Category Archives: World News

Trump scorns Merkel legacy during new German chancellor’s White House visit

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Friedrich Merz struggles to get word in as US president focuses on record of former German leader who left office in 2021

Donald Trump has heaped criticism on the former German chancellor Angela Merkel for opening up her country to refugees, telling her successor: “I told her it shouldn’t have happened.”

During an appearance with the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, on Thursday, Trump was asked about the sweeping travel restrictions on 19 countries that he announced the previous day.

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Donald Trump to meet Xi Jinping in China after ‘very good’ call on trade

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US president says he accepted invitation in first phone conversation between leaders since January

Donald Trump said he had accepted an invitation to meet Xi Jinping in China after a phone conversation on trade was held between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies.

In a post on Truth Social, the US president said the “very good” call lasted about 90 minutes and the conversation was “almost entirely focused on trade”.

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Dehorning rhinos reduces poaching by 80%, study finds

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Cutting off the animals’ horns more effective than traditional protection methods such as rangers and costs less, say experts

Cutting the horns off rhinos causes a large reduction in poaching, according to a new study, which raises questions about the effectiveness of expensive anti-poaching techniques used to protect the African mammals.

Poaching for horn is a significant threat to the world’s five rhino species. The substance, which is similar to human fingernails, is commonly used for traditional medicine in China, Vietnam and other Asian countries. Dealers in the hidden market will pay tens of thousands of dollars for the horns, which are falsely believed to be effective at treating fevers, pain and a low sex drive in traditional medicine.

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Idris Elba: ‘I want to build the African Odeon’

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Speaking at an SXSW London event, the actor outlined his desire to ignite the cinema experience for a new generation across the continent

Idris Elba has spoken of his ambition to create the “African Odeon” – a chain of cinemas to ignite the cinemagoing experience across the continent.

Elba was speaking at an event at SXSW London in which he spoke to host Clara Amfo in a session called Creativity as Capital for Change. In remarks reported by the Hollywood Reporter and Screen, Elba said: “There’s a crazy number across the entire continent – less than about 3,000 cinemas, actual cinemas that you and I have grown up with. I would love to be able to tackle some of that, because I believe that the cinema experience that we all have gone through should be experienced by a new generation. I don’t think it should all be on a phone.”

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Supreme court strikes down Mexico’s lawsuit against US gunmakers

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Lawsuit alleged that Smith & Wesson and Interstate Arms aided the illegal trafficking of firearms to drug cartels

The US supreme court on Thursday spared two American gun companies from a lawsuit by Mexico’s government accusing them of aiding illegal firearms trafficking to drug cartels and fueling gun violence on the south side of the US-Mexico border.

The justices, in a unanimous ruling, overturned a lower court’s decision that had allowed the lawsuit to proceed against the firearms maker Smith & Wesson and distributor Interstate Arms. The lower court had found that Mexico plausibly alleged that the companies aided and abetted illegal gun sales, harming its government.

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Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to reopen two distribution centres intended to supply aid – as it happened

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US-backed Israeli logistics group to reopen facilities today after closures following IDF warnings. This live blog is closed

Russian president Vladimir Putin is ready to “help resolve” the standoff between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s nuclear programme, the Kremlin said on Thursday.

“We have a close partnership with Tehran. And President Putin said that he was ready to use this partnership to help resolve the Iranian nuclear issue,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

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Amazon ‘testing humanoid robots to deliver packages’

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Tech firm is building ‘humanoid park’ in US to try out robots, which could ‘spring out’ of its vans

Amazon is reportedly developing software for humanoid robots that could perform the role of delivery workers and “spring out” of its vans.

The $2tn technology company is building a “humanoid park” in the US to test the robots, said the tech news site the Information, citing a person who had been involved in the project.

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Trump travel ban to ‘sow division and vilify communities’ – US politics live

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President brings in ban for visitors from 12 countries and restricts travel from a further seven

Donald Trump has ordered an investigation into Joe Biden’s actions as president, alleging top aides masked his predecessor’s “cognitive decline”.

The investigation will build on a Republican-led campaign already under way to discredit the former president and overturn some of his executive actions, including pardons and federal rules issued towards the end of his term in office.

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IDF recovers bodies of two Israeli-American hostages from 7 October attack

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Remains of Judih Weinstein and Gad Haggai returned to Israel after overnight operation in southern Gaza

Israel has recovered the bodies of two Israeli-American hostages who were killed and abducted in Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the remains of Judih Weinstein, 70, and Gad Haggai, 72, both of whom had Israeli and US citizenship, were returned to Israel by the army and the Shin Bet internal security agency after an overnight operation in southern Gaza.

Their deaths had been announced in December 2023. “My beautiful parents have been freed. We have certainty,” their daughter, Iris Haggai Liniado, wrote in a Facebook post. She thanked the Israeli military, the FBI and the Israeli and US governments and called for the release of all the remaining hostages.

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Hungary’s crackdown on LGBTQ+ content violates human rights, says EU’s top court

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ECJ advocate general condemns ‘stigmatising’ law that bars such content from schools and primetime TV

A Hungarian law banning content about LGBTQ+ people from schools and primetime TV has been found to violate basic human rights and freedom of expression by a senior legal scholar at the European court of justice.

The non-binding opinion from the court’s advocate general, Tamara Ćapeta, issued on Thursday, represents a comprehensive demolition of the arguments made by the Hungarian government defending its so-called childprotection law, passed in 2021.

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New Zealand MPs who performed haka in parliament given record suspensions

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Parliament votes to enact punishment after hours of fraught debate including attitudes towards Māori culture

New Zealand legislators have voted to enact record parliamentary suspensions for three MPs who performed a Māori haka to protest against a controversial proposed law.

Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke received a seven-day ban and the leaders of her political party, Te Pāti Māori (the Māori party), Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi, were barred for 21 days. Three days had previously been the longest ban for a New Zealand MP.

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Vanuatu not planning to revoke Andrew Tate’s citizenship, government spokesperson says

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Exclusive: Government review into how the influencer obtained citizenship found no fault with his documents and Tate will remain a citizen

Vanuatu is not planning to revoke the citizenship of Andrew Tate, with a government spokesperson confirming that the influencer remains a Vanuatu citizen, and the government is not taking any steps to reverse that.

This week investigative outlet, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) revealed that Tate obtained Vanuatu citizenship around the time of his 2022 arrest by Romanian authorities on charges including rape and human trafficking.

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Shein accused of ‘shaming’ customers into buying more than they can afford

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Consumer watchdogs accuse Chinese fashion firm of ‘dark’ practices in formal complaint to European Commission

Consumer watchdogs from 21 countries have filed a formal complaint to EU authorities about alleged “dark” practices by the Chinese fast fashion firm Shein including the “shaming” of customers into buying more than they can afford.

The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) has submitted a 29-page dossier to the European Commission citing multiple examples of “dark patterns”, or deceptive techniques designed to encourage purchases.

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US vetoes resolution for unconditional Gaza ceasefire at UN security council

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Russia, China, France and the UK all voted in favour of ‘immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire’

The United States has vetoed a United Nations security council resolution calling for an “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” in Gaza while the 14 remaining countries on the council voted in favour.

The vetoed resolution also called the situation in Gaza “catastrophic”, and demanded the “immediate and unconditional lifting of all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza and its safe and unhindered distribution at scale, including by the UN and humanitarian partners”.

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Canadian wildfires prompt air-quality alerts across five US states

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Officials in New York, New Jersey, Iowa, New Hampshire and Maine issued alerts due to smoke from fires in Canada

Smoke from wildfires in Canada is spreading across multiple states in the US including the eastern seaboard, prompting multiple states to issue air-quality alerts.

The poor air quality stretching across the US came as a result of dozens of wildfires burning across Canada as the country’s annual wildfire season roars into destructive action.

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Kremlin and Trump aides raise nuclear war fears after Ukraine drone strike

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Vladimir Putin has warned Russia will respond to Kyiv’s attacks on nuclear-capable aircraft at airfields

As Vladimir Putin pledges to retaliate against Ukraine for last weekend’s unprecedented drone attack, Kremlin advisers and figures around Donald Trump have told the US president that the risk of a nuclear confrontation is growing, in an attempt to pressure him to further reduce US support for Ukraine.

Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund and an important intermediary between the Kremlin and Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, called the Ukrainian drone strike an attack on “Russian nuclear assets”, and echoed remarks from Maga-friendly figures warning of the potential for a third world war.

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Keir Starmer calls Israel’s recent actions in Gaza ‘appalling and intolerable’

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PM tells MPs he is considering imposing sanctions on Israeli government members but is resisting ban on arms sales

Keir Starmer has called Israel’s recent actions in Gaza “appalling, counterproductive and intolerable”, as the UK government comes under mounting pressure to take stronger action after the killings of dozens of civilians at food points in recent days.

The prime minister told MPs on Wednesday the UK was considering imposing sanctions on members of the Israeli government, but is so far resisting growing calls for a complete ban on arms sales and immediate recognition of Palestine.

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Hungary postpones vote on law to curb foreign-funded organisations

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Orbán’s ruling party delays vote on legislation allowing government to ban organisations with foreign funding

Hungary’s ruling party has postponed a planned vote on draft legislation aimed at organisations that receive foreign funding, following weeks of protests and warnings that the law would “starve and strangle” civil society and independent media.

Viktor Orbán’s rightwing populist party, Fidesz, put forward legislation last month that would allow the government to monitor, penalise and potentially ban organisations that receive any sort of foreign funding, including donations or EU grants.

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France plans to begin intercepting small boats at sea, says UK Home Office

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Officials have agreed to begin offshore interceptions, it is claimed, in change of policy that NGOs say will risk lives

The French government plans to begin intercepting small boats carrying asylum seekers even if they are already at sea, a Home Office source has said.

In a move that NGOs claim will endanger lives, it was claimed that French officials agreed this week to draw up plans to begin intervening in waters close to beaches and inland canals.

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Many of Dead Sea scrolls may be older than thought, experts say

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Researchers enlisted help of AI along with radiocarbon dating to produce new insights into ancient texts

Many of the Dead Sea scrolls could be older than previously thought, with some biblical texts dating from the time of their original authors, researchers say.

The first of the ancient scrolls were discovered in the caves of Qumran in the Judean desert by Bedouin shepherds in the mid-20th century. The manuscripts range from legal documents to parts of the Hebrew Bible, and are thought to date from around the third century BCE to the second century CE.

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