Residents who escaped violence tell of bandits riding in on motorbikes and shooting indiscriminately
Armed assailants on motorbikes killed at least 32 people and burned houses and shops during raids on three villages in north-west Nigeria’s Niger state early on Saturday, local officials and residents who escaped the violence said.
The dawn raids targeted the communities of Tunga-Makeri, Konkoso, and Pissa.
Continue reading...Destined to a perilous life with no right to an education or to vote, state recognition ‘gives them hope’, campaigners say
Through the decades that the Daulatdia brothel in Bangladesh has existed, children born there have been invisible, unable to be registered because their mothers were sex workers and their fathers unknown. Now, for the first time, all 400 of them in the brothel village have their own birth certificates.
That milestone was reached after a push by campaigners who have spent decades working with Bangladesh’s undocumented children born in brothels or on the street. It means they can finally access the rights afforded to other citizens: the ability to go to school, to be issued a passport or to vote.
Continue reading...Jamaat e-Islami, oppressed under Sheikh Hasina’s rule, could take unprecedented share of the vote on Thursday
As the clock hit midnight, the women held their flame torches aloft and marched into the Dhaka night. “The people have given their blood, now we want equality,” they shouted above the roar of the traffic.
For many in Bangladesh, the past few weeks have been a cause for jubilation. The first free and fair elections in 17 years have been promised for Thursday, after the toppling of the regime of Sheikh Hasina in a bloody student-led uprising in August 2024 in which more than 1,000 people died.
Continue reading...Only two survivors rescued after boat overturned off Libyan coast, UN migration agency says
Fifty-three people are dead or missing after a boat capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off the Libyan coast, the UN migration agency said on Monday. Only two survivors were rescued.
The International Organization for Migration said the boat overturned north of Zuwara on Friday, in the latest disaster involving people attempting the perilous Mediterranean crossing in the hope of reaching Europe.
Continue reading...Donation of $6.25bn for children’s investment accounts prompts wave of questions – but details remain scarce
A tech billionaire and his wife said on Tuesday they would pour $6.25bn into individual investment accounts for 25 million children under 10, prompting a wave of new questions about how these so-called “Trump accounts” will work.
The creation of these accounts was included as part of Donald Trump’s massive tax and spending bill, which he signed into law in July. Every child born between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2028, can receive a Trump account that includes a $1,000 initial deposit from the administration. The money will then be invested.
Continue reading...US president’s xenophobic rant comes amid reports of stepped-up effort to deport Somalis in Minneapolis-St Paul
Donald Trump on Tuesday called Somali immigrants “garbage” and said they should be sent back home in a rant that came as the administration is reportedly increasing immigration enforcement against undocumented Somalis in Minnesota.
In a xenophobic rant during a cabinet meeting, Trump went off on Somalis and Ilhan Omar, the representative who is from Somalia and is a US citizen. He said Somalia “stinks” and is “no good for a reason”.
Continue reading...Trump signals imminent land strikes in Venezuela, blaming a navy admiral for a deadly September attack
Donald Trump warned on Tuesday that any country he believes is making drugs destined illegally for the US is vulnerable to a military attack.
The US president’s comments came during a question-and-answer session at the White House at which he also said military strikes on land targets inside Venezuela, which he has accused of narco-terrorism, would “start very soon”.
Continue reading...Russian president accuses European powers of preventing peace in Ukraine as he meets with Witkoff and Kushner
Vladimir Putin has accused European powers of preventing peace in Ukraine and threatened that Russia was ready for war as Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, arrived for talks at the Kremlin on Tuesday evening.
Moments before the closed-door meeting with Witkoff and Kushner, Putin made a series of hard-edged remarks. Speaking to reporters, he accused European governments of sabotaging the peace process and said that “European demands” on ending the war in Ukraine were “not acceptable to Russia”.
Continue reading...Much improved response systems are struggling to cope with ever more powerful and destructive storms
Families stranded on their rooftops. Homes buried by fast-flowing mud. Jagged brown craters scarring lush green hillsides.
The scenes are the result of a series of cyclones and storms in a heavy monsoon season that have struck Asia with torrential rains, gutting essential infrastructure and reshaping landscapes. The violent weather has killed at least 1,200 people in the past week and forced a million to flee without knowing whether their homes will still be standing when they go back.
Continue reading...Relations between French company Dassault and the German unit of Airbus are reportedly ‘very strained’
The leaders of France and Germany have a “strong willingness” to build a new fighter jet together despite bitter internal rivalries, according to the chief executive of engine manufacturer Safran.
A row over who should lead between French aerospace company Dassault and the German unit of Airbus has threatened to break apart the countries’ efforts to make a next-generation fighter jet.
Continue reading...New date to approve site near Tower Bridge in London aligns with Keir Starmer’s planned visit to Beijing
The government has delayed its decision on whether to approve China’s super-embassy in London until January, when Keir Starmer is expected to visit Beijing.
Ministers are expected to greenlight the controversial plans after formal submissions by the Home Office and Foreign Office raised no objections on security grounds.
Continue reading...Friends Melanie Watters and Janine Reid have been trapped in Pussellawa since Thursday
Two British women stranded by landslides in Sri Lanka’s tea mountains are running out of food and water, the daughter of one of them has said, as officials reported that the death toll of Cyclone Ditwah has reached 465.
Melanie Watters, 54, and her friend Janine Reid, 55, both from London, were being driven through the mountains from Kandy in central Sri Lanka on Thursday when the road in front of them was swamped, sending a bus nearby over a cliff-edge.
Continue reading...US defense secretary posted meme depicting beloved children’s character aiming rocket launcher at set of boats
A post on social media by US defense secretary Pete Hegseth, depicting a beloved children’s character aiming a rocket launcher at a cluster of boats, has elicited condemnation from the book’s Canadian publisher.
Hegseth’s post of the mocked cover of a Franklin the Turtle book titled Franklin Targets Narco Terrorists prompted disbelief and outrage. The image shows a smiling anthropomorphic turtle in military helmet and vest, with a US flag on his arm and a drug-laden boat exploding in the background. “For your Christmas wish list,” Hegseth wrote as the caption.
Continue reading...Belgian police raid EU foreign service HQ and College of Europe and arrest Federica Mogherini and two others
Belgian police have arrested three people including the EU’s former top diplomat Federica Mogherini and raided the headquarters of the EU foreign service and the elite College of Europe as part of an investigation into suspected fraud.
The three were detained “as part of a probe into suspected fraud related to EU-funded training for junior diplomats”, the European public prosecutor’s office said in a statement, without naming individuals.
Continue reading...Apple among big tech companies reportedly refusing to install Sanchar Saathi cybersecurity app on their devices
A political outcry has erupted in India after the government mandated large technology companies to install a state-owned app on smartphones that has led to surveillance fears among opposition MPs and activists.
Manufacturers including Apple, Samsung and Xiomi have 90 days to comply with the order to preload the government’s Sanchar Saathi, or Communication Partner, on every phone in India.
Continue reading...Independent inquiry into fire and media questions to leader would not happen in mainland China, but crackdown on dissent has begun
As Hong Kong mourns the victims of its worst fire in decades, the response to the disaster reveals the ways in which the semi-autonomous city retains differences from mainland China – and how some of those differences are being eroded.
Hong Kong’s leader, John Lee, announced on Tuesday the creation of an “independent committee” to investigate the blaze, which killed 151 people at the Wang Fuk Court apartment complex in Hong Kong’s New Territories.
Continue reading...Talks come after Witkoff led US discussions with Ukraine at weekend amid European concerns that Kyiv will be pressured to make concessions to Moscow
Finland and Sweden have announced increased collaboration between the neighbouring Nordic countries including on defence, civil preparedness and cyber security.
In a joint statement, the Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, and his Finnish counterpart, Petteri Orpo, said they would be deepening bilateral cooperation in response to “Russia’s offensive war against Ukraine and increasing geopolitical and economic challenges”.
This work is done with a clear focus on interoperability and being able to act jointly in the face of external threats.
Since last year, Sweden has also assumed the role of the framework nation for Nato’s forward-looking ground force FLF Finland [Nato’s forward land forces], a step in our joint commitment to security in the region.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: As suppliers get ready to meet policy makers and space agencies at the industry’s largest gathering, a look at the exploration and exploitation of space
Good morning. This week Glasgow hosts one of the UK’s largest ever gatherings of the space industry at Space-Comm. With representatives of Nasa, the UK and Scottish governments and the UK space agency among 2,000 space leaders gathering there, it is a chance for people in the commercial supply chain of the space exploration industry to meet policy makers and space agencies.
It comes at a crucial moment in the exploration – and exploitation – of space. For almost three decades the International Space Station (ISS) has bound the US and Russia into cooperation and shared interests. That project is nearing its end, and we can expect to see a realignment of missions and goals – which may bring states and scientists into conflict.
Politics | Britain’s budget watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility, has said the early leak of its budget documents before Rachel Reeves made her speech last week, was the “worst failure” in its 15-year history, as its chair resigned and it emerged a similar leak had happened earlier this year.
Health | The World Health Organization has urged countries to make weight loss drugs more accessible and pharmaceutical companies to lower their prices, saying jabs including Mounjaro represent a “new chapter” in the fight against obesity.
Ukraine | The coming days may be “pivotal” for talks to end the war in Ukraine, the EU’s top diplomat said, as Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Monday and the US envoy Steve Witkoff flew out to meet Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday.
Donald Trump | Donald Trump said he “wouldn’t have wanted” a second strike that the US military reportedly conducted on a boat in the Caribbean that it believed to be ferrying drugs, killing survivors of an initial missile attack. The UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, has urged Washington to investigate, saying there was “strong evidence” of “extrajudicial” killings.
Asia-Pacific | Sri Lanka and Indonesia have deployed military personnel to help victims of the torrential floods that have killed 1,100 in four countries in Asia. Heavy cyclones and tropical monsoon rains have hit the region in recent days.
Continue reading...Conch-shell trumpets discovered in Neolithic settlements and mines in Catalonia make tone similar to french horn, says lead researcher
As a child, Miquel López García was fascinated by the conch shell, kept in the bathroom, that his father’s family in the southern Spanish region of Almería had blown to warn their fellow villagers of rising rivers and approaching flood waters.
The hours he spent getting that “characteristically potent sound out of it” paid off last year when the archaeologist, musicologist and professional trumpet player pressed his lips to eight conch-shell trumpets. Their tones, he says, could carry insights into the lives of the people who lived in north-east Spain 6,000 years ago.
Continue reading...Critics voice concern as government says its Sanchar Saathi app combats cybersecurity threats for 1.2bn telecom users
India’s telecoms ministry has privately asked smartphone makers to preload all new devices with a state-owned cybersecurity app that cannot be deleted, a government order showed, a move likely to antagonise Apple and privacy advocates.
In tackling a recent surge of cybercrime and hacking, India is joining authorities worldwide, most recently in Russia, to frame rules blocking the use of stolen phones for fraud or promoting state-backed government service apps.
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