Category Archives: World News

Colombia urged to investigate botched army raid that left four civilians dead

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March raid in remote Putumayo village was intended to target former Farc dissidents now involved in cocaine trade

Colombian authorities are facing growing calls to investigate a botched army raid in which at least four civilians – including a 16-year old boy, a pregnant woman, and an Indigenous leader – were killed.

The raid took place early on 28 March in a remote village in the conflict-racked southern province of Putumayo. It was intended to target dissident guerrillas from the now-defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) who are now involved in the cocaine trade.

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iPhone maker Pegatron halts Shanghai production due to Covid lockdown

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Operations stopped in Chinese cities of Shanghai and Kunshan as global supply chains feel pinch of Beijing's zero-Covid measures

Key iPhone maker Pegatron has halted operations at two subsidiaries in the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Kunshan, as global supply chains feel the pinch of Beijing’s strict zero-Covid measures.

The business hub of Shanghai has become the heart of China’s biggest Covid-19 outbreak since the virus surfaced more than two years ago.

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Singapore hardens opinion against death penalty as ‘sense of injustice’ grows

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High-profile death row case prompts some Singaporeans to call for executions to be halted though overall support for capital punishment remains high

The news was delivered in just a few cold sentences. An appeal for clemency for Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, a man on death row whose case has prompted a global outcry, had failed.

“Please be informed that the position...remains unchanged” wrote Singapore president’s principal private secretary, in a letter to Nagaenthran’s family: “The sentence of death therefore stands.”

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Brooklyn subway attack: NYPD names ‘person of interest’ – live

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A press conference updating on the Brooklyn subway shooting that happened this morning in the Sunset Park neighborhood just wrapped up, with officials updating that 16 people were injured in today’s attack, including 10 people who were shot, and five people who are in critical but stable condition.

Officials also noted that other injuries from the incident included smoke inhalation, shrapnel, or panic induced from the incident, but said that the shrapnel was not from an explosive device.

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Reader call-out: how has the changing mood in New Zealand’s housing market affected you?

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House prices are dropping amid rising living costs and higher interest rates – what does that mean for you?

For the first time in more than a decade, New Zealand house prices recorded a quarterly drop. ANZ economists say the mood in the market has shifted – from “fear of missing out” to “I’m not paying that”.

We’re eager to hear from our New Zealand readers on how this might be affecting you.

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New York lieutenant governor quits after arrest on bribery and fraud charges

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Democrat Brian Benjamin pleads not guilty to several charges, as arrest creates political crisis for governor Kathy Hochul

New York’s lieutenant governor, Brian Benjamin, resigned on Tuesday in the wake of his arrest in a federal corruption investigation, the state’s Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, said.

The development created a political crisis for Hochul seven months after she selected Benjamin as a partner to make a fresh start in an office rocked by scandal after Governor Andrew Cuomo resigned amid allegations of bullying and sexual harassment.

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Mexican truckers blockade border crossings over Texas inspection delays

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Business groups warn of supply chain disruptions after Governor Greg Abbott orders checks for people and contraband smuggling

Mexican truck drivers have blockaded bridges at the border with the United States for a second day to protest against an order by the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, to increase safety inspections that has snarled traffic at ports of entry and led business groups to warn of supply chain disruptions.

“Yesterday it took me 17 hours to cross into the United States and return,” said Raymundo Galicia, a Mexican driver participating in a protest at the Santa Teresa bridge connecting San Jerónimo, Chihuahua, to Santa Teresa, New Mexico.

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Organized crime and corrupt officials responsible for Mexico’s disappearances, UN says

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Number of young people disappeared is increasing as total number of cases exceeds 95,000, very few of which are solved

Corrupt state officials and organized crime factions are to blame for Mexico’s soaring number of enforced disappearances, whose victims increasingly include children – some as young as 12, according to a new UN investigation.

Just over 95,000 people were registered as disappeared at the end of November 2021. Of those, 40,000 were added in the past five years, according to the new report by the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances.

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British man fighting in Ukraine forced to surrender to Russians

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Aiden Aslin said his unit in Mariupol has run out of food and ammunition and can no longer hold out

A Briton who has been fighting with the Ukrainian armed forces in the besieged city of Mariupol has been forced to surrender along with his unit to the Russians because they have run out of food and ammunition.

Aiden Aslin, from Newark, joined Ukraine’s marines in 2018 but has told friends and family that he and his comrades cannot hold out any longer as the Russians gradually tighten their grip on the southern port city.

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Vladimir Putin insists Russia will achieve its ‘noble’ goals in Ukraine

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President dismisses killing of civilians in Bucha by Russian forces as ‘fake’

Vladimir Putin has insisted that his bloody campaign in Ukraine will continue until its “noble” goals have been achieved, arguing that the invasion was proceeding as planned, despite fierce Ukrainian resistance and heavy losses among Russian forces.

“We will achieve our objectives, there are no doubts,” Putin told workers at the Vostochny cosmodrome in Russia’s far east, in his first public comments on the war since his forces were forced to retreat from northern Ukraine more than a week ago.

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Civilians flee eastern Ukraine ahead of new Russian offensive

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Governor of Luhansk urges people to evacuate as Vladimir Putin insists Moscow will achieve its ‘noble’ aims

Civilians have fled eastern Ukraine in advance of a forecast attack, as Russian forces closed in on the ruins of Mariupol – where 21,000 civilians have reportedly died – and Vladimir Putin said Moscow’s invasion would proceed “calmly” and to plan.

Ukrainian forces in the east dug in on Tuesday for a major new Russian offensive, with the governor of Luhansk, Serhiy Gaidai, urging all residents to evacuate as soon as possible using agreed humanitarian corridors. “It’s far more scary to remain and to burn in your sleep from a Russian shell,” Gaidai said on social media. “Evacuate: with every day the situation is getting worse. Take your essential items and head to the pickup point.”

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Novichok poisonings: Nick Bailey reaches settlement with police force

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Bailey says he has continued to suffer from trauma of nerve agent attack in Salisbury in March 2018

A police officer who suffered novichok poisoning when he searched the home of the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal following the Salisbury nerve agent attack has reached a settlement with his former force.

Lawyers for Nick Bailey argued that he continued to suffer from the trauma of the poisoning more than four years on and made a personal injury claim against Wiltshire police.

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Spiraling housing prices are an ‘intergenerational injustice’, says Canada’s deputy PM

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Chrystia Freeland, who also serves as the finance minister, says the issue is her top domestic concern amid affordability crisis

Canada’s finance minister has described the country’s out-of-control housing prices as an “intergenerational injustice”, as political leaders struggle to rein in a spiralling affordability crisis.

Chrystia Freeland, who also serves as Canada’s deputy prime minister, said the issue is her top domestic concern.

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Bolsonaro faces stiff questioning over Brazilian army’s Viagra purchase

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Navy and air force – which reportedly bought over 30,000 pills – claim drug is being used to treat pulmonary hypertension

Opponents of the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, are demanding answers after the revelation that the country’s armed forces had splashed out on tens of thousands of impotence pills.

“We must understand why the Bolsonaro administration is spending public money on buying such large quantities of Viagra,” the lawmaker Elias Vaz declared after Brazilian media reported the seemingly unorthodox acquisitions on Monday.

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Gay references removed from Fantastic Beasts 3 for Chinese release

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Big-budget fantasy sequel has had six seconds cut, as Warner Bros releases statement to say ‘the spirit of the film remains intact’

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore has been edited for release in China to ensure any gay references have been removed.

The fantasy sequel, which has an estimated budget of $200m, contains allusions to a romantic history between the characters of Dumbledore and Grindelwald, played by Jude Law and Mads Mikkelsen respectively. Six seconds of dialogue, including the lines “Because I was in love with you” and “The summer Gellert and I fell in love”, were taken out for the Chinese release on 8 April.

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‘Hurricane Hazel’: Canada political icon, 101, still flying high as airport director

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Hazel McCallion retired as mayor of Mississauga after 36 years in 2014 but the ‘pragmatic populist’ has shown little sign of easing up

When Hazel McCallion retired in 2014 as the mayor of the Canadian city of Mississauga, she was 93.

But while most people her age typically retreat from the spotlight of public life, “Hurricane Hazel” has shown little interest in slowing down. At 101, she recently accepted an offer to extend her role as a director for the greater Toronto airport authority, a contract that will last three years.

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US tells some consulate staff to leave Shanghai as Covid outbreak worsens

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State department cites risk of children and parents being separated as EU warns zero-Covid strategy eroding investor confidence

The US has said it has asked all its non-essential staff and their family members at the Shanghai consulate to leave, in Washington’s latest response to the financial hub’s handling of the worsening Covid outbreak.

The state department ordered the departure “due to the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak” there, according to a spokesperson from its Beijing embassy. “It is best for our employees and their families to be reduced in number and our operations to be scaled down as we deal with the changing circumstances on the ground,” the person said on Tuesday.

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Russia-Ukraine war latest: Zelenskiy announces capture of Putin ally in Ukraine – live

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Russian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, leader of Ukraine’s biggest opposition party, had been in hiding since the early days of the invasion

More than 6,000 alleged war crimes committed by Russian troops in Ukraine are under investigation, Ukraine’s prosecutor’s office has said.

A total of 6,036 cases have been reported and 186 children have been confirmed to have been killed, the office added.

Security work is under way in the northern regions of our country, from where the occupiers were expelled.

First of all, it is mine clearance. Russian troops left behind tens if not hundreds of thousands of dangerous objects. These are shells that did not explode, mines, tripwire mines. At least several thousand such items are disposed of daily.

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Australia politics live updates: Joyce announces $1.5bn Darwin port facility; Coalition costing of Labor policies ‘laughable’, says Gallagher

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Deputy PM promises $1.5bn investment for new Darwin port; Labor senator takes shot at Coalition’s ‘dodgy costings unit’; Scott Morrison promises to create 1.3m new jobs in the next five years; Anthony Albanese announces greater mental health support for regions; nation records 38 more Covid deaths. Follow all the day’s news

Scott Morrison has called in to Adelaide radio station FiveAA to speak with David Penberthy.

Penberthy wanted to know whether Morrison’s standing contributed to the collapse in the Liberal party’s vote in the recent South Australian state election.

It’s a federal election.

It’s a macro number that we do right across the economy.

I think prime minister Ardern was appropriate when she said she wasn’t going to engage in a domestic election in Australia. I would say this – this is a recommendation of the royal commission. This is a recommendation that arises out of the situation that we see older Australians facing. Neglect, people are being neglected.

Now, what we are saying is let’s work to bring in more nurses to the sector ... a lot of nurses leave the sector every year, or leave their employer. We need to train more Australians to get into this workforce, and yes, as is currently the place, migration will be part of the story but not all of the story.

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Palestinian man stabs Israeli police officer and is shot dead in Ashkelon

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Police say assailant was man in his 40s from flashpoint city of Hebron who was being checked by officer

A Palestinian man stabbed a police officer with a kitchen knife and was shot dead in the Israeli port city of Ashkelon.

Police said an officer was checking a person who had aroused his suspicion on Tuesday when “the attacker pulled out a knife and attacked the officer”. The officer “responded quickly, fired and neutralised the suspect”.

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