Category Archives: World News

Duke Cunningham, Vietnam flying ace and congressman convicted of bribery, dies at 83

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Decorated navy pilot who served in House of Representatives pleaded guilty to accepting illegal gifts

Randy “Duke” Cunningham, whose feats as a US navy flying ace during the Vietnam war catapulted him to a House of Representatives career that ended in disgrace when he was convicted of accepting $2.4m in bribes, has died. He was 83.

Cunningham died Wednesday at a hospital in a Little Rock, Arkansas, according to former representative Duncan L Hunter, who spent time with him a week before his death.

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Court blocks Trump bid to end protections for 600,000 Venezuelans

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Appellate panel upholds lower court’s ruling as homeland security spokesperson attacks ‘activist’ judges

A federal appeals court on Friday blocked Donald Trump’s plans to end protections for 600,000 people from Venezuela who have permission to live and work in the US, saying that plaintiffs are likely to win their claim that the president’s administration’s actions were unlawful.

A three-judge panel of the ninth US circuit court of appeals unanimously upheld a lower court ruling that maintained temporary protected status for Venezuelans while TPS holders challenge actions by the Republican president’s administration in court.

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Missouri governor calls special session to redraw congressional maps to aid Republicans

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State follows Texas’s lead in Trump’s push to gain more House seats for Republicans in 2026 midterms

The Missouri governor, Mike Kehoe, has moved to help the Republican party gain an additional seat in Congress, calling a special legislative session to redraw congressional districts in his state.

Kehoe’s announcement on Friday followed a pressure campaign from Donald Trump, who has urged Republican states to reshape district boundaries to more heavily favor Republicans, boosting the party’s chances of maintaining control of the House of Representatives in 2026.

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Eight people kidnapped from Haitian orphanage released after three weeks

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Irish aid worker and director Gena Heraty was taken along with seven Haitians, including a three-year-old child

An Irish aid worker and seven fellow captives have been released nearly a month after they were kidnapped in Haiti.

Gena Heraty, a missionary who ran the Our Little Brothers and Sisters orphanage in the hills outside Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, was abducted on 3 August along with seven Haitians, including a three-year-old child.

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Civil rights groups alarmed over Quebec’s move to ban prayer in public

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Announcement follows statements from Quebec premier, who expressed frustration over public prayers in Montreal

Quebec says it will ban prayer in public, a move that civil rights groups described as an “alarming measure” that targets religious minority groups and would infringe on “basic democratic freedoms”.

The province’s secularism minister, Jean-François Roberge, said the move had been prompted by the “proliferation of street prayer” which he described as “a serious and sensitive issue” adding that the government had watched with “unease”. Roberge said the government would introduce legislation in the fall.

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UN human rights staff urge leadership to declare Israel’s war in Gaza a genocide

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Internal letter also calls on UN member states to suspend arms sales, saying ‘criticising Israel is not enough’

Hundreds of employees of the United Nations’ leading human rights agency have backed an internal letter telling its leadership to declare Israel’s offensive in Gaza a genocide and to call on UN member states to suspend arms sales to Israel.

The 1,100-word letter, signed by about a quarter of the 2,000 staff of the Geneva- and New York-based Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), says the Israeli offensive in Gaza meets the legal threshold of genocide and that this means “arms sales, transfers and related logistical or financial support to Israeli authorities” constitutes a clear breach of international law by all those involved.

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Protests erupt in Indonesia over death of man hit by police vehicle

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Government faces calls for police reform amid violent clashes across Jakarta and demonstrations in other cities

Hundreds of Indonesians have protested at sites across Jakarta over the death of a man hit by a police vehicle, in the first big test for Prabowo Subianto’s nearly year-old government.

The man, a motorcycle ride-sharing driver, was hit at the site of violent clashes near parliament on Thursday as police sought to disperse demonstrators protesting about a number of issues including lawmakers’ pay and education funding.

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UN to end Lebanon peacekeeping mission next year after Israeli and US pressure

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Unifil mandate extended but troops patrolling Lebanon-Israel border to be withdrawn in December 2026

The UN security council has voted to extend the body’s peacekeeping mission in Lebanon for a further 16 months, but ordered it finished at the end of 2026 under Israeli and US pressure.

UNSC members voted unanimously on Thursday to extend the mandate for the UN interim force in Lebanon (Unifil) ahead of its expiration on Sunday, prompting relief from Lebanese officials who rely on it. The approved resolution said Unifil would begin an “orderly and safe withdrawal” of its 10,800 peacekeepers from Lebanon in December 2026.

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IDF declares famine-hit Gaza City a combat zone, ending ‘tactical pauses’ that allowed limited food delivery – Middle East crisis live

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Around one million Palestinian people expected to be displaced in shattered city where famine has been declared

A spokesperson for the Israeli military said earlier this week that the evacuation of Gaza City is “inevitable”. Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will launch its Gaza City assault while simultaneously pursuing a ceasefire, though talks have stalled.

The Israeli prime minister has claimed the assault is the best way to weaken Hamas and return hostages, but many hostage families disagree and fear it will endanger hostages lives.

In accordance with the situational assessment & directives of the political echelon, starting today at 10:00, the local tactical pause in military activity will not apply to the area of Gaza City, which constitutes a dangerous combat zone.

The IDF continues supporting humanitarian efforts while conducting operations to protect Israel.

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Backlash as White House chooses Robert F Kennedy Jr deputy to run CDC – US politics live

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Senators’ fury at developments at US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as Jim O’Neill picked to replace Susan Monarez

Nearly 1,000 “worker over billionaire” protests are being planned in all 50 states starting this weekend as part of a Labor Day week of action organized by labor unions and advocacy groups in opposition to the Trump administration’s policies.

The actions include marches and rallies in cities such as Chicago and Los Angeles, a Labor Day parade in New York City, rallies in Palmer, Alaska, Freeport, Maine, and a planned protest at the state capitol in Honolulu, Hawaii.

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US soldiers could be liable for war crimes in Gaza. Will they be prosecuted?

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Human Rights Watch says US military personnel could face criminal prosecution for assisting Israel’s war in Gaza

Human rights groups and activists who protest against continued US support for Israel have focused primarily on the flow of US weapons, warning that continuing to send weapons to a state which has been documented using them in probable war crimes makes the US complicit.

However, this week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) highlighted another facet of US military support for Israel: military cooperation and intelligence sharing.

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Giorgia Meloni ‘disgusted’ at posting of photos of her and other women on porn site

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Italian platform Phica closes after sharing altered images of PM, her sister, opposition leader and others

The Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has said she is “disgusted” that photos of her and other women were posted on a pornographic website, and called for the perpetrators to be swiftly identified and “punished with the utmost firmness”.

Images of Meloni’s sister, Arianna, and the opposition leader, Elly Schlein, were also discovered on the Italian platform Phica, which had more than 700,000 subscribers before its managers closed the site on Thursday, blaming users for “using the platform incorrectly”.

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UK bans Israeli officials from flagship defence show

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Israel says Britain’s decision to exclude it from military weapons showcase is a ‘regrettable act of discrimination’

The UK has banned Israeli officials from attending the country’s flagship defence event next month.

Israeli industry, including UK subsidiaries of Israeli companies, will be able to attend London’s Defence & Security Equipment International (DSEI) show in September but the UK government will not invite representatives of the Israeli government to the major industry event.

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Beach returned to First Nation after 170 years following Canada legal battle

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Stretch of Lake Huron shore was promised to Saugeen people in 1854 treaty with crown but was wrongly omitted from map

A stretch of beach will be returned to a First Nation in Canada 170 years after it was mistakenly omitted from its reserve. The sandy sliver of land measures less than two miles long, but has nonetheless sparked an outsized battle, with a nearby resort town claiming the case sets a foreboding precedent for property rights in the country.

Canada’s supreme court said on Thursday that it would not hear a challenge from the town of South Bruce Peninsula, which is contesting a lower court’s ruling that the Saugeen First Nation’s reserve was erroneously smaller than promised.

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Brawl in Mexico’s senate after debate over US military intervention to fight drug cartels

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Senators Alejandro ‘Alito’ Moreno and Gerardo Fernández Noroña fought in the senate after heated discussion

Mexico’s senate devolved into violence this week as two of the country’s top politicians shoved, grabbed and shouted at each other after a heated discussion over the presence of foreign troops in the country.

Alejandro “Alito” Moreno, head of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (Pri), grabbed at Gerardo Fernández Noroña, the senate president from the ruling Morena party, after lawmakers finished singing the national anthem to mark the end of the day’s session on Wednesday.

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Uncontacted Peruvian tribe on deadly collision course with loggers, group says

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Survival International says Mashco Piro seen in nearby Amazon village in alarming sign group is under stress

Members of an Indigenous tribe who live deep in Peru’s Amazon rainforest and avoid contact with outsiders have been reported entering a neighboring village in what activists consider an alarming sign that the group is under stress from development.

The sightings of members of Mashco Piro tribe come as a logging company is building a bridge that could give outsiders easier access to the tribe’s territory, a move that could raise the risk of disease and conflict, according to Survival International, which advocates for Indigenous rights.

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Israeli forces raid former air defence base near Syrian capital

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Operation at site south of Damascus is deepest into Syrian territory since ousting of Bashar al-Assad last year

Israeli forces raided a former air defence base in southern Syria on Wednesday during a series of airstrikes in the area – their farthermost such operation inside Syria since Bashar al-Assad was ousted last December.

The site, near the city of al-Kiswah, about 6 miles (10km) south of Damascus, was a strategic base for Iranian militias during Assad’s rule.

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Outrage in Italy over porn site with doctored images of prominent women

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Altered photos of women including Giorgia Meloni were posted on site along with vulgar and sexist captions

A pornographic website that posted doctored photos of a host of high-profile Italian women including the prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, and the opposition leader, Elly Schlein, has sparked outrage in Italy.

The photos, accompanied by vulgar and sexist captions, were either harvested from personal social media accounts or public sources before being altered and published on the Italian platform Phica, which has more than 700,000 subscribers.

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UK, Germany and France say they have triggered UN sanctions on Iran

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Move by trio of European powers gives Tehran 30 days to improve access for inspection of its nuclear sites

The UK, France and Germany have formally notified the UN that they have triggered the restoration of sweeping UN sanctions against Iran, giving Tehran 30 days to make concessions on access to its nuclear sites or face deeper worldwide economic isolation.

UK officials said the decision had not been taken lightly and there had been intensive diplomacy to try to avert this step. The officials emphasised there was still room for last-ditch diplomacy before the sanctions “snapback” comes into force in 30 days’ time. The annual high-level UN general assembly in September is likely to involve more intensive diplomacy over the situation with Iran.

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Rwanda accepts seven people from US as part of deportation deal

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Trump administration pushing controversial deal to send people to non-home countries including South Sudan and Eswatini

Seven people have arrived in Rwanda as part of a deal to accept deportees from the US, the Rwandan government has said.

The Trump administration has been negotiating arrangements to send people to third countries including South Sudan and Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, as part of its wider deportation drive.

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