Man dies in ‘weather-related incident’ in Co Donegal, while Met Office issues yellow wind warning for whole of UK
A man has died and a fresh weather warning covers the whole of the UK as Storm Amy continues to bring widespread disruption.
Irish police said the man died in a “weather-related” incident in the Letterkenny area of County Donegal, Ireland, shortly after 4.15pm on Friday.
Continue reading...Two trains were hit in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region, killing one and injuring about 30 others, officials say
Two Russian drones struck trains at a station in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region, killing one person and injuring about 30 others, officials said on Saturday, with Ukraine’s foreign minister accusing Moscow of deliberately hitting passenger trains.
“A brutal Russian drone strike on the railway station in Shostka, Sumy region,” wrote the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Telegram, posting a video of a wrecked, burning passenger carriage and others with their windows blown out.
Continue reading...Pentagon chief says strike – fourth by US military in recent weeks – targeted boat with ‘substantial amounts’ of drugs
The United States carried out a strike against an alleged drug-trafficking boat on Friday that killed four people, US defense secretary Pete Hegseth said, a day after the Trump administration told Congress it was entering a new “non-international armed conflict” with cartels.
The strike, which Hegseth said he directed on Donald Trump’s orders, appears to be at least the fourth in recent weeks. Hegseth gave few details about the boat or the evidence that it was carrying narcotics, other than saying the US had confirmed it was carrying drugs.
Continue reading...Removal comes after Emmy-winning Salvadorian reporter was arrested while covering ‘No Kings Day’ protest
Journalist Mario Guevara’s imprisonment by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (Ice) ended with deportation to El Salvador on Friday, his family announced on social media.
Guevara has been a media mainstay in the Atlanta area for about 20 years, after fleeing El Salvador to escape leftwing militias in 2004. Though he has a work permit and two of his children are American citizens, he has operated under the “administrative closure” of deportation orders for much of that time.
Continue reading...Billionaire Andrej Babiš hands out doughnuts on first day of voting as polls predict his ANO party will win
Czechs have begun voting in an election likely to oust their centre-right government, with polls favouring the populist billionaire Andrej Babiš to return to power on pledges to raise wages and improve growth while reducing aid for Ukraine.
The change would boost Europe’s populist anti-immigration camp and could complicate consensus on climate policies in a country where no sitting government has won a second term since 1996.
Continue reading...Local media named victim as Charalambos Theologou, shot as groups vie for power after arrests of alleged mafia bosses
The brazen daylight killing of a prominent Quebec gang leader inside a suburban Starbucks in the outskirts of Montreal this week could signal a new, more chaotic and brash environment when it comes to organised crime, observers say.
The arrests of alleged senior, older members of Montreal’s mafia in June has potentially left a chasm – meaning newer, younger gangs are attempting to gain a foothold.
Continue reading...Protest vessel intercepted in the early hours of Friday morning 42.5 nautical miles from the coast of Gaza
The last boat of the 42 vessels in the Gaza humanitarian flotillathat sought to breach Israel’s 16-year maritime blockade has been intercepted by Israeli forces.
A live stream from the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) had late on Thursday evening shown the Polish-flagged sailing boat Marinette still “sailing strong towards Gaza” after the Israeli government claimed to have halted the flotilla carrying about 500 parliamentarians, lawyers and activists including Greta Thunberg.
Continue reading...No 10 announces decision although role will not legally be taken on until January, before an enthronement service
Sarah Mullally has been named as the first female leader of the Church of England as Downing Street announced the 106th archbishop of Canterbury nearly a year on from Justin Welby’s resignation over the handling of a safeguarding scandal.
This is the first time an archbishop of Canterbury has been chosen since the Church of England allowed women to become bishops in 2014.
Continue reading...Unlike his fellow basketball player, Brittney Griner, Jarred Shaw has received scant attention after being arrested for a drugs offence overseas
When Jarred Shaw, an American basketball player in Indonesia, stepped down to the lobby in his apartment complex earlier this year to collect a package containing illegally imported cannabis gummies, he thought that the medicine to ease his Crohn’s disease had arrived.
It had – but so too had 10 undercover police officers. A video on social media shows Shaw, wearing a black T-shirt and shorts, shouting for help as the swarm of officers move to apprehend him.
The Indonesian National Police did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
Continue reading...Tributes paid to late British primatologist whose institute trained thousands of Chinese on protecting animals
Jane Goodall has been remembered as a “guiding light” in China, with hundreds of millions of people paying tribute online to the conservationist who died this week, aged 91.
The British primatologist and founder of the Jane Goodall Institute was well known in China, and her research and findings were ubiquitous in Chinese educational materials, which listed her among “women of achievement” in text books.
Continue reading...Maj Gen Paul Tedman says Moscow trying to disrupt UK’s military activities on ‘weekly’ basis and closely monitoring space assets
Russia is attempting to jam UK military satellites on a regular basis, according to the head of the UK Space Command.
Speaking to the BBC, Maj Gen Paul Tedman said Russian forces were actively trying to disrupt UK-based military activities “weekly” and were closely monitoring the country’s space assets.
Continue reading...Vladimir Putin denounces seizing of the vessel as an act of ‘piracy’ and warned it could provoke confrontation
The captain of an oil tanker that authorities in France have detained off the country’s Atlantic coast and that President Emmanuel Macron has linked to Russia will go on trial in February over the crew’s alleged refusal to cooperate, a French prosecutor has said.
Macron has alleged that the tanker belongs to Russia’s “shadow fleet” of ageing tankers of uncertain ownership that are avoiding western sanctions over Moscow’s war in Ukraine. He also did not rule out that it could have been involved in drone flights over Denmark as it was sailing last week off the coast of the Nordic country.
Continue reading...Rapper to be sentenced on two counts that each carry maximum 10-year term – what might the judge decide?
Sean “Diddy” Combs is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday morning by a federal judge in New York, following his conviction earlier this year on federal prostitution-related charges.
Here’s a recap of his criminal case: what he was indicted for, what happened at trial, and what might happen next.
Continue reading...Emergency services attending scenes after receiving multiple reports of an explosion, according to US media
A fire broke out at Chevron’s El Segundo refinery, California governor Gavin Newsom’s press office said, with a county official adding that the flames had been confined to one area.
The cause of the blaze was not clear, the Los Angeles Times reported, while CBS said firefighters were called to the refinery in Los Angeles county after reports of an explosion.
Continue reading...Abortion rights supporters hail win for evidence-backed medicine as Evita Solutions’ generic version of mifepristone given approval
In a move that has left anti-abortion advocates reeling, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) quietly approved a request to manufacture a new abortion pill earlier this week.
Thanks to the approval, a company called Evita Solutions will be able to manufacture its generic version of mifepristone, one of two drugs typically used in most US medication abortions. A generic version of mifepristone, which was first approved as a brand-name drug in 2000, is already available on the market.
Continue reading...Activists from Global Sumud flotilla including Greta Thunberg arrested as final boat is presumed intercepted in Palestinian waters
Israel says it has stopped a pro-Palestinian flotilla carrying aid from reaching Gaza, with its navy intercepting all but one of the vessels trying to breach the blockade.
Of the 42 vessels being tracked online by the Global Sumud flotilla (GSF), 41 were listed as having been confirmed or assumed to have been stopped by Israeli forces.
Continue reading...Valuables were being transported in 1715 from American colonies when a hurricane wrecked a Spanish fleet
Hidden beneath the turquoise waters off a stretch of Florida known as the “treasure coast”, a team of divers from a shipwreck salvage company have uncovered exactly that – a load of long-lost Spanish treasure they estimate is worth $1m.
More than 1,000 silver and gold coins thought to be minted in the Spanish colonies where Bolivia, Mexico and Peru now sit were uncovered this summer off Florida’s Atlantic coast, 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels LLC announced this week.
Continue reading...During speech in Sochi, Russian president also strikes conciliatory note towards Donald Trump
Vladimir Putin has vowed to quickly retaliate against Europe’s “escalating militarisation”, while dismissing as “nonsense” western fears that Moscow plans to attack Nato.
During a wide-ranging speech in Sochi on Thursday, the Russian president said: “We are closely monitoring the escalating militarisation of Europe … We simply cannot ignore what is happening. We have no right to do so for reasons of our own security.”
Continue reading...Turkey and Qatar putting pressure on group to make concessions – but condition it disarm is a sticking point
Hamas will demand key revisions to Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire proposal but is likely to accept the plan in coming days as a basis for renewed negotiations, analysts and sources close to the group say.
Trump imposed a deadline of “three or four days” from Tuesday for Hamas to give its response to his 20-point plan, which aims to bring the two-year war in Gaza to a close and allow an apparently indefinite international administration of the devastated territory, or “pay in hell”.
Continue reading...Tehran considers move as part of multi-pronged offensive after bombing of nuclear sites and restoration of sanctions
Iran is considering releasing hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees across its western borders with Iraq and Turkey. It would be part of what officials describe as a necessarily more offensive and unpredictable strategy in the wake of the bombing of its nuclear sites and the European reimposition of UN sanctions.
The multi-pronged offensive includes expansion of its missile programme, strengthening air defences, suspending cooperation with the UN weapons inspectorate and on 18 October blocking the establishment of a UN committee to oversee the administration of the reimposed sanctions. Officials remain opposed to reopening talks with the US, believing the talks would fail.
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