Category Archives: World News

Russia-Ukraine war: US to blame to Europe’s gas crisis, says Moscow; Ukraine says troops ‘gain foothold’ in Luhansk – live

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Russia’s foreign ministry says US has pushed European leaders to cut economic and energy cooperation with Moscow

UK’s defence secretary Ben Wallace will be going to Germany this week to discuss longer-term funding for Ukraine, the Ministry of Defence says.

President Vladimir Putin attended large-scale military exercises on Tuesday involving China and several other Russia-friendly countries, Kremlin, spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told local news agencies.

Putin was meeting with defence minister Sergei Shoigu and military chief of staff Valery Gerasimov at the Sergeevski military range and could observe the final phase of the military exercises later, Peskov was quoted as saying.

The military drills, called Vostok-2022, started on 1 September and are due to take place until 7 September across several training grounds in Russia’s far east and in the waters off its eastern coast.

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Anger at plans to roll back Covid vaccines to under-11s in England

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Children aged 5-11 will no longer be offered Covid jabs, except those in clinical risk groups, UKHSA confirms

The decision to reduce the number of children who are offered Covid jabs has prompted outcry from parent groups and academics.

According to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), children who had not turned five by the end of last month will not be offered a vaccination. The agency said the offer of Covid jabs to healthy 5-11-year-olds was always going to be temporary.

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Pakistan’s monsoon rains threaten world heritage site of Mohenjo-daro

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Curator of site says several walls built nearly 5,000 years ago have collapsed and repairs are under way

In flood-stricken Pakistan, where an unprecedented monsoon season has killed hundreds of people, the rains now threaten a famed archaeological site dating back 4,500 years.

The ruins of Mohenjo-daro, located in southern Sindh province near the Indus River, and a Unesco world heritage site, are considered among the best preserved urban settlements in south Asia. They were discovered in 1922, and mystery still surrounds the disappearance of its civilisation, which coincided with those of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.

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Meghan rejects ‘gendered’ idea she was lucky to be chosen as Harry’s bride

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In podcast interview, Duchess of Sussex discusses stereotypes and stigma surrounding single women

The Duchess of Sussex has dismissed comments she was lucky Prince Harry chose her as his bride as “gendered, archetyped and stereotyped” in a new podcast, released as the couple arrived in Germany to promote the Invictus Games.

Meghan said that when she and Harry got engaged, “everyone was just like: ‘Oh, my God, you’re so lucky, he chose you’. At a certain point, after you hear it a million times over, you’re like: ‘Well, I chose him, too.’

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Oklahoma TV news anchor has partial stroke on live broadcast

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Julie Chin, who works for NBC in Tulsa, did not finish broadcast and was taken to hospital, but says she should be ‘just fine’

An Oklahoma TV news anchor suffered a stroke live on air as she read the news about the cancellation of a Nasa rocket launch.

Julie Chin, who works for an NBC station in Tulsa, started to stumble over her words as she read from a teleprompter over the weekend.

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Trouble for Trump’s Truth Social as investors back away from cash boost

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Injection of $1.3bn for former president’s media company looks set to be derailed because of lackluster investor support

Donald Trump’s beleaguered social media company is facing further financial turmoil after a long-awaited $1.3bn cash injection looks set to be derailed due to lackluster investor backing.

Shareholders of the special purpose acquisitions firm, which last year brokered a deal to take the Trump Media and Technology Group public, have not backed a one-year extension to complete the transaction, which threatens to spoil the merger.

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American tourist fined for eating ice-cream on steps of Rome fountain

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Man falls victim to ‘urban decorum’ restrictions after sitting down to eat at historic site in early hours

An American tourist has been fined €450 (£385) for breaking one of Rome’s “urban decorum” rules by eating an ice-cream on the steps of a fountain.

The 55-year-old, who also had a beer in hand, was reprimanded by police in the early hours of Saturday at the Fontana dei Catecumeni, on a small, picturesque square in the Monti neighbourhood.

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Escaped chimpanzee returns to Kharkiv zoo on keeper’s bicycle

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Rare moment of joy in under-fire Ukrainian city as video shows Chichi being wheeled back on bicycle

A chimpanzee that escaped Kharkiv city zoo on Monday was persuaded to return by a zoo employee who wheeled it back on a bicycle.

Staff at the zoo in Ukraine’s second-biggest city were struggling to persuade Chichi, who had wandered around streets and a nearby park, to return to the zoo with them.

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Ben Stiller and Sean Penn banned from Russia after Ukraine comments

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Hollywood actors included on Russia’s list of 25 new names excluded from country

Ben Stiller and Sean Penn have been banned from entering Russia following their outspoken support of Ukraine during the ongoing invasion.

Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs released a list on Monday of 25 new names that will be excluded from the country in response to “the ever-expanding personal sanctions by the … Biden Administration against Russian citizens”. Stiller and Penn are both included, along with political figures such as senators Mark Kelly, Rick Scott and Kyrsten Sinema.

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Dutch city becomes world’s first to ban meat adverts in public

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Haarlem’s move is part of efforts to cut consumption after meat was found to contribute to climate crisis

A Dutch city will become the first in the world to ban meat adverts from public spaces in an effort to reduce consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

Haarlem, which lies to the west of Amsterdam and has a population of about 160,000, will enact the prohibition from 2024 after meat was added to a list of products deemed to contribute to the climate crisis.

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‘Vote for us to never see her again’: fury after Italy politician’s video with Roma woman

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Far-right councillor Alessio Di Giulio films video of himself with Roma woman in Florence

A politician with Italy’s far-right League has sparked outrage after implying that the party would rid the streets of Roma people if it wins general elections later this month.

Alessio Di Giulio, a League councillor in Florence, filmed a video of himself walking up to a Roma woman and, speaking to the camera, said: “Vote for the League on 25 September and you’ll never see her again.”

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US farmers face plague of pests as global heating raises soil temperatures

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Milder winters could threaten crop yields as plant-eating insects spread northwards and become more voracious, researchers say

Agricultural pests that devour key food crops are advancing northwards in the US and becoming more widespread as the climate hots up, new research warns.

The corn earworm (Helicoverpa zea) is considered to be among the most common farm pests in the US, ravaging crops such as maize, cotton, soya and other vegetables. It spends winter underground and is not known to survive in states beyond a latitude of 40 degrees north (which runs from northern California through the midwest to New Jersey), but that is changing as soils warm and it spreads to new areas, according to research led by North Carolina State University.

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Hundreds of Hazaras killed by ISKP since Taliban took power, say rights group

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Human Rights Watch says Taliban is failing to protect Shia minority from violent attacks on mosques, schools and workplaces

Hazara communities in Afghanistan are being targeted in violent attacks by the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), Islamic State’s affiliate in Afghanistan, with more than 700 people killed in 13 attacks in the past year, according to a report by Human Rights Watch.

In the report, Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused the Taliban of doing little to protect Hazara and other religious minorities from suicide bombings and deadly attacks, and failing to provide adequate medical care and assistance to victims and their families, despite pledging to do so when they took power in August 2021.

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Japan’s state funeral for Shinzo Abe to cost more than £10m

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Public opposition to ceremony grows over cost to taxpayer and ex-PM’s ties to Unification church

Japan will spend about 1.65bn yen (£10.1m) on the increasingly controversial state funeral for the former prime minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot dead during a campaign speech in July, amid growing public opposition to the plan.

The government has come under pressure to cancel the ceremony, with opinion polls showing that a majority of voters oppose it due to the cost to the taxpayer and revelations about ruling party politicians’ ties to the Unification church.

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Russia buying millions of rockets and shells from North Korea, US intelligence says

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Official says deal shows Russia continues to face supply shortages as invasion of Ukraine grinds on

Russia is buying millions of rockets and artillery shells from North Korea to support its invasion of Ukraine, according to a newly declassified US intelligence finding.

A US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said on Monday that the fact Russia’s defence ministry had turned to Pyongyang demonstrated that “the Russian military continues to suffer from severe supply shortages in Ukraine, due in part to export controls and sanctions”.

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Kiribati left without high-level court after president suspends three appeal judges

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The decision worsens the constitutional crisis plaguing the Pacific country, which also suspended a high court judge last month

Kiribati has been left without a high-level court after the government ordered the suspension of the three sitting judges of the court of appeal, worsening the constitutional crisis that has been plaguing the Pacific nation for months.

The move came after the suspension and attempted illegal deportation of high court judge, Australian-born David Lambourne last month.

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Kremlin scathing over Truss but Kyiv praises Britain’s new PM

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Putin aide says relations could go ‘from bad to worse’ as Ukrainian pundits welcome new ‘iron lady’

Liz Truss’s imminent arrival in Downing Street as British prime minister has been greeted with scorn and scarcely veiled condescension from the Kremlin, but an outpouring of praise in Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin’s chief spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, expressed concerns that relations might deteriorate in comments to reporters shortly before Truss was announced as the winner of the Tory leadership race.

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Coup leader versus coup leader: strongman election shows the cracks in Fijian democracy

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Whatever the outcome of this year’s election, the next prime minister will likely be someone who first came to power through the barrel of a gun

The last time the Australian Labor party came to power (in 2007), Australia was imposing sanctions against Fiji as a result of the country’s fourth coup in 2006. Relations worsened before they improved and, partly at Australia’s prompting, Fiji was suspended from the Pacific Islands Forum in 2009.

Fast forward to 2022. Fiji’s 2006 coup leader is now its prime minister, Fiji is chairing the Pacific Islands Forum, and it was the first Pacific country that Australia’s new foreign minister, Penny Wong, visited.

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Brazilian forest guardian killed weeks after joining Amazon summit

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Janildo Oliveira Guajajara had recently taken part in an Amazon assembly organised by murdered Indigenous specialist Bruno Pereira

A rainforest activist from one of Brazil’s leading Indigenous protection groups has been killed just weeks after participating in an Amazon assembly organised by the murdered Indigenous specialist Bruno Pereira.

Janildo Oliveira Guajajara, a member of the Guardiões da Floresta (Forest Guardians) collective, was reportedly shot dead in the early hours of Saturday near the Araribóia Indigenous territory where he lived.

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