Brazil flooding death toll hits 100 as government pledges aid
Crews race to rescue survivors as floodwaters displace 160,000 people across southern state of Rio Grade do Sul.
Ukraine parliament passes bill for prisoners to join army
Parliament's chairperson and President Zelenskyy need to sign the legislation for it to become law.
Woman who caused cyclist to fall into car’s path has manslaughter conviction quashed
Auriol Grey, who waved and shouted at Celia Ward, should never have been charged over Cambridgeshire incident, her lawyers said
A woman who shouted and waved at a cyclist, causing her to fall into the path of a moving car, has had her manslaughter conviction overturned.
Auriol Grey, 50, was seen on CCTV shouting at the 77-year-old cyclist, Celia Ward, to “get off the fucking pavement” as she approached her in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, in October 2020.
Continue reading...Labour defends welcoming rightwing Tory MP Natalie Elphicke into party – UK politics live
Natalie Elphicke said she was defecting to Labour due to ‘broken promises of Rishi Sunak’s tired and chaotic government’
PMQs starts in just over 20 minutes, and today there will be particular interest in the mood on the Conservative benches. Rishi Sunak has actively embraced the theory that the local election results show Labour is not on course to win an overall majority, but this is based on a projection that has been widely dismissed as unrealistic.
Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.
It’s an issue of humanity and I think you’ve got to show equivalence. I condemn unequivocally the actions of Hamas on Oct 7; those 134 hostages must be released. At the same time I condemn unequivocally the actions of the IDF and Netanyahu; 34,000 people have perished including 14,000 children.
It’s utterly wrong and an insult to those victims to equate the brutality of Hamas to the legitimate military measures that Israel is taking in defence of its people and nation.
Continue reading...Georgia claims police not using Signal to message about ‘Cop City’, despite evidence to contrary
Defense attorney in conspiracy case cites Guardian reporting in seeking police messages on activists opposed to training center
Georgia’s deputy attorney general said in court that he didn’t think police in the state were using Signal to communicate about the law enforcement training center colloquially known as “Cop City” – despite being presented, in a motion from defense attorneys, with evidence from the Guardian of law enforcement leadership ordering officers to download the encrypted phone app last year for that very purpose.
Defense attorneys have been seeking the Signal messages from Atlanta police and other law enforcement agencies that may be relevant to their clients’ cases from the deputy attorney general, John Fowler, since February, according to their 15 March motion.
Continue reading...Rafah hospitals in danger of being overwhelmed, say Gaza doctors
Patients said to have been moved on donkey carts from evacuated hospital, in situation described as ‘catastrophic’
Hospitals in Rafah risk being overwhelmed by a wave of sick and injured if the fighting there intensifies and routes into Gaza remain impassible, doctors and medical officials in the city say.
Medics and patients hastily evacuated the Abu Yousef al-Najjar hospital, one of the few remaining functioning hospitals in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, on Tuesday after the Israeli army seized the nearby border crossing with Egypt in a dawn raid.
Continue reading...Pentagon chief confirms US pause on weapons shipment to Israel
Lloyd Austin says US 'has not made final determination' on arms transfer amid concerns over Israel's Rafah offensive.
Model seeks legal advice after Salvini’s party uses image for anti-Islam poster
Anna Haholkina tells of shock and says no one from deputy Italian PM’s League sought her permission
A woman whose photograph was used in a poster campaign by Italy’s far-right League, a member of Giorgia Meloni’s ruling coalition, has said she will consult lawyers, describing the images as “racist”.
Anna Haholkina, a Ukrainian-Italian model who lives in Rimini, said she was shocked to see her face on the posters that have sprung up in Milan in recent weeks as the League, which is led by the deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, intensifies its anti-Islam stance in the run-up to next month’s European elections.
Continue reading...Steve Albini, US alt-rock musician and producer, dies aged 61
Vocalist, guitarist and producer for bands such as Nirvana and Pixies suffers heart attack at his recording studio
Steve Albini, the vocalist, guitarist and producer who helmed a series of the most esteemed albums across the US alternative music scene, has died aged 61 from a heart attack suffered at his recording studio. Staff at his studio, Electrical Audio, confirmed the news to Pitchfork.
As well as fronting the bands Big Black, Rapeman and Shellac, who all pushed at the boundaries of post-punk and art-rock, Albini also produced – or, to use his preferred term, engineered – albums by Nirvana, Pixies, PJ Harvey and Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. He was noted for his DIY and punk ethos, resisting streaming services and refusing to take royalties from the recordings he produced for other artists.
Continue reading...The controversies of Natalie Elphicke, the MP who has defected to Labour
Dover MP, who claimed her now former husband’s seat in 2019, has been criticised in the past by Labour
Natalie Elphicke, who has become Labour’s newest MP after her shock defection from the Conservatives, has a track record that places her firmly on the right of British politics.
A lawyer who specialised in housing policy, she succeeded her now former husband – the disgraced former Tory Charlie Elphicke – as the MP for Dover. He was convicted and jailed for sexual assault in 2020.
Continue reading...The Final Breath
Exploring the effect of industrial development in the Amazon and the deadly battles to protect this vital rainforest.
First trial of Just Stop Oil activists under new anti-protest laws begins
Three people charged under Public Order Act in relation to slow march in west London last year
Three Just Stop Oil supporters have appeared in what is thought to be the first trial brought under wide-ranging powers introduced last year to curb protest.
Phoebe Plummer, Chiara Sarti and Daniel Hall were charged with breach of section 7 of the Public Order Act 2023 after taking part in a slow march blocking traffic in west London in November.
Continue reading...UK officials under fire for congratulating ‘repressive’ new chief of Uganda’s army
Activists call move ‘absurd’, as Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, son of President Museveni, is accused of torture and abusing critics
Senior British government officials have congratulated the newly appointed head of the Ugandan army, a man accused of torture, in a move that has been called “absurd” and “disappointing”.
Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Uganda’s new chief of defence forces and son of President Yoweri Museveni, received a congratulatory letter from Britain’s most senior military officer, Adm Sir Tony Radakin, at a meeting with the British high commissioner, Kate Airey, and the British defence attache.
Continue reading...The US and Israel are playing a dangerous game
US reluctance to pressure Israel into accepting the ceasefire deal will have grave consequences.
Congress to examine Havana syndrome again after Russian involvement report
House to hear testimony after concerns government assessment that no foreign adversary was involved might be mistaken
Congress will make another attempt on Wednesday to understand a succession of brain injuries and hearing loss incidents suffered by US diplomats in several nations, a mystery phenomenon that has come to be known as Havana syndrome.
A comprehensive investigation published last month by a coalition of media outlets said an elite Russian intelligence and assassination unit was probably responsible for targeting US embassy employees with sonic weaponry, contradicting an earlier government assessment that no foreign adversary was involved.
Continue reading...UK to expel Russian defence attache as sanctions escalate
Home secretary announces closure of Russian diplomatic premises after pattern of ‘malign activity’ in Britain and Europe
Russia’s defence attache is an “undeclared military intelligence officer” who will be expelled from the UK amid an escalation of sanctions, the home secretary has said.
James Cleverly also announced on Wednesday the removal of diplomatic status for several Russian-owned premises and told MPs the moves followed a pattern of “malign activity” across Britain and Europe.
Continue reading...Olaf Scholz condemns attacks on politicians after third assault in a week
German chancellor says attacks are ‘outrageous and cowardly’ after politicians have been hit and injured in Germany
Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has strongly condemned a rash of attacks on politicians after a senator and former mayor of Berlin was struck over the head in a public library in the third assault on an elected official in less than a week.
Franziska Giffey, a member of Scholz’s centre-left Social Democratic party (SPD) was slightly injured and briefly hospitalised after a man hit her from behind with a bag containing an unidentified hard object on Tuesday. Police have arrested a 74-year-old male suspect.
Continue reading...Turkey launches probe after Boeing plane lands without front landing gear
Boeing 767 cargo plane landed at Istanbul Airport without its front landing gear, says a transport ministry official.
EU reaches deal on using profits from Russia’s frozen assets for Ukraine
10% of the windfall profits will fund non-lethal aid to assuage EU member states that do not wish to fund arms
The EU has reached a deal to seize profits from Russia’s frozen assets to fund weapons and aid for Ukraine within months.
EU senior diplomats meeting on Wednesday agreed a compromise on using the estimated €4.4bn windfall profits to aid Ukraine, smoothing over a dispute about taxation and management costs in Belgium, the country where most of the frozen assets are held.
Continue reading...Turkey halts trade with Israel, what’s the cost for both nations?
Israel's isolation deepens as Turkey halts bilateral trade with the Middle Eastern nation.