as required, until we achieve all objectives and win the campaign,” Trump suggested the campaign would not last much longer.