NYPD say shooting took place after verbal dispute and one person is being held in custody
Three people have been injured in a shooting at New York City’s Times Square after a 17-year-old opened fire, the New York police department has said.
Police said they were questioning one person who is being held in custody, but that no charges have been pressed yet.
Continue reading...US president said end to war will involve ‘some swapping of territories’ before announcing meeting
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said early on Saturday that “Ukrainians will not give their land to occupiers” after Donald Trump said he would meet Vladimir Putin next week and that an end to the war must involve “some swapping of territories”.
The Ukrainian president said Kyiv was ready for real solutions that could bring peace but that any solutions without Ukraine would be against peace. “Any decisions against us, any decisions without Ukraine, are also decisions against peace. They will achieve nothing,” he said, adding that the war “cannot be ended without us, without Ukraine”.
Continue reading...Deal to end four-decade conflict includes creation of transit corridor named ‘Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity’
The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a peace agreement at the White House on Friday, in a deal brokered by the US that brings decades of conflict to an end.
The two countries in the South Caucasus signed agreements with each other, as well as the US, that will reopen key transportation routes while allowing the US to seize on Russia’s declining influence in the region. The deal includes an agreement that will create a major transit corridor linking Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan, with the United States owning development rights to the corridor. It was to be named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, the White House said.
Continue reading...Far-right ex-president’s devotees pin hopes on pressure campaign but tariffs and sanctions appear likely to fail
Each morning, Edite Costa steps out of her bungalow on Brasília’s sun-baked savannah, stands beneath a mango tree and lifts her hands to the sky in prayer. “I ask God to work so that not just Trump but all Americans come to help us rip out the evil that has taken hold of the country I love,” said the 66-year-old Baptist, who is a fervent supporter of Brazil’s far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro could face decades in jail for allegedly leading a murderous conspiracy to seize power after his leftwing rival Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva beat him in the 2022 presidential election. But Costa believes her populist leader can still be saved – if her prayers are answered and Donald Trump intervenes.
Continue reading...Figures suggest shift from country’s traditional summer culture, with lounger and parasol rentals up to €90 a day
Italians appear to be snubbing beaches this summer, amid claims they are rebelling against the high prices charged by the owners of private beach concessions.
Going to the beach and renting cabins, loungers and parasols – usually at the same location – has long been an ingrained habit of Italian summer holiday culture.
Continue reading...Mayor of Japanese city used the anniversary of US bombing to urge the world to stop armed conflicts, warning nuclear war was ‘looming’ over everyone
Twin cathedral bells rang in unison in Nagasaki for the first time in 80 years on Saturday, commemorating the moment the city was destroyed by an American atomic bomb.
The two bells rang out at Immaculate Conception cathedral, also called the Urakami cathedral, at 11.02am, the moment the bomb was dropped on 9 August 1945, three days after a nuclear attack on Hiroshima.
Continue reading...Mexico’s president says ‘there will be no invasion … it’s absolutely off the table’ after news reports of order
Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has rejected the idea that the US might invade Mexico after news reports suggested Donald Trump had authorized the use of military force targeting drug cartels deemed terrorist organizations in Latin American countries.
“The United States is not going to come to Mexico with their military,” she said during a daily news conference on Friday. “We cooperate, we collaborate, but there will be no invasion. It’s off the table, absolutely off the table.”
Continue reading...Heritage concerns overruled as developers say planning approvals too slow in nation aiming to build 1m more homes
Amsterdam was once famous for its alternative nightlife but now a planned new multi-storey building that will be home to a club, cafe and apartments has become a flashpoint in the battle between preserving heritage buildings and rowdy entertainment.
In the latest urban planning tussle to hit one of Europe’s most densely populated countries, neighbours of Amsterdam’s planned “Institute for Night Culture” (INC) fear it will shake their foundations.
Continue reading...US embassy accused supreme court judge of persecuting ex-president, currently on trial for alleged coup attempt
Brazil’s foreign ministry has summoned the US chargé d’affaires after the embassy posted comments about the trial of former president Jair Bolsonaro, as relations between the two countries continue to deteriorate.
On Thursday, the embassy published a social media post in Portuguese criticising the supreme court justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is overseeing the cases against Bolsonaro, who is on trial over an alleged coup attempt.
Continue reading...Campaigners had urged Lula to veto the bill entirely, but many have welcomed his alterations
Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has signed into law a controversial bill that scientists and environmentalists had dubbed the “devastation bill”, but vetoed key articles that would have in effect dismantled the country’s environmental licensing system.
On Friday, the final day to either sanction or veto the law, Lula struck down or amended 63 of the 398 provisions in a bill that, as approved by congress last month, had been regarded as the most significant setback to Brazil’s environmental protections in four decades.
Continue reading...High-profile founder of China Renaissance Holdings went missing in 2023, sending company’s share price plunging
Bao Fan, a star dealmaker and the founder of the boutique investment bank China Renaissance Holdings, has been released more than two years after being detained by Chinese authorities, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
China Renaissance sent shock waves through the country’s financial sector in 2023 when it announced it was unable to contact Bao, who founded the bank in 2005 with two others and still owns nearly 49% of its issued shares. The company’s share price tanked as a result of his detention.
Continue reading...Vice-president says, unlike Britain, White House has no plans to recognise the Palestinian state
The US and UK have “disagreements” on Gaza including over whether to recognise a Palestinian state, JD Vance has suggested as he arrived in England for his summer holiday.
The US vice-president was speaking before a bilateral meeting with David Lammy, the UK foreign secretary, at his 17th-century grace-and-favour country house, Chevening.
Continue reading...Kúpula se Mueve, which celebrates African and Latin culture, has been held without problems since 2013
Madrid city council has banned a festival celebrating cultural diversity, claiming that it may lead to public disorder and complaints about noise from residents.
The Kúpula se Mueve (Kúpula Moves) festival has been held without incident since 2013. Josias Ndanga, president of the association, insists the claims are an excuse, saying: “We’re convinced we’re being discriminated against on ideological grounds.”
Continue reading...For all the fanfare over new routes, fast and efficient rail services between major cities remain a rarity
At 9.55am every day since December, a German ICE high-speed train has left the Gare de l’Est in Paris headed, via Strasbourg, Karlsruhe and Frankfurt, for Berlin Hauptbahnhof, where – all being well – it pulls in just over eight hours later.
Remarkably, the service is the first direct, high-speed, centre-to-centre rail link between the capitals of the EU’s two biggest countries. Run by Deutsche Bahn (DB) and France’s SNCF, it has been hailed as a milestone in European train travel.
Continue reading...Polish PM makes remarks after speaking with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, amid White House efforts to end the conflict
A “freeze” in the war in Ukraine may be close, the Polish prime minister said on Friday, as the White House and the Kremlin push forward with discussions for a high-level summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in the coming days.
Donald Tusk’s remarks came after he spoke with the Ukrainian leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has communicated with Trump and European leaders in recent days as the White House continues to try to broker an end to the three-and-a-half-year war.
Continue reading...Decision will place huge financial burden on Israel and could lead to massive increase in Palestinian civilian deaths
One of Israel’s most celebrated images is David Rubinger’s photograph of a trio of paratroopers at the newly captured Western Wall in 1967, an event that would mark the beginning of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
You see it when arriving at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport. It has been used to illustrate the Israel Defense Forces’ “values” page, and appears endlessly in the Hebrew media and on pro-Israel sites.
Continue reading...UK prime minister says occupation approved by Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet will only bring more bloodshed
Keir Starmer has urged Benjamin Netanyahu to reconsider his plans to take over Gaza City and said the move would only bring more bloodshed.
The British prime minister said Israel’s decision to escalate a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians over the past 22 months while pushing the territory into famine was wrong and would do nothing to secure the release of Israeli hostages.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Five Ukraine clubs failed to win similar payments due to allegedly being located in ‘zone of military operations’
Uefa has paid more than €10.8m (£9.4m) in “solidarity” funds to Russian football clubs since they were banned from taking part in European tournaments after the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, the Guardian can reveal.
The payments were made despite five Ukrainian clubs failing to receive similar such funds allegedly due to their locations being in a “zone of military operations”.
Continue reading...Nicolás Maduro was indicted in 2020 on federal charges of narcoterrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine
The Trump administration is doubling to $50m a reward for the arrest of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, accusing him of being one of the world’s largest narcotraffickers and working with cartels to flood the US with fentanyl-laced cocaine.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, Maduro will not escape justice and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes,” Pam Bondi, the attorney general, said on Thursday in a video statement announcing the reward.
Continue reading...John Cornyn claims FBI agreed to help return Democrats to state, sparking backlash amid GOP map push
Democrats harshly criticized Donald Trump and Republicans after a US senator said the FBI had agreed to assist in locating Texas Democratic lawmakers who left the state to block Republicans from enacting a gerrymandered congressional map that would likely add five more Republican seats before next year’s midterm elections.
Senator John Cornyn’s claim that the FBI would assist Republicans’ effort could not be independently confirmed. The FBI declined to comment. An administration official told NBC News this week the government did not plan on using federal agents to arrest Texas lawmakers and a federal law enforcement official told the outlet that as of Thursday morning, the agency had not assisted with trying to locate the lawmakers. None of the lawmakers have been charged with a crime.
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