Jamaica secures $6.7bn for hurricane recovery and reconstruction plan
Up to $3.6bn in government financing included, with major contributions from global financial institutions.
Mexican authorities kill one of country’s top fentanyl traffickers
Pedro Inzunza Coronel, alias ‘El Pichón’, was killed during an anti-drug operation by the Mexican navy in Sinaloa
Mexican authorities have killed one of the country’s top fentanyl traffickers, accused of importing tens of thousands of kilos of the drug into the US and wanted by the US authorities on narco-terrorism charges.
Pedro Inzunza Coronel, alias “El Pichón”, (The Pigeon) was killed on Sunday during an anti-drug operation by the Mexican navy in the north-western state of Sinaloa.
Continue reading...South African radio host accused of recruiting for Russia – DW
- South African radio host accused of recruiting for Russia DW
- Five South Africans in court over alleged recruitment for Russia’s war in Ukraine The Guardian
- Nonkululeko Mantula: South African radio presenter among five charged over Russia recruitment plot BBC
- A South African radio presenter is arrested on suspicion of recruiting fighters for Russia NBC News
- Zuma’s daughter quits South Africa parliament over Russia recruitment allegations CNN
Europe is going on a huge military spending spree – The Economist
- Europe is going on a huge military spending spree The Economist
- European defence sector's turnover surges 13.8% to €183bn in 2024 Euronews.com
- Europe’s Defense Industry Grew by Nearly 14% in 2024 Bloomberg.com
- Europe ponders how to ready industry for war, without being at war Defense News
- Europe's aerospace and defence turnover jumped 10.1% in 2024 to $378 billion, industry body ASD says Reuters
Trump’s pardon of Honduras’s ex-president shows counter-drug effort is ‘based on lies and hypocrisy’
Why has Trump blown up alleged narco boats in the Caribbean and at the same time decided to let a big time trafficker off the hook?
He was a Latin American president accused of colluding with some of the region’s most ruthless narco bosses to flood the United States with cocaine.
“[Let’s] stuff the drugs right up the noses of the gringos,” the double-dealing politician once allegedly bragged as he lined his pockets with millions of dollars in bribes and turned his country into what many called a narco-state.
Continue reading...Shock in Cameroon as 74-year-old opposition firebrand dies in detention
Anicet Ekane's lawyer says the family was given little explanation - "his wife was just presented the corpse".
Shock in Cameroon as 74-year-old opposition firebrand dies in detention
Anicet Ekane's lawyer says the family was given little explanation - "his wife was just presented the corpse".
Trump releases fraudster executive days into prison sentence
The former investment manager was convicted of defrauding thousands of investors.
Missing American cruise ship passenger Ann Evans found by police – NewsNation
- Missing American cruise ship passenger Ann Evans found by police NewsNation
- She went missing from a cruise. Police found her a week later. USA Today
- American woman who mysteriously disappeared from cruise excursion on Caribbean island is finally found Yahoo
- Missing Cruise Ship Passenger Found Alive Over Week After Vanishing Newsweek
- Mystery over American woman missing from Caribbean cruise excursion The Independent
Israeli settlers attack and rob Italian and Canadian volunteers in West Bank
Group beaten in early hours of morning in village where they volunteered to help protect Palestinians from settler violence
Italy and Canada have raised concerns about the treatment of their citizens who were beaten and robbed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
Three Italians and a Canadian were attacked early on Sunday morning in the village of Ein al-Duyuk, near Jericho, where they had volunteered to help protect the Palestinian population from intensifying settler violence.
Continue reading...OBR says its inadvertent release of budget report is ‘worst failure’ in its 15-year history – UK politics live
Office for Budget Responsibility says Rachel Reeves ‘had every right to expect that the [report] would not be publicly available until she sat down at the end of her budget speech’
Q: Yesterday you said Rachel Reeves was lying. Today you are saying she gave out false information. Are you still accusing her of being a liar?
Badenoch replies: “Yes.”
Continue reading...Top Russian banker says the EU faces 50 years of litigation if it takes Russia’s frozen assets – Reuters
- Top Russian banker says the EU faces 50 years of litigation if it takes Russia's frozen assets Reuters
- Europe needs help funding Ukraine. So why can't it agree on using frozen Russian assets? France 24
- The EU should play its Russian assets card Financial Times
- Reparations loan for Ukraine won't derail peace process, Kallas tells Belgian PM Euronews.com
- Belgium hits back at EU plan to use frozen Russian assets to aid Ukraine The Guardian
Elizabeth Tsurkov: Israel’s Syria policy lacking – The Jerusalem Post
- Elizabeth Tsurkov: Israel's Syria policy lacking The Jerusalem Post
- Surgeons save soldier wounded in Syria who has a bullet lodged in his heart The Times of Israel
- Instead of Seeking Deals, Israel Prefers Keeping Syrian and Lebanese Fronts Hot Haaretz
- Thirteen killed in deadliest Israeli raid for months in southern Syria BBC
- Israel’s deadly incursion in Syria a ‘war crime’ after 13 killed, Syrian FM says CNN
MP Tulip Siddiq says Bangladesh jail term is ‘unfair’
The MP, and niece of Bangladesh's ousted former leader, received a two-year sentence in her absence over corruption allegations.
Austria’s rebel nuns refuse to give up Instagram to stay in their convent – NPR
- Austria's rebel nuns refuse to give up Instagram to stay in their convent NPR
- 3 Rebel Nuns Can Stay in Abbey, if They Give Up Social Media The New York Times
- Austrian nuns win reprieve in abandoned convent - if they stay off social media BBC
- Elderly Austrian nuns who broke back into their convent will be allowed to stay. But there are conditions CNN
- Rebel nuns who ran away from care home could be allowed to stay in former convent NBC News
Two Met officers running spycops unit were ‘incredibly racist’, inquiry told
Undercover unit monitored Stephen Lawrence’s family, as well as thousands of mainly leftwing political activists
Two senior officers who supervised an undercover Scotland Yard unit spying on political campaigns were “horribly and incredibly” racist, a whistleblower has told a public inquiry.
Peter Francis, a former member of the unit, testified that one regularly used the “N-word”, while the other used a repertoire of explicit racist slurs.
Continue reading...Bangladesh court sentences UK MP Tulip Siddiq to two years in prison in absentia
MP for Hampstead and Highgate in London denies allegations and condemns ‘flawed and farcical’ trial
A court in Bangladesh has sentenced the British MP Tulip Siddiq to two years in jail after a judge ruled she was complicit in corrupt land deals with her aunt, the country’s deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
In a ruling on Monday, a judge found Siddiq, the Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate, guilty of misusing her “special influence” as a British politician to coerce Hasina into giving valuable pieces of land to her mother, brother and sister.
Continue reading...Manchester-London 7am ‘ghost train’ to carry passengers after outcry over regulator’s decision
Avanti service was to have been axed from mid-December but would have still run because of needs out of Euston
The express Manchester-London 7am Avanti service will take passengers after all, after the rail regulator conceded defeat in the face of public outcry over a ruling that would have left it running as an empty “ghost train” each day.
The 7am train, the only service linking the cities in under two hours, was set to be axed from the passenger table from mid-December – but would, as the Guardian reported on Saturday, have kept running empty from Piccadilly each day so it could run morning trains back out of Euston.
Continue reading...‘A big thank you to Indian and Pakistani armed forces’: Former Sri Lanka cricketer Angelo Mathews – Times of India
- 'A big thank you to Indian and Pakistani armed forces': Former Sri Lanka cricketer Angelo Mathews Times of India
- ‘We have to rebuild from scratch’: Sri Lankans relive the devastation of Cyclone Ditwah The Guardian
- Sri Lanka grapples with trauma, loss after deadly cyclone that killed hundreds Reuters
- Sri Lanka Declares ‘Largest’ Disaster as Cyclone Death Toll Rises to 355 The New York Times
- Sri Lanka declares state of emergency after floods leave hundreds dead and many missing BBC
Banquet, Bowie and football in upcoming German state visit – BBC
- Banquet, Bowie and football in upcoming German state visit BBC
- German president to visit Coventry cathedral ruins with wife BBC
- Royal ‘reconciliation’ with Germany amid the ruins of Coventry Cathedral The Telegraph
- German president's UK state visit will celebrate strategic ties and recall historic scars ABC News
- Revealed: The Princess of Wales and Prince William will play key roles in the upcoming German state visit Tatler