Category Archives: World News

Food protests continue across Iran as one person reported dead

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Soaring prices of wheat and basic goods bring protests to cities across Iran as internet outages suggest attempted clampdown

Protests over soaring food prices continued in several cities in Iran on Saturday, according to postings on social media, while an Iranian lawmaker told local media one person was killed in a demonstration in the south-west.

The protests were triggered last week by a cut in state subsidies for imported wheat that caused price hikes of as much as 300% for a variety of flour-based staples. The government of President Ebrahim Raisi also raised prices of basic goods such as cooking oil and dairy products.

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Judgment day for ‘narcissistic’ Greek pilot who killed British wife Caroline Crouch

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Babis Anagnostopoulos spent 10 chilling hours in an Athens courts calmly describing the murder of his wife

Last week, Greek helicopter pilot Babis Anagnostopoulos stood in the dock of an Athens court and related the circumstances that led him to suffocate his British wife. Over the course of 10 hours he barely paused. Coolly and calmly, from 10am to 8pm, he addressed the tribunal.

He recalled the dream life he had shared with the woman whom he would go on to asphyxiate; his decision to choke her beloved puppy, Roxy, hanging the pet dog from the banister of the couple’s maisonette; his love for his baby daughter, whom he would place next to her dead mother’s body; and his determination in a moment “of chaos” to cover up the killing as a robbery gone terribly wrong.

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Russia’s Black Sea blockade pushing millions towards famine, G7 says

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Foreign ministers call for action to allow export of Ukrainian grain, as Kyiv claims Russian withdrawal from second-largest city

Millions of people will starve to death unless Russia allows the export of Ukrainian grain from blockaded ports, foreign ministers from the G7 have said.

As Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, warned that Vladimir Putin was intransigent during their bilateral call on Friday, the ministers from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and US condemned Moscow for stoking a food crisis.

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Ukraine refugees staying with UK hosts not cleared by criminal record checks

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Concerns grow for safety of those heading to Britain as government scrambles to fix flaws in housing scheme

• Russia-Ukraine war: latest developments

Ukrainians fleeing the war are being housed with UK hosts who have not had a criminal record check, in the latest concern to blight the government’s response to the refugee crisis.

Under increasing pressure to iron out flaws in its schemes, government sources told the Observer they were creating a “rematching” service to house Ukrainians with people willing to help.

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Secret British ‘black propaganda’ campaign targeted cold war enemies

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Britain stirred up tensions, chaos and violence in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, according to declassified papers

The British government ran a secret “black propaganda” campaign for decades, targeting Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia with leaflets and reports from fake sources aimed at destabilising cold war enemies by encouraging racial tensions, sowing chaos, inciting violence and reinforcing anti-communist ideas, newly declassified documents have revealed.

The effort, run from the mid-1950s through to the late 70s by a unit in London that was part of the Foreign Office, was focused on cold war enemies such as the Soviet Union and China, leftwing liberation groups and leaders that the UK saw as threats to its interests

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Sri Lankan president ‘Gota’ clings on to power despite violent protests and new PM

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Further intense unrest puts more pressure on the presidency of Gotabaya Rajapaksa

They have called it “Gota Go Village”. Here, on what was once an empty stretch of lawn outside the office of the Sri Lankan prime minister, on Colombo’s seafront Galle Face promenade, a thriving community has sprung up. There are tents, food stalls, a library, a memorial, art installations, stages for music and speeches, and even the beginnings of a small farm growing vegetables and fruit from recently planted trees. Nearby, a patch has been set aside to cultivate rice.

It began as the focal point of the anti-government protests that have engulfed Sri Lanka for months as the country goes through the worst economic crisis since independence. As fuel, food and medicine have run short, the blame has been placed firmly at the feet of one man, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, widely known as Gota, who stands accused of economic mismanagement and corruption pushing the country to the brink of bankruptcy. The calls from the majority of the population have been clear: Gota must step down.

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Mitch McConnell visits Kyiv with delegation of Republican US senators

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Senators meet Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy who praises US bipartisan support for his country

The US Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, has joined the growing list of US politicians making visits to Kyiv, it emerged on Saturday

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomed McConnell’s visit as a powerful signal of bipartisan support for Ukraine.

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Protests in Nigeria after arrests for ‘blasphemy’ killing of female student

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Demonstrators demand release of two students held after murder of Christian woman in Sokoto

Hundreds of people in Nigeria’s north-western city of Sokoto demonstrated on Saturday over the arrest of two students after the murder of a Christian student accused of blasphemy, residents said.

Africa’s most populous country is roughly divided between Muslims and Christians but religious tensions and deadly clashes are not uncommon, particularly in the north.

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West must not lift sanctions on Maduro, says Venezuelan opposition

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Helping president would hand victory to autocratic alliance led by Russia, warns deputy foreign minister

The west must not backslide into aiding the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, or it will hand victory to an autocratic alliance led by Vladimir Putin and weaken the democratic cause in Europe and Venezuela, the country’s deputy foreign minister, Isadora Zubillaga, has warned.

A delegation of Venezuelan opposition politicians have been touring Europe in an attempt to reassure the west that despite recent divisions and setbacks, they have a viable strategy to secure new presidential elections.

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India bans all wheat exports over food security risk

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Move imposed with immediate effect in attempt to control prices after heatwave damages crops

India, the world’s second largest producer of wheat, has banned all exports with immediate effect after a heatwave affected the crop.

A notice in the government gazette by the directorate of foreign trade, dated Friday, said a rise in global prices for wheat was threatening the food security of India and neighbouring and vulnerable countries.

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Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan becomes UAE president

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Speed of transition, one day after death of Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, appears designed to show unity

Rulers in the United Arab Emirates have unanimously appointed Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as the president of the hereditarily ruled nation on the Arabian peninsula.

The state-run WAM news agency said the rulers of the country’s seven sheikhdoms made the decision at a meeting held in Al Mushrif Palace in Abu Dhabi.

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Shireen Abu Aqleh: UN security council condemns killing of journalist

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In rare unanimous statement, council calls for ‘immediate and impartial’ inquiry into the Al Jazeera journalist’s death

The UN security council has unanimously condemned the killing of Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh while she was covering an Israeli army raid in the occupied West Bank, diplomats said.

In a rare unanimous statement, the security council also called for “an immediate, thorough, transparent and impartial investigation into her killing”.

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US condemns Israel’s attack on Shireen Abu Aqleh’s funeral

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Antony Blinken says US ‘deeply troubled’ after police stormed procession for Palestinian American journalist

Joe Biden’s secretary of state has issued a statement condemning Israeli forces for their attack hours earlier on the funeral procession in Jerusalem of a Palestinian American journalist who was shot and killed this week.

“We are deeply troubled by the images of Israeli police intruding into the funeral procession of Palestinian American Shireen Abu Aqleh,” Antony Blinken’s statement on his official Twitter account read. “Every family deserves to lay their loved ones to rest in a dignified and unimpeded manner.”

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Manhunt under way in Texas after convicted murderer escapes prison bus

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Gonzalo Lopez stabbed the driver and fled on Thursday as inmates were bussed through a rural area between Houston and Dallas

A convicted murderer serving a life prison sentence in Texas stabbed a transport bus driver and escaped Thursday, setting off a frantic manhunt that was ongoing more than a day later.

The getaway happened as officers bussed Gonzalo Lopez, 46, and other inmates through a rural area between Houston and Dallas about 1.20pm. Lopez somehow slipped out of his shackles, used an unspecified sharp object to stab the driver in the hand and lunged for the wounded officer’s service pistol, Robert Hurst of the Texas department of criminal justice told reporters.

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US defence chief urges Ukraine ceasefire in call with Russian counterpart – as it happened

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Psaki’s final White House briefing continues.

“I promised myself I wouldn’t get emotional,” she says. She succeeds.

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Breakaway region of Georgia to hold referendum on joining Russia

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South Ossetia, focal point of Russia-Georgia war of 2008, will decide whether to subsume itself into larger neighbour in July

Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia will hold a referendum on joining Russia on 17 July, the region’s leader announced on Friday.

“Anatoly Bibilov signed a decree on holding a referendum in the Republic of South Ossetia,” his office said in a statement, citing his people’s “historic aspiration” to join Russia.

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Intoxication can be violent crime defense, Canada supreme court rules

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People accused of violent crimes such as homicide and sexual assault can use self-induced extreme intoxication as a defense

Canada’s supreme court has ruled that defendants accused of violent crimes such as homicide and sexual assault can use self-induced extreme intoxication as a defense, striking down a federal law supported by women’s advocacy groups.

The supreme court said on Friday a law passed by parliament in 1995 that prohibits the defense was unconstitutional and violates the country’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

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Ariana Grande and other stars support Roe v Wade in New York Times ad

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Billie Eilish and Megan Thee Stallion denounce likely overturning of abortion rights: ‘We will not go back – and we will not back down’

Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Megan Thee Stallion, Olivia Rodrigo and Selena Gomez joined a slew of fellow music stars and other celebrities to take out a full-page advertisement in Friday’s New York Times decrying the looming fall of nationwide abortion rights.

“The supreme court is planning to overturn Roe v Wade,” read the ad, referring to the landmark 1973 ruling that in effect legalized abortion across the US. “Our power to plan our own futures and control our own bodies depends on our ability to access sexual and reproductive health care, including abortion.”

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Ukraine has repelled Russia’s attempt to cross Donbas river, UK confirms

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Russia incurred heavy losses during Siverskyi Donets River attempt, according to defence intelligence

Ukrainians have repelled multiple attempts by the Russians to cross a strategically significant river in the Donbas, inflicting heavy losses in the process, according to local officials and British intelligence.

Serhiy Haidai, the governor of the Luhansk region, said Russian forces had been repulsed three times as they tried to cross the Siverskyi Donets River, 12 miles (20km) west of Severodonetsk, losing armour and bridging equipment.

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