Category Archives: World News

North Korea fires missile and flies warplanes near border, says Seoul

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Latest in spate of ballistic missile launches further raises animosities between the two countries

North Korea has launched a ballistic missile toward its eastern waters and flew warplanes near the border with South Korea, the South’s military said, further raising animosities triggered by the North’s recent barrage of weapons tests.

South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said the launch happened early on Friday local time but gave no further details including how far the weapon flew.

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US-Saudi rift grows over decision to cut oil production

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Washington has accused Saudi Arabia of coercing other Opec+ members into 2m-barrel-a-day reduction

The relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia continued to worsen on Thursday as the two countries traded barbs over the decision to cut oil production, with Washington accusing Riyadh of coercing other members of the Opec+ cartel, and Riyadh suggesting the Biden administration tried to get the decision delayed by a month.

In reaction to Joe Biden’s declared intention to reevaluate the US relationship with Riyadh, the Saudi foreign ministry issued an unusually long statement rejecting “attempts to distort the facts” about the kingdom’s motives for pushing for a 2m-barrel-a-day cut to Opec+ production.

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Russia announces Kherson evacuation, raising fears city will become frontline

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Deputy PM says residents will be helped to move away from southern Ukrainian region partly occupied by invaders

Moscow has announced it will evacuate Kherson after an appeal from the Russian-installed head of the region, raising fears the occupied city at the heart of the south Ukrainian oblast will become a new frontline.

Marat Khusnullin, a Russian deputy prime minister, told state television on Thursday that residents would be helped to move away from the region in south Ukraine, which remains only partly occupied by invading troops due to a successful Ukrainian counterattack in recent months.

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Neanderthals and modern humans may have copied each other’s tools

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Research suggests species coexisted for more than 1,000 years and uncovers possible ‘exchange of ideas’

Modern humans lived alongside Neanderthals for more than 1,000 years in Europe, according to research that suggests the two species may have imitated each other’s jewellery and stone tools.

Previously, it was known that humans and their ancient relatives existed at the same time on the European continent for more than 6,000 years and that the two species interbred on several occasions. But the extent of their interactions remains the focus of scientific investigation.

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French ministers urge oil giant to raise wages as strikes continue

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Third of petrol stations struggling for fuel as striking workers call for share of oil companies’ high profits

France has told the oil giant TotalEnergies it has a duty to raise wages, as the group’s two-week standoff with striking workers drags on, disrupting petrol supplies and causing a crisis for the government.

Oil depot and refinery strikes at the French group and the US group ExxonMobil have reduced France’s petrol output by more than 60% in recent days, with one in three petrol stations struggling for fuel. Industrial action spread this week to other energy companies including the nuclear power group EDF, where some workers resumed their sporadic industrial action of recent months.

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Anti-CCP protest and lockdown fears fuel China tensions before congress

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Images show banners emblazoned with protest messages hanging from overpass on major road in Beijing

A rare protest against the Communist party in Beijing and fears over renewed Covid restrictions across Shanghai are stoking political tensions just days before President Xi Jinping is expected to secure a third term in power in a key meeting on Sunday.

On Thursday, at least half a dozen photos and videos emerged on social media, showing two banners emblazoned with protest messages hanging from an overpass of a major thoroughfare in the north-west corner of the Chinese capital. The photos show plumes of smoke billowing from the bridge.

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Israeli forces use live fire in clashes with Palestinian protesters in Jerusalem

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Killing of Israeli soldier led to closure of refugee camp and worst violence in contested city in months

Israeli forces have used live fire during confrontations with hundreds of Palestinian protesters throwing stones and firebombs in the worst violence in the contested city of Jerusalem in months, sparked by the search for a suspected Palestinian gunman.

The killing of an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint in the neighbourhood of Shuafat on Saturday led to raids and the four-day closure of a nearby sprawling refugee camp. By Wednesday, with tensions soaring, Palestinians across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank launched a general strike in solidarity with the residents of Shuafat, and demonstrations overnight quickly turned violent, with clashes lasting into the early hours of Thursday.

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Germany still a ‘teenager’ on leading foreign security policy, says Scholz’s top aide

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Wolfgang Schmidt asks for patience from allies urging his country to head efforts to support Ukraine

• Russia-Ukraine war: latest updates

Germany is still a “teenager” when it comes to foreign security policy, its chancellor Olaf Scholz’s chief of staff has said, asking for patience from western allies urging Europe’s largest economy to take a more proactive leadership in its support of Ukraine.

“We are getting into a situation that Americans have known for decades: people want us to lead,” said Wolfgang Schmidt, a longstanding ally of Scholz who also serves as the political point of contact for the country’s intelligence agencies.

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‘It’s a revolution’: Iranian women in UK believe protests will bring freedom

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Women who fled regime are working hard to expose abuses in Iran and say this time real change is possible

Iranian and Kurdish women living in the UK believe the prospect of freedom for millions of women in their home country has never been greater following protests after the death of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested in Tehran for not wearing her headscarf correctly.

Many of those who fled the Iranian regime because of its attacks on human and women’s rights are working hard behind the scenes to support women in their home country to expose the abuses in the hope of encouraging the international community to act to bring about regime change.

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Record numbers of people risking lives to cross Darién Gap to US

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More than 150,000 fleeing poverty have reached Panama so far this year in pursuit of American dream

The humanitarian crisis in Darién Gap has reached new heights as medical NGOs are overwhelmed by the record numbers of people risking their lives to cross the lawless strip of jungle in Latin America en route to the US.

An exodus of Venezuelans fleeing socioeconomic collapse has led to more people embarking on the perilous journey across the only land bridge connecting South and North America so far this year than in the entirety of 2021, Panamanian authorities say.

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Russian forces will be ‘annihilated’ if Putin uses nuclear weapons in Ukraine, says senior EU official – as it happened

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EU foreign policy chief rules out nuclear response to Putin but vows powerful answer from military. This live blog is now closed

The admission of Ukraine to Nato could result in a third world war, the deputy secretary of the Russian security council, Alexander Venediktov, told the Russian state Tass news agency in an interview on Thursday.

Tass cited Venediktov as saying:

Kyiv is well aware that such a step would mean a guaranteed escalation to a World War Three.

Apparently, that’s what they are counting on - to create informational noise and draw attention to themselves once again.”

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For the love of cars: will steep gas prices stall Democrats’ midterm hopes?

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Economy in focus: America has a love affair with cars – but soaring prices are causing a rift. In the midwest, Adam Gabbatt asks voters what they think

The Henry Ford museum, in Dearborn, Michigan, is a tribute to America’s obsession with the motor vehicle.

The sprawling complex, set across 12 acres, is home to early examples of the Ford Model T, the mass-produced, affordable vehicle that set the US on the path of a car-dominant culture, as well as other era-defining vehicles right up to today.

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Truss promises to slash EU red tape – what’s the truth behind the rhetoric?

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Experts take a forensic look at the PM’s promise to axe to up to 2,400 laws on British statute books

Liz Truss has promised to “consign to history” all EU red tape within the next year, axing to up to 2,400 laws on British statute books.

It was not just party conference rhetoric. Her government is planning to pass legislation to give itself the power to simply switch off 40 years of EU harmonisation legislation at the stroke of midnight 31 December 2023. No list of laws targeted has been published.

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Turks and Caicos head said to question UK’s alleged failure to keep residents safe

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Exclusive: Diplomatic row breaks out over UK’s alleged delay in helping combat murders and drugs trading

A diplomatic row has broken out over the UK’s alleged delay in helping an overseas territory combat a spate of murders and untrammelled drugs trading.

The de-facto head of state for the Turks and Caicos Islands is said to have questioned whether the UK was failing in its obligation to keep residents safe.

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Democrats issue fresh ultimatum to Saudi Arabia over oil production

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Members of Congress raise prospect of one-year arms sales ban unless kingdom reverses Opec+ decision to cut output

Democrats in the US Congress have issued a fresh ultimatum to Saudi Arabia, giving the kingdom weeks to reverse an Opec+ decision to roll back oil production or face a potential one-year freeze on all arms sales.

The threat came as Joe Biden reiterated his pledge to take action over Riyadh’s decision last week to cut oil output by 2m barrels a day, which Democrats have said would help “fuel Vladimir Putin’s war machine” and hurt American consumers at the petrol pump.

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Biden hails UN general assembly vote condemning Russia annexations in Ukraine

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US president says vote sends clear message that ‘Russia cannot erase a sovereign state from the map’

The United Nations general assembly has overwhelmingly condemned Russia’s “attempted illegal annexation” of four Ukrainian regions, demanding that Moscow reverse course.

US president Joe Biden said the vote sent a “clear message” to Moscow. “The stakes of this conflict are clear to all, and the world has sent a clear message in response – Russia cannot erase a sovereign state from the map,” he said in a statement.

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Jamaica broadcasting regulator bans music and TV deemed to glorify crime

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Musicians criticise ban that includes ‘urban slang’ to do with making money or acquiring wealth

Jamaica’s broadcasting regulator has banned music and TV broadcasts deemed to glorify or promote criminal activity, violence, drug use, scamming and weapons.

The government has said the ban is meant to cut back on material that “could give the wrong impression that criminality is an accepted feature of Jamaican culture and society”.

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Former New Zealand PM John Key says he would have voted for Trump and Bolsonaro

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Influential National party figure said he had never voted ‘anything other than right’, but that some on the right were ‘getting pretty crazy’

Former New Zealand prime minister Sir John Key has suggested he would have voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 US election, and far-right president Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil’s 2022 elections, had he been eligible to do so.

Key, who served three terms as prime minister from 2008 to 2016, revealed his preferences in a quick-fire round of 20 questions that featured at the end of a new online series called Both Sides Now, hosted by members of the Labour and National youth wings.

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Billionaire MacKenzie Scott donates $15m to help provide glasses to farmers in developing countries

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Donation is believed to be the largest single donation towards helping solve the problem of uncorrected blurry vision

MacKenzie Scott, the billionaire philanthropist and former wife of the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has donated $15m (£13.5m) to a social enterprise that helps provide glasses to farmers in developing countries.

Scott’s donation to VisionSpring is believed to be the largest single private donation towards helping solve the problem of uncorrected blurry vision which leaves hundreds of millions of people in poverty.

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