Category Archives: World News

Massive queues in Moscow as shoppers take last chance to shop at H&M

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Retailer halted operations in Russia after invasion of Ukraine but has reopened for limited time to sell remaining stock

Long lines of Russian shoppers formed outside H&M stores in Moscow shopping centres this week when the Swedish fashion retailer reopened its doors to sell off stock before pulling out of Russia for good.

Along with a series of other western brands including Ikea, Nike, and the Zara owner, Inditex, H&M halted operations in Russia after the invasion of Ukraine on 24 February but opened its doors one last time this week to clear out remaining goods.

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Asia on edge as China launches air and sea military drills around Taiwan

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Taipei accuses Beijing of imitating North Korea after firing missiles across part of island and disrupting flights and shipping

China raised tensions across Asia on Thursday after launching huge military exercises in the air and seas around Taiwan, including firing ballistic missiles close to the island some of which landed in Japanese waters. The brazen show of force disrupted one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes and diverted hundreds of flights.

The exercises, which included rockets, attack helicopters and gunships, were arranged in reaction to a defiant visit to the island by the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi. Beijing claims Taiwan as its own and has threatened to take it by force.

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Taliban claim they did not know Ayman al-Zawahiri was living in central Kabul

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Denial contradicts US officials who say al-Qaida leader was staying at home of Taliban leader’s aide

The Taliban leadership has said they did not know that al-Qaida boss Ayman al-Zawahiri had moved to the Afghan capital, Kabul, where the US president, Joe Biden, said he was killed by a drone strike at the weekend.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has no information about Ayman al-Zawahiri’s arrival and stay in Kabul,” the militants said in a statement, that used their chosen name for their unrecognised regime.

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Commonwealth Games must do more for LGBT rights, says former swimmer

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Michael Gunning calls for event to push for change after a ‘petrifying’ visit to his home country, Jamaica

The former Team GB swimmer Michael Gunning has called on the Commonwealth Games to do more to help improve LGBTQ+ rights in member countries as he talked of his “petrifying” experience visiting his home country, Jamaica, for the first time since he came out as gay.

Gunning, who retired from swimming earlier this year to help promote equality in sport, said the event could do more on the global stage to push the issue.

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Hey, that’s my house: US aid worker realises Zawahiri villa is his old home

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The Kabul property hit by a US drone was familiar. It turned out Dan Smock had something in common with al-Qaida’s leader

The balcony in Kabul where the head of al-Qaida was killed was a spot Dan Smock knew well. It used to be his – when he worked in Afghanistan on a US government aid project – and the views were spectacular.

Smock enjoyed starting the day looking out at the Afghan capital, as did the world’s most wanted terrorist, from the villa they both called home, several years apart.

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Yemen’s warring parties agree to extend ceasefire by a further two months

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The truce will bring some relief to a country exhausted by war and famine, but critics say the Houthis will use the peace to regroup

The UN has announced that the warring sides in Yemen have agreed to extend the current ceasefire for a further two months.

Late on Tuesday the government and the Houthi rebels committed to intensify efforts on negotiations, said Hans Grundberg, special envoy for the country.

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US watching Chinese military drills ‘very closely’ as ballistic missiles fired into Taiwan strait – live

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The president of Paraguay has offered solidarity to Taiwan. The South American nation is one of just 14 nations formally recognising Taiwan as a country.

“Paraguay expresses its solidarity with the Republic of China (Taiwan) in the context of the threats it has been subjected to,” Mario Abdo Benítez said on Twitter.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Kyiv calls Amnesty report that says Ukrainian forces are putting civilians at risk a ‘perversion’ – as it happened

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Kyiv hits back after charity says Russia’s attacks ‘unjustifiable’ but Ukraine’s tactics are endangering civilians. This live blog is closed.

The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog has again appealed for access to a Ukrainian nuclear power plant now controlled by Russian forces to determine whether it was a source of danger.

Contact with the Europe’s largest nuclear plant, which is at Zaporizhzhia and is being operated by Ukrainian technicians under occupation, was “fragile” and communications did not function every day, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Rafael Grossi told Swiss paper Tages-Anzeiger.

During the day, pyrotechnic units of the state emergency service were involved 117 times, 691 explosive objects were detected, removed and neutralised. The territory with an area of 92 hectares was surveyed.

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Julian Assange’s family urge Australian PM Anthony Albanese to intervene before US extradition

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John and Gabriel Shipton say they’re frustrated at Australian PM for lack of progress in WikiLeaks founder’s case since Labor was elected

Julian Assange’s family have said the Albanese government needs to intervene in the case before he is extradited to the US, saying it would effectively be a “death sentence” for the WikiLeaks founder if there was no intervention.

The plight of Assange, who is being held in UK’s Belmarsh prison pending an appeal against his extradition to the US, has been raised with the new US ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy, by Assange’s Australian solicitor, Stephen Kenny.

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Russia to open duty-free shops selling western imports to foreign diplomats

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Goods must be paid for in foreign currency, a practice reminiscent of Soviet-era beryozka stores

Russia will introduce duty-free shops selling western imports to diplomats for foreign currency in a practice that will remind many Russians of the infamous beryozka stores that epitomised official privilege during the Soviet era.

The shops, which could open as soon as the autumn, will sell imported goods that may become hard to find in ordinary Russian shops as foreign brands flee the country over the war in Ukraine.

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China to begin series of unprecedented live-fire drills off Taiwan coast

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Island accuses Beijing of planning to breach sovereign territory in wake of controversial visit by Nancy Pelosi

China is to begin a series of unprecedented live-fire drills that would effectively blockade the island of Taiwan, just hours after the departure of US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, whose controversial visit this week has sparked fears of a crisis in the Taiwan strait.

Taiwan has characterised the drills, which will last until Sunday afternoon – and will include missile tests and other “military operations” as close as nine miles to Taiwan’s coastline – as a violation of international law.

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Truss hits out at China’s ‘inflammatory’ reaction to Pelosi’s Taiwan visit

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UK foreign secretary calls US House speaker’s trip ‘perfectly reasonable’ and urges China to de-escalate

Liz Truss has criticised China’s “inflammatory” response to a senior US politician visiting Taiwan and called for a de-escalation ahead of military drills expected over the coming days.

Hours after the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, ended a historic trip to the island about 100 miles east of China, the UK foreign secretary said her meetings with human rights activists and others were “perfectly reasonable”.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: Scholz insists turbine at centre of Russian gas row works; 10m Ukraine border crossings since invasion – as it happened

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German chancellor says no reason to hold up return of turbine behind energy standoff; UN says number of border crossings from Ukraine passes 10m mark

Mykola Tochytskyi, deputy minister of foreign affairs, has repeated Ukraine’s request for the skies over nuclear installations to be closed to prevent a potential accident and their misuse. He posted to Twitter saying:

The Russian leadership openly threatens the world with its ability to use nuclear weapons, backed by the clear calls to do so by the Russian state media.

For the first time in history, civil nuclear facilities have been turned into military targets and springboards for the Russian army in breach of the non-proliferation provisions on peaceful use of nuclear energy.

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Tinder chief leaves dating app after one year

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News of Renate Nyborg’s exit came as Match Group reported results that missed Wall Street expectations

The chief executive of Tinder has left the dating app after less than a year after the market value of its parent company plunged by more than a fifth after reporting disappointing results.

The departure of Renate Nyborg was one of a number of management changes announced by the $20bn Match Group, which owns dating brands including Hinge, Tinder and Match.com.

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At least 24 people dead as flash flooding hits eastern Uganda

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More than 5,600 displaced and 400,000 left without clean water after heavy rain causes two rivers to burst banks

At least 24 people have died and more than 5,600 people have been displaced by flash flooding in eastern Uganda.

Two rivers burst their banks after heavy rainfall swept through the city of Mbale over the weekend, submerging homes, shops and roads, and uprooting water pipes. About 400,000 people have been left without clean water, and more than 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) of crops have been destroyed.

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Bristol bus boycott campaigner Roy Hackett dies at 93

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Civil rights activist led 1963 protests paving the way for passing of UK Race Relations Act

The civil rights activist Roy Hackett, who was one of the lead organisers of the Bristol bus boycott, has died at the age of 93.

The 1963 campaign, which lasted four months, mobilised people across the city to stop using Bristol Omnibus Company buses because of its refusal to hire black and Asian people. At the time, a “colour bar” in Britain meant that people from minority ethnic backgrounds could legally be banned from housing, employment and public places.

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South African police arrest more than 120 after gang-rape of eight women

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Dozens of zama-zamas – illegal miners from other countries – now being held in crime crackdown following music video shoot attack

Dozens of men detained after the alleged gang-rape of eight women on a music video shoot in South Africa are expected back in court on Wednesday as police made more arrests of artisanal miners blamed by local people for widespread violence.

The arrests on Tuesday near Krugersdorp, a city north-west of Johannesburg, bring the total number of people detained since the attack to more than 120.

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Delta flights attendants race to unionize: ‘We’re the people behind the profits’

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Workers say they just want a fair deal on pay, conditions and schedules at an airline has long resisted union efforts

Flight attendants at Delta are currently pushing to form a union at the only major airline in the US where flight attendants are not unionized.

Workers are racing to gather union authorization cards signed by a supermajority at Delta to trigger a union election over the next few months, as signatures are only valid for one year.

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Nancy Pelosi in Taiwan: calls for calm in Asia as US-China tensions rise

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South Korea calls for dialogue and Japan conveys concerns over drills, while North Korea praises China

The historic visit to Taiwan of the US House of Representatives speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has provoked a furious response from China, and heightened fears of a crisis in the Taiwan strait. In Asia and beyond, the visit has put governments on edge.

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Magnolia species lost to science for 97 years rediscovered in Haiti

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Conservationists find native magnolia for first time since 1925 after original habitat destroyed by deforestation

A conservation team has rediscovered a native magnolia tree in a forest in Haiti for the first time since it was lost to science in 1925.

Boasting pure white flowers and uniquely shaped leaves, the northern Haiti magnolia (Magnolia emarginata) was found originally in the forest of Morne Colombo, which has since been destroyed by deforestation. It was considered endangered and featured on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list of threatened species, and its discovery has sparked new hope for the potential rewilding of Haiti’s forests.

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