Iran may eventually get its way in protracted power struggle in Iraq

Analysis: Kurdish officials are considering allying with Iranian interests to finally form a government in Baghdad

A parliament besieged by protesters, a country adrift nine months after an election, a feud between domestic blocs and Iranian proxies: for many Iraqis, the latest political crisis is nothing new.

But to many observers this standoff appears more complex and protracted than most over the more than two decades of efforts to root a democratic state in Iraq. From the Kurdish region in the north to Anbar province in the west and the Shia communities in the south, there appears to be little hope that a government pursuing a collective national interest can emerge from the power struggle.

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German cities impose cold showers and turn off lights amid Russian gas crisis

Hanover is first large city to impose energy-saving measures and Berlin switches off monument spotlights

Cities in Germany are switching off spotlights on public monuments, turning off fountains, and imposing cold showers on municipal swimming pools and sports halls, as the country races to reduce its energy consumption in the face of a looming Russian gas crisis.

Hanover in north-west Germany on Wednesday became the first large city to announce energy-saving measures, including turning off hot water in the showers and bathrooms of city-run buildings and leisure centres.

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Shock in Cardiff after ‘poisoning’ of father and son in Bangladesh

Rafiqul Islam, 51, and Mahiqul, 16, found dead with three unconscious relatives while on two-month visit

Police investigating the apparent poisoning of a British family of five on holiday in Bangladesh, which killed a father and son, are hoping the survivors could hold the key to what happened.

Rafiqul Islam, 51, a taxi driver from Cardiff, and his son, 16-year-old Mahiqul, along with three other members of their family, were discovered unconscious in a locked room by police officers on Tuesday.

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Sharp rise in US abortion clinic closures after Roe v Wade overturned

Guttmacher study shows reduction in clinics offering care in 11 states that have implemented bans since supreme court ruling

The number of clinics offering abortion care in 11 US states that have implemented total or six-week bans in the month since the supreme court overturned abortion rights has dropped from 71 to 43, a new study shows.

In the study released on Thursday, the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit that studies sexual and reproductive health, said that among the the 11 states, as of 24 July seven no longer had a single clinic providing abortion care.

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Spanish Gypsy groups call for protection after families flee racist mob

Killing of doorman in Andalucían town triggered rampage in which houses were burned and looted

Spanish Gypsy groups are calling for urgent action and protection after dozens of people were forced to abandon their homes in a small Andalucían town when a killing triggered a wave of racist violence.

In the early hours of Sunday 17 July, a 29-year-old pub doorman called Álvaro Soto was stabbed to death in Peal de Becerro after an argument with four members of the local Gypsy community. The alleged attackers were later arrested.

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Russian TV journalist fined for ‘discrediting army’ over Ukraine

Marina Ovsyannikova, previously fined for bursting into state TV studio, found guilty over social media posts

The Russian former state TV journalist Marina Ovsyannikova has been fined 50,000 roubles (£681) after being found guilty of discrediting the country’s armed forces in social media posts condemning Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

The ruling was passed on Thursday after a short hearing in a Moscow administrative court. Ovsyannikova rejected the proceedings against her as “absurd”.

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Calls for Ukrainians living on cruise ship in Scotland to be quickly rehoused

MS Victoria is temporary solution to host refugees but there are concerns about small rooms and seasickness

Ukrainian refugees staying on a cruise ship docked in Edinburgh must be moved to more suitable accommodation within days, welfare groups have said, as those onboard already report concerns about small rooms and feeling seasick.

The first arrivals of mainly women and children displaced by the war in Ukraine boarded the MS Victoria passenger ship earlier this week. Chartered by the Scottish government, it is expected to host up to 1,700 people and is a temporary solution to a growing accommodation crisis, which earlier this month prompted the government to pause its Ukrainian refugee sponsorship scheme for three months.

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Bangladesh to hold talks with IMF after applying for bailout

Dhaka is understood to be seeking $4.5bn rescue package after being hit by high import costs and falling exports

Bangladesh is to hold talks with the International Monetary Fund after applying for a bailout to prevent the country running out of cash.

The government in Dhaka – the third in south Asia to seek a financial rescue package from the IMF after Pakistan and Sri Lanka – is understood to want $4.5bn (£3.7bn) after it was hit hard by high import prices, especially for gas, and a fall in exports as the global economy slowed down.

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Pelosi’s Taiwan trip plan apparently confirmed by US lawmakers

US-China tension rising as Michael McCaul and Anna Eshoo say they were invited to travel with House speaker

Nancy Pelosi has invited senior lawmakers to join her on a trip to Taiwan, according to a member of the House foreign affairs committee, providing the first apparent confirmation of the widely speculated visit.

The potential visit by the US House speaker to Taiwan is at the centre of spiralling tensions involving the island, China and the US, which analysts fear are at their most dangerous point in decades.

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Thai researchers test wastewater to track spread of monkeypox

Monitoring sewage thought to be a quicker, more cost-effective way to understand the spread of the virus

Researchers in Thailand are examining wastewater for signs of monkeypox, as part of surveillance efforts to detect the spread of the virus.

Academics from Naresuan University, in Phitsanulok province, northern Thailand, began testing sewage at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport in May, adopting a technique that has also been used to track the spread of Covid-19.

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Eritrean refugees say they are being arbitrarily detained in Ethiopian camps

Exclusive: Tigrinya speakers say they face beatings, detention and privation, and blame UN for ‘abandoning’ them, despite right to be in Ethiopia

Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia say they are being targeted for arbitrary arrest and forcible relocation to war-torn parts of the country, despite having UN permission to remain in Ethiopia.

Government security officers are accused of rounding up, abusing and unlawfully detaining refugees who have legal status, as well as Eritreans who have foreign citizenship.

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Asia’s richest woman loses half her $24bn fortune in China property crisis

Yang Huiyan, a majority shareholder in Chinese property giant Country Garden, saw net worth plunge to $11.3bn in a year

Asia’s wealthiest woman has lost more than half her fortune over the past year as the crisis engulfing China’s real estate sector continues to worsen, a billionaire index showed on Thursday.

Yang Huiyan, a majority shareholder in China’s biggest property developer Country Garden, saw her net worth plunge by more than 52% to $11.3bn from $23.7bn a year ago, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

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Australian mountain climber Matthew Eakin one of two men found dead on K2

The bodies of two mountaineers, Eakin and Canadian man Richard Cartier, found on the world’s second-highest mountain in Pakistan

An Australian and a Canadian climber have been found dead on K2, with the world’s second-highest mountain in Pakistan claiming at least three lives in recent weeks.

The Himalayan Times identified the Australian mountaineer as Matthew Eakin and the Canadian climber as Richard Cartier, after reports the two had gone missing last week during their descent from Camp 2 to Camp 1.

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Hundreds of protesters storm Iraq parliament in support of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr

Police fired teargas in a bid to stop crowds who entered parliament waving flags, taking photographs, chanting and cheering

Hundreds of supporters of powerful Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr danced and sang in parliament after storming Baghdad’s high-security Green Zone in protest at a rival bloc’s nomination for prime minister.

Police fired barrages of teargas in a bid to stop the protesters from breaching the gates of the heavily fortified Green Zone, but the crowds surged forward and entered parliament.

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Highland Park mass shooting suspect charged with 117 felony crimes

Robert Crimo, 21, accused of killing seven and wounding dozens in Fourth of July attack in Chicago suburb, indicted by grand jury

The man accused of opening fire on an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago, killing seven, has been indicted by a grand jury on 117 felony charges.

The indictment included 21 first-degree murder counts, 48 counts of attempted murder and 48 counts of aggravated battery, representing the seven people killed and dozens wounded in the attack on the Fourth of July event in Highland Park, Illinois.

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Greece rolls out red carpet for crown prince, as Khashoggi killing falls off agenda

With Europe grappling with an energy crisis, Mohammed bin Salman finds he is once again welcome

Smiles, handshakes, backslaps and the Acropolis all to himself. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has landed in Europe – his first trip west since the brutal killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi – and on a continent jittering with energy worries, the Saudi royal has received red-carpet treatment.

Human rights concerns aside, the de facto leader of the world’s greatest oil producer has luxuriated in a welcome that only recently may have seemed impossible.

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‘Imprudent’ priest uses inflatable mattress as altar during mass in sea

Father Mattia Bernasconi apologises for any offence after failing to find shade while on camp in Italy with high school students

A priest who celebrated mass in the sea using an inflatable mattress as an altar has been placed under investigation by Italian authorities.

Father Mattia Bernasconi, 36, from the archdiocese of Milan, said he had planned to hold Sunday’s ceremony among the trees by the beach in Crotone, southern Italy, after he had been helping with a week-long summer camp for high school students organised by Libera, an anti-mafia organisation.

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Saudi Arabia plans 100-mile-long mirrored skyscraper megacity

The Line – due to be just 200 metres wide – will make Neom world’s most liveable city ‘by far’, officials claim

The promotional material is striking: two mirror-encased skyscrapers stretching more than 100 miles across a swathe of desert and mountain terrain, providing a future home for 9 million people. Is it the ultimate in high-density living, or a grandiose science fiction fantasy?

In short, economists, architects and analysts are not quite sure. So extravagant is Saudi Arabia’s plan to create an urban utopia that even those working on the project, known as the Line, do not yet know if its scale and scope can ever be realised.

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Falls in Europe’s crop yields due to heatwaves could worsen price rises

From Spain to Hungary, output of staples such as corn forecast to fall by up to 9%, adding to impact of Ukraine war on food security

Yields of key crops in Europe will be sharply down this year owing to heatwaves and droughts, exacerbating the impacts of the Ukraine war on food prices.

Maize, sunflower and soya bean yields are forecast by the EU to drop by about 8% to 9% due to hot weather across the continent. Supplies of cooking oil and maize were already under pressure, as Ukraine is a major producer and its exports have been blocked by Russia.

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Germany accuses Russia of ‘power play’ as gas pipeline supply drops by half

State-run Gazprom reduces flow through Nord Stream 1 to around 20% of its capacity

Germany has accused Moscow of engaging in “power play” over energy exports, as Russian state-run Gazprom further throttled gas supplies into Europe.

As announced two days earlier, the energy giant on Wednesday reduced the gas flow through Nord Stream 1 to 33m cubic metres a day – about 20% of the pipeline’s total capacity and half the amount it has been delivering since resuming service last week after 10 days of maintenance work.

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