Category Archives: World News

Sri Lanka president to name new PM as unrest simmers amid economic crisis

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Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned this week after his supporters attacked anti-government protesters and ran riot in Colombo, unleashing days of violence

Beleaguered president Gotabaya Rajapaksa was set to name a new prime minister on Thursday to try to steer Sri Lanka out of its dire economic crisis after days of violence, officials said.

Respected five-time former premier Ranil Wickremesinghe was the frontrunner to head a “unity government” with cross-party support in the 225-member parliament and replace Rajapaksa’s elder brother Mahinda who stepped down on Monday.

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Queen’s A Night at the Opera inspires Japanese take on Romeo and Juliet

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A Night at the Kabuki, which shifts the star-crossed lovers to 12th-century Japan, will visit London on an international tour

A Night at the Opera, the classic rock album by Queen, has inspired a Japanese theatre production that will visit London this autumn as part of an international tour.

Created by Hideki Noda, A Night at the Kabuki includes songs from the British band’s 1975 album which is best known for its singles Bohemian Rhapsody and You’re My Best Friend. The master tapes from the studio recording of the album are used in the show, which has a storyline set in 12th-century Japan and is inspired by Romeo and Juliet.

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Finland expected to announce bid to join Nato

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Nato allies expect Finland and Sweden to be granted membership quickly, a move Putin has warned would have ‘serious military consequences’

Finland is expected to announce its intention to join Nato on Thursday with Sweden likely to follow soon after, diplomats and officials have said, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reshapes European security and the Atlantic military alliance.

Nato allies expect Finland and Sweden to be granted membership quickly, five diplomats and officials told Reuters, paving the way for increased troop presence in the Nordic region during the one-year ratification period.

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North Korea admits to Covid outbreak for first time and declares ‘severe national emergency’

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Omicron infections create ‘biggest emergency incident in the country’, according to state media, as Kim Jong-un chairs response meeting

North Korea has declared a “severe national emergency” after confirming its first outbreak of Covid-19, prompting its leader, Kim Jong-un, to vow to quickly eliminate the virus.

State media reported on Thursday that a sub-variant of the highly transmissible Omicron virus, known as BA.2, had been detected in the capital, Pyongyang.

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Sadiq Khan launches commission to examine cannabis legality

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Mayor of London says panel of experts will consider effectiveness of UK policies on non-class A drugs

Sadiq Khan has announced a commission to examine the effectiveness of the UK’s drug laws, with a particular focus on those governing cannabis.

The London drugs commission, to be chaired by Lord Charlie Falconer QC, a former lord chancellor and justice secretary, was one of Khan’s manifesto pledges in his re-election bid last year.

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Car crash kills Papua New Guinea’s deputy PM, Sam Basil

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Leader of United Labour party was taken to hospital with three others and died despite efforts to revive him

Papua New Guinea’s deputy prime minister, Sam Basil, has died after a car crash, police have said.

Basil died in hospital while awaiting airlift to Port Moresby late on Wednesday after the crash, which took place in the Wau-Bulolo region, Morobe province.

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Democrats lose Senate vote to codify abortion rights into federal law

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Final tally was 49-51, with all Republicans and one conservative Democrat, Joe Manchin, voting against the measure

The US Senate on Wednesday failed to advance legislation that would codify the right to an abortion into federal law, after it was blocked by Republicans.

It was a largely symbolic vote by Democrats to mobilize Americans around the issue ahead of a likely supreme court decision striking down the protections enshrined by Roe v Wade.

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Two Britons testify against Interpol chief in UAE torture claim

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Matthew Hedges and Ali Issa Ahmad allege Ahmed Naser al-Raisi was responsible for abuse in detention

Two British men who spent time in detention in the United Arab Emirates have testified in Paris that an Emirati security official who is now the president of Interpol was responsible for their alleged torture.

Matthew Hedges, an academic imprisoned in the UAE for seven months on espionage charges he denies, and Ali Issa Ahmad, who was detained in Dubai for wearing a Qatar football shirt, testified before the investigating judge of the specialised judicial unit for crimes against humanity and war crimes of the Paris tribunal.

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Russia-Ukraine war updates: peace talks harder ‘with each new Bucha’, says Zelenskiy – as it happened

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UK signs security assurance declarations with Sweden and Finland; Ukraine leader says discovery of atrocities makes peace negotiations harder

Two points of note from the operational update of the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces this morning. They claimed:

In the Donetsk and Luhansk oblast, defenders of Ukraine repulsed 12 enemy attacks, destroyed 12 tanks, four artillery systems, 19 units of armoured combat vehicles, seven cars and two units of special engineering equipment of the enemy.

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Al Jazeera accuses Israeli forces of killing journalist in West Bank

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Israeli official appears to back away from earlier claims Palestinians to blame for death of Shireen Abu Akleh

Al Jazeera has accused Israel of deliberately killing one of its reporters during a military raid in the occupied West Bank town of Jenin.

Shireen Abu Akleh, 51, a Palestinian American and one of the Arab world’s best-known journalists, who had covered the conflict for decades, was shot in the head on Wednesday morning and taken to hospital in a critical condition.

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Sri Lanka unrest: shoot on sight order issued as troops deployed in Colombo

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Fears grow path is being laid for a military takeover, although this was denied by top defence official

Troops and armoured vehicles have been deployed across the city of Colombo and security officials given orders to shoot on sight anyone deemed to be participating in violence as anti-government protests continued to rock Sri Lanka.

The crisis turned volatile earlier this week after pro-government supporters began attacking a camp of peaceful demonstrators who had been protesting against the government and the devastating economic crisis that has engulfed the island of 22 million people.

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US inflation rate slows but remains close to 40-year high

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Consumer price index reveals costs rising by a monthly rate of 0.3% in April, down from 1.2% in March, the first fall since August 2021

Price rises slowed in the US in April but the annual inflation rate remained close to a 40-year high, leaving many Americans struggling to afford necessities including food, shelter and fuel.

The latest consumer price index (CPI) figures – which measure a broad range of goods and services – showed prices rising by a monthly rate of 0.3% in April, down from 1.2% in March, the first fall since August 2021.

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Delaware governor denounces police search of HBCU lacrosse bus in Georgia

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John Carney says stop and search of bus carrying lacrosse team from Delaware State University ‘upsetting and concerning’

The governor of Delaware has publicly condemned authorities in Georgia who searched a bus carrying a lacrosse team from a historically Black college, in what many called an instance of racial profiling.

John Carney, a Democrat, released a statement about the incident, in which police officers searched the bus carrying the Delaware State University women’s lacrosse team after stopping the driver for a traffic violation.

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Chinese taxi app Didi shelves plans for major overseas expansion

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Exclusive: Prominent tech company cuts half its UK employees amid signs of pressure from Beijing government

Chinese taxi app Didi has told staff it has put plans for major international expansions on hold until at least 2025 and cut half its UK employees amid pressure from Beijing on one of its most prominent tech companies.

Didi Chuxing has been on the back foot since last summer when the Cyberspace Administration of China, a powerful regulator, banned the country’s dominant ride-hailing company from listing its app on mobile app stores in the country.

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French TV news presenter faces multiple allegations of sexual offences

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Twenty women have accused Patrick Poivre d’Arvor, also known as PPDA, of sexual harassment and abuse

Twenty women have come forward to openly accuse one of France’s best-known television news presenters of sexual harassment and abuse – including rape – following an investigation by French journalists.

Patrick Poivre d’Arvor – known as PPDA – has faced a number of accusations that emerged after a writer first went to police to accuse him of rape, in February last year. The investigation was later dropped.

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Ukraine refugees who enter UK via Ireland may be sent to Rwanda, MPs told

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Minister also refuses to say whether Ukrainians who cross Channel in small boats could be sent to Africa

Undocumented people who travel from Ukraine to the UK via Ireland could be considered for removal to Rwanda, a senior Home Office official has told MPs.

During the same select committee hearing, a minister refused to say under repeated questioning whether Ukrainians who arrive in the UK across the Channel by boat could also be sent to the central African country.

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Hong Kong: Vatican ‘concerned’ over arrest of Cardinal Joseph Zen

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Prominent Catholic cleric, 90, detained with three others linked to disbanded charity for protesters

The Vatican has voiced concern after Hong Kong’s national security police arrested 90-year-old Cardinal Joseph Zen, one of Asia’s most senior and outspoken Catholic clerics.

Zen, a former bishop of Hong Kong, was arrested along with the singer and actor Denise Ho, the lawyer Margaret Ng, and the scholar Hui Po-keung.

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Tui tells holidaymakers not to expect last-minute deals despite surge in bookings

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Losses halve as travel bounces back from pandemic with reservations reaching 85% of summer 2019 level

The travel company Tui Group more than halved its losses over the past six months and is predicting a “strong travel summer” as customers continue to book long-awaited holidays despite cost of living pressures.

Europe’s largest holiday company said future bookings remained “unabatedly high” as international travel bounced back from the coronavirus pandemic, but said there would not be many last-minute deals because it was facing rising costs.

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US inflation dips to 8.3% but stays close to 40-year high –as it happened

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Rolling coverage of business, the world economy and the financial markets

National Grid has agreed to pay back £200m of revenues gleaned from subsea electricity cables early in an effort to cut painful household bills, reports Alex Lawson.

Under an agreement with watchdog Ofgem, the energy network operator must pay back revenues made from European ‘interconnector’ cables over a five-year period above a cap.

Since the price of materials is rising, we need to work to reduce the amount of materials we use as much as possible and to replace them with less expensive materials.

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