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Famine in Tigray Set to Spread in Ethiopia, UN Warns

Women carry a coffee table at a traffic circle in Jimma, on June 15, 2021, on the eve of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's visit to the city during his electoral campaign ahead of June 21, 2021, vote. (MARCO LONGARI / AFP)
Women carry a coffee table at a traffic circle in Jimma, on June 15, 2021, on the eve of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's visit to the city during his electoral campaign ahead of June 21, 2021, vote. (MARCO LONGARI / AFP)
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Famine in Tigray Set to Spread in Ethiopia, UN Warns

Women carry a coffee table at a traffic circle in Jimma, on June 15, 2021, on the eve of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's visit to the city during his electoral campaign ahead of June 21, 2021, vote. (MARCO LONGARI / AFP)
Women carry a coffee table at a traffic circle in Jimma, on June 15, 2021, on the eve of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's visit to the city during his electoral campaign ahead of June 21, 2021, vote. (MARCO LONGARI / AFP)

The United Nations humanitarian chief warned Tuesday that 1984 famine that killed more than 1 million Ethiopians could occur again if aid access to that country's northern Tigray region is not quickly improved, scaled up and properly funded.

"The situation is set to get worse in the coming months, not only in Tigray but in Afar and Amhara, as well."

Outgoing UN aid chief Mark Lowcock told the 15-member council in a private briefing that “no one should be surprised to see a rerun” of a devastating 1984 famine if violence in Tigray does not stop and Eritrean troops do not withdraw.

Eritrean troops in Ethiopia's Tigray region are expected to "definitely leave soon," Ethiopia's UN envoy said after a top UN official told the Security Council on Tuesday that Eritrea's soldiers were using starvation as a weapon of war.

“Rape is being used systematically to terrorize and brutalize women and girls. Eritrean soldiers are using starvation as a weapon of war. Displaced people are being rounded up, beaten, and threatened,” Lowcock told the council, according to diplomats who attended the meeting.

Ethiopia’s UN ambassador Taye Atske Selassie Amde said the Eritrean withdrawal “is a matter of sorting out some technical and procedural issues.”

“Our expectation is that they will definitely leave soon,” he told reporters after the council briefing.

Eritrea’s UN mission in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Lowcock’s allegation, according to Reuters.

Eritrea said in April that it had agreed to start withdrawing its troops from Tigray.

Michael McCaul, the lead Republican congressman on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, raised concerns on Wednesday over whether genocide is occurring in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.

The government of Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has been carrying out a military offensive against the Tigray People's Liberation Front since November.

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World

Israel Says Haifa Residential Building Suffers Direct Hit in Iran Attack

Israeli security forces and rescue teams work amid the rubble of a residential building struck by an Iranian missile in Haifa, Israel, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP)
Israeli security forces and rescue teams work amid the rubble of a residential building struck by an Iranian missile in Haifa, Israel, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP)
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Israel Says Haifa Residential Building Suffers Direct Hit in Iran Attack

Israeli security forces and rescue teams work amid the rubble of a residential building struck by an Iranian missile in Haifa, Israel, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP)
Israeli security forces and rescue teams work amid the rubble of a residential building struck by an Iranian missile in Haifa, Israel, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP)

The Israeli military and medics said on Sunday that a missile fired from Iran hit a residential building in the northern city of Haifa, injuring four people.

The building was hit by a "direct impact of a missile", the military told AFP. When asked if it was a missile fired from Iran, it said: "Yes."

The strike occurred minutes after the military warned it had detected a new round of missiles fired from Iran.

In a separate statement, Israel's emergency service, Magen David Adom, said four people were wounded when a seven-storey building sustained a direct hit.

Images and footage published by MDA show smoke rising from the remains of a flattened building in a densely populated area, and stretchers laid on the road by rescuers for casualties.

The injured included an 82-year-old man, MDA said, adding that he was in a "serious condition".

He was "wounded by a heavy object and the blast", the MDA said, adding that the other three suffered shrapnel and blast injuries.

MDA paramedic Shevach Rothenshtrych quoted residents saying that there were casualties trapped under the rubble on the lower floors, and the 82-year-old was rescued after first responders "managed to move large pieces of concrete with our hands".

His colleague Tal Shustak said that when emergency calls were received, "we were dispatched in large forces to the scene and saw extensive destruction, including glass, smoke and concrete scattered across the ground".

World

China Ready to Cooperate With Russia to Ease Middle East Tension, Foreign Minister Says

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks during a joint news conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty following their meeting in Moscow, Russia April 3, 2026. (Pavel Bednyakov/Pool via Reuters)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks during a joint news conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty following their meeting in Moscow, Russia April 3, 2026. (Pavel Bednyakov/Pool via Reuters)
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China Ready to Cooperate With Russia to Ease Middle East Tension, Foreign Minister Says

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks during a joint news conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty following their meeting in Moscow, Russia April 3, 2026. (Pavel Bednyakov/Pool via Reuters)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks during a joint news conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty following their meeting in Moscow, Russia April 3, 2026. (Pavel Bednyakov/Pool via Reuters)

China is willing to continue to cooperate with Russia at the UN Security Council and make efforts to cool down the Middle East situation, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in a phone call on Sunday. 

Wang said the fundamental way to resolve navigation issues in the Strait of Hormuz is to achieve a ‌ceasefire as soon ‌as possible, adding that China has ‌always ⁠advocated political settlement of ⁠hotspot issues through dialogue and negotiation. 

The foreign ministers' call came ahead of a UN Security Council vote next week on a Bahraini resolution to protect commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz. 

As permanent ⁠UNSC members, China and Russia ‌should "adopt an objective and balanced ‌approach and seek to win greater understanding and ‌support from the international community," Wang told Lavrov, ‌according to a statement from his ministry. 

A Russian Foreign Ministry statement said the ministers discussed ways to achieve a rapid ceasefire and "launch a political-diplomatic dialogue." 

"Satisfaction ‌was expressed at the coincidence in Russia's and China's approaches on most ⁠issues ⁠on the global agenda, including the situation around Iran, related to the unprovoked aggression of the US and Israel against that country," it said. 

China has repeatedly called for a ceasefire in the Gulf region and Middle East, urging an end to the fighting that has run for more than a month and largely closed the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping artery for oil and gas. 

World

Migrants Missing after Mediterranean Capsize: NGOs

Hellenic coast guard performs SAR operation, following migrant's boat collision with coast guard off the Aegean island of Chios, near Mersinidi, Greece, February 4, 2026. REUTERS
Hellenic coast guard performs SAR operation, following migrant's boat collision with coast guard off the Aegean island of Chios, near Mersinidi, Greece, February 4, 2026. REUTERS
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Migrants Missing after Mediterranean Capsize: NGOs

Hellenic coast guard performs SAR operation, following migrant's boat collision with coast guard off the Aegean island of Chios, near Mersinidi, Greece, February 4, 2026. REUTERS
Hellenic coast guard performs SAR operation, following migrant's boat collision with coast guard off the Aegean island of Chios, near Mersinidi, Greece, February 4, 2026. REUTERS

Dozens of people are missing after a migrant boat capsized in the central Mediterranean, the NGOs Mediterranea Saving Humans and Sea-Watch said Sunday on social media.

Two people died and 32 were rescued from the boat, which had left Libya on Saturday afternoon with around 105 people on board, according to Mediterranea Saving Humans, AFP reported.

"Tragic Easter shipwreck. 32 survivors, two bodies recovered and more than 70 people missing," the NGO wrote on X, adding that the boat capsized in a search-and-rescue zone handled by Libyan authorities.

Sea-Watch said two commercial ships saved the survivors and took them to the Italian island of Lampedusa.

An aerial video it posted showed two men clinging to the hull of the capsized vessel, and the approach of one of the commercial ships.

Mediterranea Saving Humans said the accident was "the consequence of policies by European governments that refuse to open safe and legal pathways" for migrants.

Lampedusa is a key entry point for migrants crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa to Europe.

Since the start of 2026, at least 683 migrants have lost their lives or gone missing on attempts to cross the sea, according to the UN's migration agency IOM.

According to the Italian government, 6,175 migrants arrived on Italian territory over the same period.