Archbishop of Canterbury joins others worried about impact Tel Aviv switch could have on Palestinian peace talks
The archbishop of Canterbury has expressed concern about the potential for the British embassy to be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The UK prime minister, Liz Truss, told her Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid at the United Nations summit in New York last month that she was considering the relocation.
Continue reading...Section of Kerch bridge collapses after blast, seen as major blow to Russian military prestige
A huge explosion has destroyed part of the Kerch bridge from Russia to Crimea, a hated symbol of the Kremlin’s occupation of the southern Ukrainian peninsula, one of Vladimir Putin’s prestige projects and a vital logistical link for the Russian military.
A section of the Ukraine-bound road bridge collapsed into the Kerch strait after the blast, and a fierce fire engulfed a train on the parallel railway connection, creating a vast column of black smoke. The parallel road towards Russia still appeared passable in images from the blast site.
Continue reading...The uprising over the death of Masha Amini is like no other, but whether it leads to revolution remains to be seen
The Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, was holding court to a small group of journalists at the Millennium Hilton in New York on his first visit to the United States since his election in June 2021. At home, protests over the death in police custody of Masha Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, were entering their sixth day.
At the start of the meeting, a 10-minute film was shown, part patriotic travel brochure and part paen to how the Iranian people “live peacefully together in a new model of democracy”. Given the events in Iran, it seemed like the kind of absurd propaganda only a severely self-deluded regime would screen.
Continue reading...Subject of Netflix drama known as the ‘SoHo grifter’ must refrain from posting on social media
Anna Sorokin, the convicted con artist who masqueraded as a German heiress and swindled wealthy New Yorkers, has been released from jail but must steer clear of social media, her attorney has confirmed.
The 31-year-old, who also went by the name Anna Delvey and is the subject of Netflix’s Inventing Anna, has been held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since March 2021.
Continue reading...Blasts rock Kharkiv as Zaporizhzhia hit with ‘kamikaze drones’; Zelenskiy warns on nuclear weapons; Moscow declares Russian rapper a ‘foreign agent’
Continue reading...Up to 30 people hurt, with some airlifted from scene in Creeslough in Donegal, while search for survivors continues
Irish police have confirmed there have been three fatalities in an explosion at a petrol station in County Donegal, as the emergency search operation continues at the site of the blast.
Rescuers using sniffer dogs were digging for people trapped in debris on Friday night after a large explosion destroyed the petrol station and damaged apartments, causing multiple injuries.
Continue reading...As litigation continues, abortions up to 22 weeks of pregnancy remain legal in state
The American Civil Liberties Union and other abortion rights groups have won a ruling from a lower court in Ohio that has indefinitely blocked the state’s ban on terminating pregnancies after six weeks.
In a statement released on Friday, the ACLU announced that Judge Christian Jenkins of the Hamilton county court of common pleas said that it would grant abortion providers’ and advocates’ request for a preliminary injunction against Ohio’s senate bill 23 (SB 23), a law that prohibits abortions starting at roughly a month and a half of pregnancy.
Continue reading...Prime minister authorized to ask international community to help end blockade of main fuel port that has led to crippling shortages
Haiti’s government has authorized the prime minister, Ariel Henry, to ask the international community for a “specialized armed force” to address a crisis caused by a blockade of the country’s main fuel port that has led to crippling shortages, according to a decree circulating on Friday.
Haiti has ground to a halt since a coalition of gangs blocked the Varreux fuel terminal last month. The lack of gas and diesel has crippled transportation and forced businesses and hospitals to halt operations.
Continue reading...US president made most outspoken remark on threat of wartime nuclear weapons when speaking at a fundraiser on Thursday
The White House has said that Joe Biden’s warning of “Armageddon” if Russia uses a nuclear weapon in Ukraine was not based on any new intelligence suggesting such nuclear use is imminent.
The US president issued his warning at a private fundraising event in New York on Thursday evening, in his most outspoken remarks yet on the threat of wartime nuclear weapons being used for the first time since 1945.
Continue reading...Decision described as a compromise by several European countries who wanted a more ambitious target
A United Nations body has agreed to a long-term aspirational goal for aviation of net-zero emissions by 2050, despite challenges from China and Russia, as countries aligned overwhelmingly with airlines amid pressure to curb pollution from flights.
Nevertheless, environmentalists criticised the non-binding nature of the agreement as toothless.
Continue reading...Williamson Pink Star sets world record highest price per carat for a diamond sold at auction
An extremely rare “fancy vivid pink” diamond has sold for 453m Hong Kong dollars (£52m) – more than double its estimated price – and set a world record for the highest price per carat for a diamond sold at auction.
The 11.15-carat Williamson Pink Star diamond, which is named after another pink diamond given to Queen Elizabeth II as a wedding gift, was sold to an undisclosed buyer at auction by Sotheby’s Hong Kong on Friday.
Continue reading...Nation in shock after 37 people, mostly children, killed by former police officer who was due in court on drug charge
Thailand was in a state of mourning on Friday after a gun and knife attack at a nursery left dozens dead and prompted calls for gun control and a crackdown on illicit drugs.
Thirty-seven people were killed when a former police officer opened fire and stabbed children as they slept at the preschool in Uthai Sawan, a town 310 miles north-east of Bangkok on Thursday.
Continue reading...Families tell of the moment they heard about gun and knife attack that killed 37 people, most of them children
On Friday morning, in the baking sun, grieving parents filed in a line to leave flowers outside the Uthai Sawan nursery school in northern Thailand. Women dressed in black and with heads bowed each placed a white rose on the entrance steps.
A mother, standing at the side, clutched her son’s red blanket and his milk bottle, still half-full.
Continue reading...Allegations that 16-year-old Sarina Esmailzadeh was beaten to death at a protest follow news of the similar death of 17-year-old Nika Shakarami
Reports are emerging of the death of another teenage girl at the hands of security forces in Iran, as protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini looked set to enter their third week.
Sarina Esmailzadeh, a 16-year-old who posted popular vlogs on YouTube, was killed when the security forces beat her with batons at a protest in Gohardasht in Alborz province on 23 September, according to Amnesty International.
Continue reading...Large area destroyed in September, as environmental criminals raced to wreck the region before possible change of president
Amazon deforestation has soared ahead of Brazil’s environmentally vital presidential election, with an area almost the size of Greater London lost last month alone.
Government satellites show a 1,455-sq km area of rainforest was destroyed in September, as environmental criminals raced to wreck the region before a possible change of president could bring Jair Bolsonaro’s era of destruction to an end.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed. You can find our latest Ukraine stories below:
Reuters has a quick snap that a team of four specialists from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IEAE) is expected be arrive at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant later today.
At least five people were killed and as many injured after Ukrainian forces struck a bus while shelling a strategically important bridge in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, Russia’s Tass news agency has reported.
Continue reading...French auction house tells of build-up to bidding war that led to an expert losing his job and a seller being left ‘traumatised’
In the 41 years of wielding the gavel at his auction house a stone’s throw from the royal chateau at Fontainebleau, Jean-Pierre Osenat has never seen anything like it.
“This is a crazy story,” he said. “Quite extraordinary.”
Continue reading...Jailed campaigner Ales Bialiatski, Memorial and Center for Civil Liberties win award that will be seen as condemnation of Putin
The jailed Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, the Russian human rights organisation Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties have won the 2022 Nobel peace prize, in an award the committee said was to honour champions of “peaceful coexistence” during the most tumultuous period in Europe since the second world war.
“The peace prize laureates represent civil society in their home countries,” said Berit Reiss-Andersen, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel committee. “They have for many years promoted the right to criticise power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens.”
Continue reading...Munib al-Masri has 300-page dossier of allegations including killings and torture between 1917 and 1948
A Palestinian businessman and former politician is to petition the UK government for an apology for abuses in the region during the period of British rule in the first half of the 20th century.
Munib al-Masri, 88, a close friend and supporter of the late Palestinian political leader Yasser Arafat, has with two international lawyers drawn up a 300-page dossier of evidence alleging abuses by the British between 1917 and 1948, the BBC reported.
Continue reading...Reliance on desalination comes with a big environmental cost for the region’s marine environment
As the World Cup approaches, Qatar is going to need at least 10,000 litres of water every day for each of its stadium pitches. Based in a region with virtually no access to fresh water, it is going to rely on desalination – the practice of debrining saltwater so it is drinkable.
It seems like an elegant solution – but the problem is that desalination, which is projected to boom by 37% across the Gulf region in the next five years, has huge environmental costs, in terms of the fossils fuels used to carry out the process, and the marine environment. But without it, how can the arid region possibly quench its thirst?
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