Six explosions were reported in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, on Saturday night, the US State Department said. It was not clear if they were related to the conflict in the neighbouring Tigray region of Ethiopia.
"At 10.13pm on Nov 28 there were six explosions in Asmara," the State Department said on Sunday. The post did not mention the cause or location of the explosions.
But it urged Americans to "remain situationally aware of the ongoing conflict in the Tigray region of Ethiopia". Tigrayan forces fighting Ethiopian soldiers previously fired rockets at Eritrea.
Two diplomats in Addis Ababa told AFP that several rockets fired on Saturday night appeared to have been aimed at Asmara's airport and military installations, although as with previous attacks it was unclear where they landed and what damage they might have caused.
Eritrea is one of the world's most secretive countries, and the government has not commented on the strikes.
Officials from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front blamed Eritrea for helping Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to advance against them as the conflict in Africa’s second-biggest nation spills beyond its borders
On Saturday, Mr Ahmed announced that federal forces had taken control of Mekelle, Tigray's capital, within hours of launching an offensive there.
The TPLF, a political party whose fight against the government began on November 4, said it was withdrawing from Mekelle. The government says the TPLF began the conflict with a surprise attack on federal forces. The TPLF described it as a "pre-emptive strike".
The US accused the TPLF of seeking to internationalise the deadly conflict in which humanitarians say several hundred people have been killed, including civilians.
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
Sheer grandeur
The Owo building is 14 storeys high, seven of which are below ground, with the 30,000 square feet of amenities located subterranean, including a 16-seat private cinema, seven lounges, a gym, games room, treatment suites and bicycle storage.
A clear distinction between the residences and the Raffles hotel with the amenities operated separately.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Company profile
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Founders: Mike Dawson, Varuna Singh, and Benita Rowe
Based: Dubai
Sector: Education technology
Size: Five employees
Investment: $100,000 from the ExpoLive Innovation Grant programme in 2018 and an initial $30,000 pre-seed investment from the Turn8 Accelerator in 2014. Most of the projects are government funded.
Partners/incubators: Turn8 Accelerator; In5 Innovation Centre; Expo Live Innovation Impact Grant Programme; Dubai Future Accelerators; FHI 360; VSO and Consult and Coach for a Cause (C3)
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
