Category Archives: World News

US imposes sanctions on Palestinians for requesting war crimes inquiry

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Rights groups in Gaza and Ramallah had asked international criminal court to investigate Israel over genocide claims

The US has imposed sanctions against three Palestinian human rights groups that asked the international criminal court (ICC) to investigate Israel over allegations of genocide in Gaza, according to a notice posted to the US treasury department’s website.

The three groups – the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and the Ramallah-based Al-Haq – were listed under what the treasury department said were ICC-related designations.

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US justice department opens criminal inquiry into Fed governor Lisa Cook

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Officials to investigate claims of mortgage fraud against Cook, who has refused to accept firing by Donald Trump

The US justice department has initiated a criminal investigation into mortgage fraud claims against Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook as a lawsuit she filed against Donald Trump over her firing makes its way through court.

Lawyers with the justice department have issued subpoenas for the investigation, according to the Wall Street Journal, who first reported the investigation, which has since been confirmed by multiple news publications.

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Macron says 26 nations ready to provide postwar military backing to Ukraine

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French president says allies would either deploy ‘reassurance force’ troops to Ukraine, or be present in the area on land, sea or in the air

Twenty-six nations have pledged to provide postwar security guarantees to Ukraine, including an international force on land and sea and in the air, Emmanuel Macron said after a summit at which European leaders sought to pin down Donald Trump on the level of support he is willing to give Kyiv.

“The day the conflict stops, the security guarantees will be deployed,” the French president told a press conference at the Élysée Palace in Paris, standing alongside Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

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UK failing Gaza by allowing jets with British parts to bomb hospitals, says surgeon

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It is ‘inconceivable’ that Hamas is using hospitals as command centres, Prof Nick Maynard tells independent Gaza tribunal

An Oxford University surgeon accused the British government of failing the people of Gaza by allowing F-35 jets with British parts to bomb the children on which he was operating, an independent Gaza tribunal heard at its opening session on Thursday.

The two-day tribunal in London, which is independent of government and parliament, is seeking to amass evidence of Britain’s failure to distance itself from what the tribunal organisers regard as Israeli war crimes amounting to genocide.

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Starmer must not meet Israeli president during UK visit, say Labour MPs

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Exclusive: Isaac Herzog to visit London for expected talks with ministers, with UK on brink of recognising Palestinian statehood

The president of Israel will travel to London next week for a controversially timed trip amid outcry from Labour MPs who have urged Keir Starmer not to meet with the visiting delegation.

The arrival of Isaac Herzog is fraught with complication for ministers, with the UK government on the brink of recognising the state of Palestine at the UN general assembly.

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Third earthquake hits Afghanistan as death toll rises above 2,200

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South-east of country rocked as rescuers struggle to find survivors of first quake

A magnitude 6.2 earthquake has shaken Afghanistan as the death toll from the devastating quake on Sunday rose to more than 2,200.

It struck south-eastern regions on Thursday night, according to the Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences in Germany. It was not immediately clear how much damage there was.

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Canada’s Mark Carney signals austerity measures as government shifts focus from Trump to economy

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Prime minister cautions Canadians as Ottawa moves to curb spending to balance near-record military expenditures

Mark Carney has told Canadians to prepare for austerity measures and his finance minister warned of “tough choices” in the coming months, as the government attempts to balance near-record defence spending, cuts to government programs and a trade war with the United States.

Carney, the former central banker and economist turned politician, has been meeting senior ministers before the fall budget, and hinted cuts were coming to the federal bureaucracy.

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Canada: one person killed and six injured in stabbing in remote First Nation community

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Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the suspect who attacked Hollow Water First Nation has also died

One person has been killed and six others injured in a mass stabbing in an Indigenous community in central Canada, according to federal police who said that the the suspect also died in the incident.

The violence occurred in Hollow Water First Nation, a remote community with about 1,000 residents, 217km (135 miles) north of Manitoba’s provincial capital, Winnipeg, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police told AFP.

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Palestine recognition: the principle the EU has been stuck on for decades

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Europe’s ability to help bring peace to the Middle East has long come under question, with Spain’s PM this week saying it had failed on Gaza

In 1980 when Leonid Brezhnev ruled the Soviet Union and Donald Trump was a property developer, the nine leaders of the then European Community made their first major foray into joint diplomacy. The cause: the Middle East, including a Palestinian state.

“The time has come to promote the recognition and implementation of two principles universally accepted by the international community: the right to existence and to security of all states in the region, including Israel … [and] recognition of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people,” stated the Venice declaration calling for Palestinian self-determination.

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Afghan earthquake death toll jumps to more than 2,200, say Taliban

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Aid agencies plead for funds as rough terrain hinders relief effort and 98% of buildings in one province are damaged

The death toll from a major earthquake in Afghanistan this week has jumped to more than 2,200, just as another magnitude 6.2 earthquake hit the southeastern region of the country on Thursday night.

On Thursday, Taliban spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat confirmed that the death toll from Sunday’s earthquake had risen to 2,205 – up from previous estimates of 1,400 – making it one of the deadliest natural disasters to hit the country in decades.

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New ‘golden triangle’ of fentanyl and guns spans US-Mexico border

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Report links Arizona-Sonora smuggling to rising homicide and overdose deaths in both countries

A new “golden triangle” of fentanyl and gun trafficking between Mexico and the US ties together the homicide and overdose crises of the two countries, according to a a new study.

The triangle spans Baja California, Sinaloa and Sonora – the three states where almost all fentanyl seizures in Mexico take place – and connects to Arizona through a quieter part of the US-Mexico border that has become a hotspot for trafficking in both directions.

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Taiwan accuses China of breaching international law over drilling

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Island’s government demands halt to Chinese oil and gas operations in its exclusive economic zone

Taiwan’s government has accused China of breaching international law by drilling for oil and gas inside Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and immediately demanded it halt the activity.

The statement from the office of Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, came after revelations first reported by the Guardian that several Chinese oil rigs and associated vessels had been detected inside Taiwan’s EEZ, near the disputed Pratas Islands, which are under Taiwanese control.

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Trump asks US supreme court to overturn trade tariffs ruling

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Move follows federal appeals court decision that sweeping ‘liberation day’ levies on imports had overstepped presidential powers

Donald Trump has asked the US supreme court to overturn a lower court decision that most of his sweeping trade tariffs were illegal.

The US president filed a petition late on Wednesday to ask for a review of last week’s federal appeals court ruling in Washington DC, which centred on his “liberation day” border taxes introduced on 2 April, which imposed levies of between 10% and 50% on most US imports, sending shock waves through global trade and markets.

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Thursday briefing: China flexes its muscle in the tussle for global dominance

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In today’s newsletter: In hosting anti-western leaders at its largest ever military parade, Beijing sent a defiant message that will be heard loud and clear across the world

Good morning. All eyes have been on China this week as the second biggest global economy flexed its muscles.

Dozens of world leaders, including from the global south, authoritarian pariah states and the EU, attended China’s largest ever military parade on Wednesday to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war, which China calls the war of resistance against Japanese aggression.

UK news | Deputy PM Angela Rayner has admitted she underpaid stamp duty on her £800,000 seaside flat, after coming under intense pressure to be more transparent about her property arrangements.

Russia | Vladimir Putin has invited Kim Jong-un to visit Russia during a lengthy meeting in Beijing on the sidelines of China’s biggest military parade, as Kim promised to do “everything I can to assist” Moscow.

Police | The Metropolitan police have declined to drop their investigation into the comedy writer Graham Linehan for tweets about trans issues, and said that the law used by officers to detain him needs reviewing.

Israel | Israeli drones dropped four grenades near UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon, the agency’s force said on Wednesday, in what it described as “one of the most serious attacks” on its personnel since a November ceasefire.

Portugal | A day of national mourning has been declared in Portugal after at least 15 people were killed when Lisbon’s well-known Gloria funicular railway car derailed and crashed on Wednesday.

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Spain and Portugal wildfire weather made 40 times more likely by climate crisis, study finds

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Wildfires were 30% more intense than would have been expected without global heating, scientists say

The extreme weather that fuelled “astonishing” blazes across Spain and Portugal last month was made 40 times more likely by climate breakdown, early analysis suggests.

The deadly wildfires, which torched 500,000 hectares (1.2m acres) of the Iberian peninsula in a matter of weeks, were also 30% more intense than scientists would have expected in a world without climate change, according to researchers from the World Weather Attribution network.

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Portugal declares day of mourning for 15 people killed in Lisbon funicular railway crash

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Another 18 people injured when Gloria funicular railway car derails and apparently crashed into a building

A day of national mourning has been declared in Portugal after at least 15 people were killed when Lisbon’s well-known Gloria funicular railway car derailed and crashed on Wednesday.

An emergency services spokesperson said some foreign nationals were among the dead but would not identify the victims or disclose their nationalities. At least 18 people, including a child, were injured, five of them seriously.

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Maine shooting survivors sue US government, alleging army failed to stop deadly attack

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US army accused of ‘repeatedly violating its own policies’ over 2023 shooting by reservist that left 18 people dead

Survivors and family members of victims of the 2023 mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, are suing the US government, alleging that the US army could have stopped the attack carried out by an army reservist but failed to intervene.

The suit, filed on Wednesday in Maine district court, alleges that despite decades of knowledge about the risks posed by soldiers in crisis, the policies and procedures the army has developed around dealing with service members who are struggling with severe mental health challenges were not used to disarm the shooter, a sergeant with a 21-year history in the army reserve. Eighteen people were killed in the attack.

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Scotland bans arms companies that supply IDF from receiving financial aid

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Devolved government says contractors seeking support must prove products will not be used by Israeli military

The Scottish government has banned arms companies which supply the IDF from getting grants and investment support, and will freeze support for trade with Israel.

John Swinney, the first minister, said on Wednesday any defence contractors who wanted financial help in Scotland would have to prove their products would not be used by the Israel Defense Forces.

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Nuclear triad and ‘robot wolves’: parade shows off array of Chinese weapons

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On display in Beijing were nuclear weapons launched by air, sea and land, laser weapons and four-legged drones

It was hardly a subtle attempt to project power. China showed off air-, sea- and land-launched nuclear weapons in its parade on Wednesday, a triad intended to demonstrate that Beijing’s long-term aspiration is to match US military might.

Also on display were large underwater torpedo-like drones, intended to threaten western warships, as well as anti-drone lasers and four-legged “robot wolves”, all designed to be noticed, regardless of their actual military effectiveness.

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Kim Jong-un promises to do ‘everything to assist’ Moscow after Putin meeting

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North Korean leader invited to visit Russia as Zelenskyy says Putin is displaying ‘impunity’ with new Ukraine strikes

Vladimir Putin has invited Kim Jong-un to visit Russia during a lengthy meeting in Beijing on the sidelines of China’s biggest military parade, as Kim promised to do “everything I can to assist” Moscow.

North Korea has supported Russia in its war against Ukraine with weapons and troops, and the Russian president praised North Korean fighters for acting “courageously and heroically”.

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