US general in Finland to back Nato bid; 14 million Ukrainians displaced in conflict, says UN; Macron says Putin isolated after ‘historic error’
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Estonia’s PM calls for new government talks as coalition collapses
Kaja Kallas said security concerns over Russia gave no ‘opportunity to continue cooperation’
Estonia’s prime minister, Kaja Kallas, has called for talks on a new government after her ruling coalition fell apart, urging unity because of security concerns over neighbouring Russia.
Kallas spoke to reporters after President Alar Karis accepted her request to dismiss seven Centre party ministers from the 15-strong cabinet, including the foreign minister, Eva-Maria Liimets.
Continue reading...Ron DeSantis blocks funds for Tampa Bay Rays after team’s gun safety tweets
- Florida governor defends vetoing funds for training facility
- Rays had joined Yankees in tweeting about gun safety
The governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, has defended his veto of $35m in funding for a potential spring training site for the Tampa Bay Rays, after the Major League Baseball team used social media to raise awareness about gun violence after mass shootings in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas.
“I don’t support giving taxpayer dollars to professional sports stadiums,” DeSantis said on Friday, when asked about the veto of the sports complex funding.
Continue reading...‘Like a bridge that connects us’: Pride parade comes to Bangkok amid new hope for LGBT rights
Event returns for first time in many years on Sunday as city appoints governor vocal in supporting LGBT community
Kath Khangpiboon has seen many joyful Pride parades abroad. She has watched in Spain and Canada as young people and families joined celebrations under the rainbow flag. Now, she is looking forward to seeing Pride in her city: Bangkok.
“I feel so much pride that an activity like this is happening,” says Kath, who is a lecturer at Thammasat University and a trans activist. Bangkok Naruemit Pride on 5 June – believed to be the first official Pride parade in the Silom area of Thailand’s capital for more than 15 years – comes as the city appoints its new governor, Chadchart Sittipunt, an independent politician who has been vocal in his support for LGBT rights.
Continue reading...EU imposes sanctions on Russian oil boss linked to seized superyachts
Eduard Khudainatov is blacklisted for ‘benefiting from the government of the Russian Federation’
The European Union has imposed sanctions on a Russian oil boss who is separately alleged by the US authorities to be acting as a “straw owner” of two yachts linked to Vladimir Putin and his inner circle.
Eduard Khudainatov served as chairman and chief executive of the state-controlled oil company Rosneft before setting up his own energy business, Independent Oil and Gas Company, which has grown rapidly to become one of Russia’s top oil producers with interests in extraction, refining and trading.
Continue reading...Myanmar junta says it will execute two prominent pro-democracy leaders
Four people including ex-MP Phyo Zeya Thaw and Ko Jimmy to be put to death
Myanmar’s junta has said it will execute a former lawmaker from Aung San Suu Kyi’s party and a prominent democracy activist, both of whom were convicted of terrorism, in the country’s first judicial executions since 1990.
Four people, including the former MP Phyo Zeya Thaw and the democracy activist Kyaw Min Yu, better known as Ko Jimmy, “will be hanged according to prison procedures,” Zaw Min Tun told AFP on Friday.
Continue reading...Russian troops pound Donbas as Ukraine war enters 100th day
Moscow has seized about a fifth of Ukrainian territory since its invasion and vows to continue ‘until all goals are achieved’
Ukraine will fight off Russia’s invasion, its president has said, while the Kremlin pledged to persist until “all our goals have been achieved” as Moscow’s war entered its 100th day with Russian troops pounding the Donbas region.
“Victory shall be ours,” Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video featuring the same key ministers and advisers who appeared with him in a defiant broadcast on 24 February, the day his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, launched his unprovoked assault.
Continue reading...Ukraine forces ‘recapture 20% of territory lost in Sievierodonetsk’ – as it happened
Ukrainian forces say they have pushed back Russians in the city
- 100 days of war that is reshaping Europe
- Ukrainians begin to ask: could we have prepared better?
- Children among 800 hiding below Sievierodonetsk factory
- At a glance: what we know on day 100 of the invasion
Reuters has what it says is an exclusive interview with prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova, who is overseeing multiple war crimes inquiries in Ukraine. It reports that prosecutors investigating war crimes cases in Ukraine are examining allegations of the forcible deportation of children to Russia as they seek to build a genocide indictment.
Venediktova said “We have more than 20 cases about forcible transfer of people. From the first days of the war, we started this case about genocide.”
Task #1 today for Russia — to undermine trust between Ukraine and US. Ukraine is waging a defensive war and does not plan to use the MLRS to attack facilities in Russia. Our partners know where their weapons are used. Any allegations of such intentions - PSYOP of Russian special services.
Continue reading...At least three dead as train derails in Alps in southern Germany
Authorities say a number of others injured in crash near resort town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen
A train has derailed in the Alps in southern Germany, leaving at least three people dead and a number of others injured, authorities said.
The train heading for Munich derailed at about 12.15pm on Friday in Burgrain, near the resort town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, according to federal police. Some carriages apparently ended up on their side. The cause was not immediately clear.
Continue reading...As war drags on, Ukrainians start to ask: could we have prepared better?
Some are looking back at weeks before invasion and asking if more could have been done
When Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in the early hours of 24 February, with mass missile strikes and the advance of a land force from several directions, many key Ukrainian officials were apparently caught by surprise. Some were fast asleep.
There had been rumours of a Russian invasion for weeks, and the previous evening US and Ukrainian intelligence received information that pointed to an invasion that night with almost certainty. Yet there was little in the way of last-minute efforts to fortify towns close to the border, or to warn citizens to brace for the inevitable.
Continue reading...Afghans with western links among rising number trying to cross Channel
Fivefold increase in refugees from Afghanistan crossing in small boats this year as they flee Taliban
Refugees who worked alongside international organisations in Afghanistan are among a rising number of Afghan asylum seekers in camps in northern France planning to cross the Channel in small boats.
The number of asylum seekers from Afghanistan crossing the Channel in small boats has risen fivefold this year, according to immigration figures released last week, as more refugees flee in the wake of the Taliban takeover.
Continue reading...Omicron subvariant drives spike in cases and deaths in Portgual
Europe faces prospect of further Covid measures later in the year as share of Omicron BA.5 cases rise in Portugal and Germany
A spike of Covid-19 cases and deaths in Portugal driven by the Omicron BA.5 subvariant in spite of warm temperatures is causing capitals across Europe to once again consider measures against a pandemic that has started to fade into public memory.
Portugal confirmed 26,848 new cases and recorded 47 Covid deaths on Wednesday – the highest daily death toll since 17 February, when 51 deaths from the disease were reported.
Continue reading...Nepali woman’s account of rape prompts wave of protest over laws
Calls grow for repeal of statute of limitations and widening of definition of rape after former model makes allegations on TikTok
A young woman’s account on TikTok of being drugged, raped and then blackmailed by a beauty pageant organiser when she was 16 years old has provoked outrage in Nepal and prompted calls to reform the country’s “grossly inadequate” rape laws.
In one of a series of videos, which together have been viewed millions of times, the former model and child actor broke down in tears as she talked about Nepal’s statute of limitations that dictates survivors must report cases of rape within one year of the offence being committed.
Continue reading...Al-Qaida enjoying a haven in Afghanistan under Taliban, UN warns
Intelligence report raises fears country could again become base for international terrorists
Al-Qaida has a haven in Afghanistan under the Taliban and “increased freedom of action” with the potential of launching new long-distance attacks in coming years, a UN report based on intelligence supplied by member states says.
The assessment, by the UN committee charged with enforcing sanctions on the Taliban and others that may threaten the security of Afghanistan, will raise concerns that the country could once again become a base for international terrorist attacks after the withdrawal of US and Nato troops last year.
Continue reading...Starmer urges PM to request India release UK citizen Jagtar Singh Johal
Labour leader writes to Boris Johnson after UN working group declared Johal’s five-year detention arbitrary
Keir Starmer has asked Boris Johnson to intervene and request that the Indian government release a British citizen after a UN working group declared his five-year detention arbitrary and without any legal basis.
In a letter, the Labour leader asks why Johnson has not acted to ask for the release of Jagtar Singh Johal given the findings of the UN report on arbitrary detention last month.
Continue reading...Elon Musk seeks 10% job cuts at Tesla over ‘super bad feeling’ about economy
Email to executives also calls for hiring freeze at electric car maker, which has 100,000 staff worldwide
Elon Musk is considering a hiring freeze and job cuts of up to 10% of staff at Tesla because he has a “super bad feeling” about the state of the economy, according to an internal email seen by Reuters.
Tesla currently has about 5,000 job openings advertised worldwide, and 100,000 employees. The email was sent to Tesla executives late on Thursday with the subject line “pause all hiring worldwide”, and comes days after Musk ordered all employees to return to the office for at least 40 hours a week or face immediate termination.
Continue reading...‘Disgusting’ behaviour at Canadian police undercover training course sparks inquiry
The British Columbia program was abruptly shut down and nine officers are reportedly under investigation after the incident
Policing experts in Canada have called for an overhaul of undercover tactics after reports that officers at a training session participated in “disgusting, appalling” behaviour, including penetrating a colleague using a vegetable, defecating on another and exposing genitalia.
According to Global News and CTV, the BC Municipal Undercover Program was abruptly shut down after the workshop in May, which included a role-playing exercise in which some participants went to “extreme lengths” to prove they were not officers.
Continue reading...Hong Kong police warn Tiananmen anniversary gatherings will break the law
Hong Kong has commemorated 1989 crackdown for decades, but national security law imposed in 2020 has put a stop to annual vigils
Hong Kong police have warned that people risk breaking the law if they gather on Saturday to commemorate China’s Tiananmen crackdown - particularly in the city’s Victoria Park, the site of a once annual candlelit vigil.
Discussion of the 4 June 1989 crackdown, when the Chinese government set troops and tanks on peaceful protesters, is forbidden in mainland China. For decades Hong Kong exercised its semi-autonomy and freedom of speech to hold an annual candlelit memorial for the victims. But after the national security law was brought in in 2020, that came to an end.
Continue reading...Mexico police arrest alleged serial killer who lured women with job offers
At least seven young women believed to have been killed after responding to ads on Facebook
Authorities in Mexico have arrested a suspected serial killer accused of luring at least seven young women on Facebook with false job offers.
Surveillance camera footage from two states showed the man meeting with the victims in public places, and in one case driving a victim away on a motorbike, officials said.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war latest: Russia occupying 20% of Ukraine, says Zelenskiy; Merkel condemns ‘barbaric war of aggression’ – live
Ukrainian president says 100 Ukrainians dying every day; former German chancellor makes first speech since leaving office
- Lviv commemorates 243 dead children in Ukraine war
- Analysis: Russia and the west compete to secure grain deliveries
- Long read: how Germany got hooked on Russian energy
- Ukrainians savour World Cup qualifier win on Kyiv streets
The official Telegram channel of Ukraine’s Mariupol authority has again posted accusations of war crimes being committed by pro-Russian occupation forces since they took full control of the city after the surrender of Ukrainian troops at the Azovstal steel plant. They say:
In the Mariupol district, the occupiers imprison and shoot Ukrainian volunteers and officials. All of them refused to cooperate with collaborators and the occupation authorities.
The fake Donetsk People’s Republic court sentenced the head of one of the Azov villages to ten years in prison. At least one civil servant was executed by firing squad.
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