Airstrikes leave 10 people dead in Tigray
NAIROBI, Kenya -- Two airstrikes hit the capital of Ethiopia's Tigray region Wednesday morning, killing 10 people, many of them first responders, the director of the city's flagship Ayder Referral Hospital said, as Ethiopia's government gave no sign of taking up the Tigray forces' offer to stop fighting and pursue talks.
The target in Mekele "was a residential neighborhood," Kibrom Gebreselassie told The Associated Press. "Three of the victims need urgent major surgery, in the face of [a] shortage of medicines."
The first airstrike wounded two people but the second was deadly, with rescuers among those killed, Kibrom said.
The death toll could climb as more patients reach the hospital, another doctor said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
In a weekend statement to mark Ethiopia's new year, the Tigray leadership said they were ready to participate in an "immediate" cessation of hostilities with Ethiopian forces leading to a comprehensive cease-fire, and even welcomed mediation led by the African Union, a significant shift.
But Ethiopia's federal government is yet to publicly respond amid reports of more talks between the two sides in Djibouti. With independent media, human rights groups and monitors barred from Tigray, and with most basic services like internet severed, it is challenging to assess the situation on the ground.
Baby saved in debris of Jordan collapse
AMMAN, Jordan -- Jordanian teams on Wednesday rescued an infant and were working to save others from the rubble of a collapsed building, as officials said they had arrested three people in connection to the disaster.
State media said at least eight people were killed and others remained missing Wednesday, a day after the four-story building collapsed in the Jordanian capital, Amman. Authorities said another 10 people were injured.
It remained unclear what caused Tuesday's collapse. The country's prime minister has ordered an investigation.
The Amman public prosecutor, Hassan Al-Abdallat, told the official Petra News Agency that three people had been charged with multiple counts of causing death and harm. He said his office would form a technical committee to determine the cause of the collapse and identify those responsible.
State media identified the suspects as one of the building's owners, its maintenance contractor and its maintenance technician.
Rescue crews, meanwhile, continued to dig through the ruins in hope of finding survivors. The Petra agency said an infant had been rescued and evacuated.
The building was located in Jabal al-Weibdeh, an older district of the Jordanian capital that is popular among wealthier residents and expatriates but also includes some poorer areas.
U.S. announces $750M in aid to Syria
UNITED NATIONS -- The United States announced Wednesday that it will provide more than $750 million in additional humanitarian funding for the Syrian people.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the U.N. Security Council the new donation is in addition to the over $800 million in added U.S. humanitarian aid for Syria that she announced at a donor's conference in Brussels in May.
She said the new $756 million in assistance "will bring immediate relief to millions of refugees and displaced persons."
" It will help humanitarian partners provide clean water, food, hygiene and relief supplies, shelter, protection services, and critical health and nutrition assistance, and it will include support for early recovery programs across the entire country," she said.
Thomas-Greenfield, who visited Syrian refugees and aid deliveries across the Syria-Turkey border this summer, said "the United States remains the world's largest donor to Syria because we are committed .... to serving the people of the world."
Prisoner-swap negotiator visits Russia
WASHINGTON -- Bill Richardson, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and a frequent emissary in hostage negotiations who has worked to secure the releases of WNBA star Brittney Griner and another jailed American, Paul Whelan, visited Moscow this week and held meetings with Russian leaders, a person familiar with the matter said Tuesday night.
The visit came as American officials have continued to press Russia to release Griner, who was sentenced last month to nine years in prison in a drug possession case, and Whelan, a Michigan corporate security executive serving a 16-year sentence on espionage-related charges. The U.S. government regards both as wrongfully detained.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced in July that the U.S. had made a "substantial proposal" to Russia to facilitate a swap. Though he did not detail the terms, a person familiar the matter said the U.S. had offered to release convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
In an interview with The Associated Press last month, Richardson said he was hopeful about the chances of a two-for-two prisoner swap. In cases like this, Richardson said at the time, "it's proportional -- two-for two."
In this file photo President Joe Biden's U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations nominee Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield speaks at The Queen theater, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2020, in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)