Category Archives: World News

Ship carrying luxury cars sinks near Azores Islands after burning for weeks

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Authorities fear that thousands of tons of fuel carried onboard could leak and pollute the ocean

An abandoned ship carrying an estimated $401m (£295m) worth of cars, including Porsche, Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini models, has sunk nearly two weeks after a fire broke out onboard.

The Felicity Ace sank on Tuesday about 400 kilometers (250 miles) off Portugal’s Azores Islands as it was being towed, MOL Ship Management in Singapore said in a statement. A salvage team had put out the fire which had burned for days, fueled by lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles onboard.

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Ericsson admits breaking DoJ deal over Iraq corruption claims

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Telecoms group’s admission comes days after revelations about alleged bribes given to Islamic State

The Swedish telecoms group Ericsson broke a formal agreement with US prosecutors by withholding evidence about its involvement in corruption, the firm has announced.

The US Department of Justice had notified Ericsson that the firm has failed, as required, to hand over details of alleged corruption in Iraq to DoJ prosecutors.

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Germany unites behind chancellor’s historic U-turn on arming Ukraine

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Olaf Scholz accused of failing to consult over volte-face on military policy, but coalition partners and public back him

The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, ambushed his own party and coalition partners when he announced a historic 180-degree policy turn on defence spending and exporting lethal weapons, but for now he seems to be riding a wave of broad public support.

In a speech in front of the Bundestag on Sunday, Scholz crossed several red lines held by his own party in less than half an hour, when he announced that Germany would send missiles and anti-tank weapons to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression and set up a special €100bn (£83bn) fund to modernise its own forces. “A turning point in the history of our continent” called for an appropriate response, he said.

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Could the international criminal court bring Putin to justice over Ukraine?

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Even if Russian leader were charged, he would have to be arrested in a state that accepts the court’s jurisdiction

The prosecutor of the international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague announced this week that he would launch an investigation into possible war crimes or crimes against humanity in Ukraine. How likely are Putin or other Russian political or military leaders to be brought to justice and what are the obstacles that must be overcome for that to happen?

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Eighty-year-old study of British slave trade is back in the bestsellers list

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Capitalism and Slavery, by the future first prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago Eric Williams, argues that the abolition of slavery was motivated by economic, not moral, concerns

A book of unpalatable truths about Britain’s slave trade has become a UK bestseller, almost 80 years after author Eric Williams was told by a British publisher: “I would never publish such a book, for it would be contrary to the British tradition.”

Capitalism and Slavery was first published in the US in 1944. It was published in the UK by the independent publisher André Deutsch in 1964, with a number of reprints over the next 20 years.

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Space junk on collision course with the moon likely a Chinese rocket – experts

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Space junk to smash into the far side of the moon at 5,800mph on Friday and it may take weeks, even months, to confirm the impact

The moon is about to get walloped by 3 tons of space junk, a punch that will carve out a crater that could fit several semi-tractor-trailers.

The leftover rocket will smash into the far side of the moon at 5,800mph (9,300km/h) on Friday, away from telescopes’ prying eyes. It may take weeks, even months, to confirm the impact through satellite images.

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Starmer questions why Roman Abramovich is not facing UK sanctions

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Labour calls for tougher action against Russian oligarchs at PMQs as Ukrainian ambassador watches from gallery

Keir Starmer has questioned why Roman Abramovich has not faced UK sanctions over the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as Boris Johnson appeared to accept a Labour offer to strengthen a new bill cracking down on illicit assets.

At a prime minister’s questions that began with the rare sight of MPs standing in unison to applaud the Ukrainian ambassador, Vadym Prystaiko, who was watching from the public gallery, Starmer repeatedly called for tougher action against Russian oligarchs.

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European countries dominate half of Asian shark fin trade, report reveals

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Despite nearly a third of shark species nearing extinction, Spain supplied 51,000 tonnes of shark fins from 2003-20, says IFAW

European countries are selling so many shark fins to Asia that they dominate nearly half the trade, a study has found.

Shark populations continue to decline, driven by the global shark fin trade. Last year, scientists found a third of sharks and ray species have been overfished to near-extinction, jeopardising the health of entire ocean ecosystems and food security for many countries.

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Ukraine’s bid for fast-track membership of EU likely to end in disappointment

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Analysis: There is significant sympathy in the bloc for President Zelenskiy’s cause, but it may lead to no more than warm words

In his latest video address to the nation on Wednesday morning, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia was seeking to erase Ukraine, its history and people as he reiterated his appeal for the EU to fast-track its membership application: “This is no time to be neutral.”

There is an urgency to the Ukrainian president’s calls and, naturally, as images of the carnage in Ukraine’s cities beam back to Brussels, there is significant sympathy with his cause.

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Russian armoured vehicles and soldiers patrol Kherson, Ukraine – video

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Heavy fighting has been reported in Kherson, a city along the Black Sea in southern Ukraine, where the mayor said Russian forces had taken control of the railway station and the port by the early hours of Wednesday. Videos shared on social media show Russian military vehicles and soldiers patrolling the streets

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Fires and clashes break out at Covid protest outside New Zealand parliament – video

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Fires burned during violent clashes between protesters and police at an anti-vaccine mandate demonstration in the grounds of New Zealand’s parliament, in extraordinary and chaotic scenes rarely seen in the country    

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Ukraine president condemns Russian strike on Holocaust memorial – video

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The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said on Wednesday nearly 6,000 Russians had been killed in the first six days of Moscow’s invasion, and that the Kremlin would not be able to take his country with bombs and airstrikes. He condemned a missile strike on Babyn Yar, a Holocaust memorial in Kyiv, saying: 'It is beyond humanity'

• Russia-Ukraine crisis: live news

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Kharkiv administrative buildings on fire after Russian missile strike – video

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Russian missiles continued to hit administrative and residential buildings in Ukraine's second largest city, Kharkiv. A video released by Ukraine's ministry of emergency situations shows firefighters attempting to put out a fire burning in the regional headquarters of the ministry of internal affairs in Kharkiv

• Russia-Ukraine crisis: live news

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Patients dying as conflict prevents supplies reaching Tigray hospitals

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Medics unable to keep babies alive, says doctor, as Ethiopia’s civil war creates desperate shortages of drugs, oxygen, fuel and food

People in Tigray are dying due to a lack of oxygen and medicines, a doctor at the region’s largest hospital has said, as medics struggle to care for the sick amid frequent electricity blackouts and fuel shortages.

As the 16-month conflict between Tigrayan forces and Ethiopian government forces drags on, the isolated northern region of 5.5 million people continues to suffer under what the UN has called a de facto blockade.

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Egyptians seen in jail ‘torture’ videos charged with spreading fake news

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Public prosecutors’ claim that detainees inflicted injuries on themselves with a coin is ‘laughable’, says Human Rights Watch

Detainees seen in videos allegedly showing torture in a Cairo police station inflicted their injuries on themselves, according to Egyptian authorities, who have charged the prisoners with spreading “fake news”.

Up to 13 people detained in El-Salam First police station for unknown petty crimes made multiple videos that they say show the abuse they suffered at the hands of police officers and security forces.

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More rights defenders murdered in 2021, with 138 activists killed just in Colombia

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Most of 358 victims worked on land, environmental and indigenous rights, with more killed in Mexico, India and among Afghan women


A Colombian conservationist who saved a rare species of parrot from extinction, a young feminist activist in Afghanistan, and two poets in Myanmar who used words to protest against the military coup were among 358 human rights defenders murdered in 35 countries last year, analysis has found.

The environmentalist Gonzalo Cardona Molina, 55; Frozan Safi, a 29-year-old Afghan economics lecturer; and K Za Win and Khet Thi, two of several poets to be killed, were among those targeted because of their “peaceful and powerful” work, according to a global analysis of threats and attacks faced by human rights activists compiled by Front Line Defenders (FLD) and the Human Rights Defenders Memorial.

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Researchers gather evidence of possible Russian war crimes in Ukraine

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‘Open-source intelligence community’ is already collecting and studying video and photo evidence

Six days after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, there is mounting evidence that its military is committing war crimes with deadly attacks on civilians and the use of cluster munitions.

Eliot Higgins, the founder of the investigative journalism site Bellingcat, said there was evidence of Russia causing “civilian harm”, including through the use of “cluster bombs in civilian areas”, from credible video and stills of the conflict.

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Russia-Ukraine war latest: UN general assembly votes overwhelmingly to deplore invasion – live

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Russia intensifies bombardment of cities as Ukraine’s president insists Moscow will not be able to take his country with bombs and air strikes

Researchers are gathering evidence of possible Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

My colleague, Dan Sabbagh, reports that an ‘open-source intelligence community’ is already collecting and studying video and photo evidence that Russia’s military is committing war crimes with deadly attacks on civilians and the use of cluster munitions.

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State of the Union takeaways: Biden talks tough on Putin and touts Covid progress

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Ukraine dominated Biden’s address, but he set out plans to combat inflation and insisted America can move on from the pandemic

Joe Biden denounced Russian “tyranny” in his first State of the Union speech, but also carved plenty of time time to make his pitch for Democrats as the US midterm elections loom.

The president, who is struggling with a low approval rating and faces the prospect of Democrats losing control of the House and the Senate in the November, condemned Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. He announced a flight ban on Russian aircraft, before turning to the domestic policies Biden hopes will make voters choose him.

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Bombardment of Ukraine’s cities intensifies as Russia counters resistance with air strikes

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Heavy fighting in Kharkiv after Russian paratroopers land, as Biden warns Putin ‘will pay’ for invasion

Ukraine’s besieged cities have come under more heavy bombardment after Russian commanders facing fierce resistance intensified their shelling of urban areas.

As US president Joe Biden warned Vladimir Putin that he would “pay a price” for his aggression, the Russia leader’s forces have shown no sign of stopping an assault that has included strikes on the capital Kyiv and rocket attacks in the second city of Kharkiv, resulting in the deaths of dozens of people.

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