Gunmen kidnap more than 50 people in north-west Nigeria

Latest ‘mass capture’ in Zamfara state shows banditry crisis shifting from land conflict to organised crime

Gunmen have kidnapped more than 50 people in north-west Nigeria in a mass abduction, according to a private conflict monitoring report created for the UN and seen by Agence France-Presse on Sunday.

“Armed bandits” targeted the village of Sabon Garin Damri in Zamfara state Friday, the report said, the latest attack in a region where residents in rural hinterlands have long suffered gangs who kidnap for ransom, loot villages and demand taxes.

Continue reading...

Woman arrested after travelling with two-year-old in suitcase in New Zealand

Police say 27-year-old charged with ill treatment and neglect of a child after bus driver spotted a bag moving

A New Zealand woman was arrested on Sunday after travelling on a bus with a two-year-old girl trapped in her luggage.

DI Simon Harrison said the 27-year-old woman had been charged with ill treatment and neglect of a child.

Continue reading...

Ukrainian attack sparks blaze at Russian oil depot as countries trade strikes

Video shows black smoke pouring from facility in Sochi, while Russian attack on Mykolaiv wounds seven people

An overnight Ukrainian drone attack on an oil depot near the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi ignited a raging fire, as the two countries traded strikes at the end of one of the deadliest weeks in Ukraine in recent months.

More than 120 firefighters worked to put out the blaze, said the regional governor, Veniamin Kondratyev, as emergency officials reported a fuel tank with a capacity of 2,000 cubic metres (70,000 cubic feet) had burned before it was extinguished.

Continue reading...

Logies 2025: Home and Away’s Lynne McGranger wins gold as Fisk dominates Australia’s TV awards

Soap star wins as her 32-year run playing Irene Roberts ends, while streamers go home mostly empty-handed and Magda Szubanski gives emotional speech as she is inducted into the Hall of Fame

The Home and Away actor Lynne McGranger has won the Gold Logie award for most popular personality on Australian television as she ends her record 32-year run playing the much-loved matriarch Irene Roberts.

McGranger is the longest-serving female actor in any Australian drama, having played Irene for nearly 33 years. She announced her departure in February and her final episode will air mid-August.

Continue reading...

UK to evacuate ill and injured children from Gaza to receive NHS care

Government to announce taxpayer-funded initiative after three children were brought to UK under private scheme

The UK government will evacuate seriously ill and injured children from Gaza to the UK for NHS treatment under a scheme to be announced within weeks.

Ministers will enable children in severe need to receive taxpayer-funded care. Three children were brought to the UK this year through a private scheme by the charity Project Pure Hope.

Continue reading...

Body found in collapsed Chile mine as search continues for trapped miners

At least 100 people involved in rescue operation at El Teniente copper mine, which partially collapsed after ‘seismic event’

One of five miners trapped after a partial collapse at the world’s largest underground copper mine has been found dead, Chile’s state-owned Codelco group announced on Saturday, as rescuers continued their search for survivors.

The collapse took place on Thursday at the El Teniente mine in Rancagua, 100km south of Santiago, after a “seismic event.”

Continue reading...

Social media ads promoting small boat crossings to UK to be banned

Change to border security bill will also make it a crime to advertise fake passports, visas and work opportunities

Ministers are to outlaw social media adverts promoting journeys on small boats across the Channel to asylum seekers.

The government will create a UK-wide criminal offence that could lead to perpetrators being sentenced for up to five years in prison and a hefty fine.

Continue reading...

Pope Leo brings youth jubilee to a close with mass for more than a million

Pontiff presides over culmination of ‘Catholic Woodstock’ that drew young people from 146 countries

Pope Leo XIV presided over a mass in Rome for more than a million young people on Sunday, the culmination of a pilgrimage that has drawn Catholics from across the world.

“Aspire to great things, to holiness, wherever you are. Do not settle for less,” the pope told the crowd.

Continue reading...

Dua Lipa ‘feeling grateful’ after Kosovan president grants her citizenship

Singer of hits such as Houdini, One Kiss and Training Season was born in London to Kosovan-Albanian parents

Singer Dua Lipa has said she is “feeling grateful” after being awarded citizenship of Kosovo by the country’s president.

The 29-year-old was born in London to Kosovan-Albanian parents, Anesa and Dukagjin Lipa, and moved to the country’s capital of Pristina aged 11, when her family returned after Kosovo gained its independence in 2008, before moving back to London aged 15.

Continue reading...

Gaza hospitals say 18 killed by Israeli fire as aid site shootings continue to rise

UN says 859 have died near GHF sites since May while hospitals report growing number of hunger-related deaths

Hospitals in Gaza say Israeli fire killed more than a dozen people on Saturday, eight of them while trying to get food, as malnutrition-related deaths continue to rise in the territory.

The bloodshed comes a day after Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, visited an aid distribution site run by the Israel and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

Continue reading...

Gaza hospitals say 18 killed by Israeli fire as aid site shootings continue to rise

UN says 859 have died near GHF sites since May while hospitals report growing number of hunger-related deaths

Hospitals in Gaza say Israeli fire killed more than a dozen people on Saturday, eight of them while trying to get food, as malnutrition-related deaths continue to rise in the territory.

The bloodshed comes a day after Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, visited an aid distribution site run by the Israel and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

Continue reading...

Gaza hospitals say 18 killed by Israeli fire as aid site shootings continue to rise

UN says 859 have died near GHF sites since May while hospitals report growing number of hunger-related deaths

Hospitals in Gaza say Israeli fire killed more than a dozen people on Saturday, eight of them while trying to get food, as malnutrition-related deaths continue to rise in the territory.

The bloodshed comes a day after Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, visited an aid distribution site run by the Israel and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

Continue reading...

Gaza hospitals say 18 killed by Israeli fire as aid site shootings continue to rise

UN says 859 have died near GHF sites since May while hospitals report growing number of hunger-related deaths

Hospitals in Gaza say Israeli fire killed more than a dozen people on Saturday, eight of them while trying to get food, as malnutrition-related deaths continue to rise in the territory.

The bloodshed comes a day after Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, visited an aid distribution site run by the Israel and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

Continue reading...

Israel closes 88% of cases of alleged war crimes or abuse without charges – report

Conflict monitoring group Action on Armed Violence says Israel is seeking to create a ‘pattern of impunity’

Nearly nine out of 10 Israeli military investigations into allegations of war crimes or abuses by its soldiers since the start of the war in Gaza have been closed without finding fault or left without resolution, according to a conflict monitor.

Unresolved investigations include the killing of at least 112 Palestinians queueing for flour in Gaza City in February 2024, Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) said, and an airstrike that killed 45 in an inferno at a tented camp in Rafah in May 2024.

Continue reading...

Israel closes 88% of cases of alleged war crimes or abuse without charges – report

Conflict monitoring group Action on Armed Violence says Israel is seeking to create a ‘pattern of impunity’

Nearly nine out of 10 Israeli military investigations into allegations of war crimes or abuses by its soldiers since the start of the war in Gaza have been closed without finding fault or left without resolution, according to a conflict monitor.

Unresolved investigations include the killing of at least 112 Palestinians queueing for flour in Gaza City in February 2024, Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) said, and an airstrike that killed 45 in an inferno at a tented camp in Rafah in May 2024.

Continue reading...

Palestine Action ban coupled with Online Safety Act ‘a threat to public debate’

Rights bodies say new law and proscription of direct action group create risk of censorship of Gaza-related content

The Online Safety Act together with the proscription of Palestine Action could result in platforms censoring Palestinian-related content, human rights organisations have warned.

Open Rights Group, Index on Censorship and others have written to Ofcom calling on it to provide clear guidance to platforms on distinguishing lawful expression from content deemed to be in support of terrorism.

Continue reading...

Durham disclosures further undermine Gabbard’s claims of plot against Trump

Declassified document contains deflating conclusion for DNI director that Russian spies were behind key 2016 emails

Tulsi Gabbard, the director of US national intelligence, hoped to uncover evidence that Barack Obama and his national security team conspired to undermine Donald Trump in a slow-motion coup.

But if her crusade was aimed at proving that Obama embarked on a “treasonous conspiracy” to falsely show that Russia intervened in the 2016 presidential election to help Trump, Gabbard made a mistake. A previously classified annexe to a report by another special counsel, John Durham – appointed towards the end of Trump’s first presidency – has further undermined Gabbard’s case.

Continue reading...

Durham disclosures further undermine Gabbard’s claims of plot against Trump

Declassified document contains deflating conclusion for DNI director that Russian spies were behind key 2016 emails

Tulsi Gabbard, the director of US national intelligence, hoped to uncover evidence that Barack Obama and his national security team conspired to undermine Donald Trump in a slow-motion coup.

But if her crusade was aimed at proving that Obama embarked on a “treasonous conspiracy” to falsely show that Russia intervened in the 2016 presidential election to help Trump, Gabbard made a mistake. A previously classified annexe to a report by another special counsel, John Durham – appointed towards the end of Trump’s first presidency – has further undermined Gabbard’s case.

Continue reading...

India to still buy oil from Russia despite Trump threats, say officials

No pause on Russian imports by Indian oil firms who base decisions on ‘price, grade of crude, logistics and economic factors’

Indian oil refineries will continue to buy oil from Russia, officials have said, before threatened US sanctions next week against Moscow’s trading partners over the war in Ukraine.

Media reports on Friday had suggested India, a big energy importer, would stop buying cheap Russian oil. Trump later told reporters that such a move would be “a good step” if true.

Continue reading...

India to still buy oil from Russia despite Trump threats, say officials

No pause on Russian imports by Indian oil firms who base decisions on ‘price, grade of crude, logistics and economic factors’

Indian oil refineries will continue to buy oil from Russia, officials have said, before threatened US sanctions next week against Moscow’s trading partners over the war in Ukraine.

Media reports on Friday had suggested India, a big energy importer, would stop buying cheap Russian oil. Trump later told reporters that such a move would be “a good step” if true.

Continue reading...