Category Archives: World News

Northern Ireland nationalists fear focus on reconciliation stalling push for unity referendum

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Goal of reconciliation has become ‘undisguised unionist veto’, some argue amid dwindling momentum for vote

In Northern Ireland, it used to be the one goal that everyone could agree on: reconciliation. Whether the region stayed in the UK or united with Ireland, all sides acknowledged the need to heal wounds from the Troubles and to bridge differences between Catholics and Protestants.

Even those who riled the other side invoked reconciliation. How could they not? It was self-evidently a good thing.

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Usha Vance: husband’s pick as Trump running mate came ‘like a bolt of lightning’

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Second lady says on Meghan McCain podcast she is ‘not plotting next steps’ and is just ‘along for the ride’

Usha Vance learned her husband, JD, had been selected to be Donald Trump’s running mate “maybe five minutes” before the news was made public – and just about an hour before he was formally nominated.

“It really was like a bolt of lightning,” Vance said during an interview on Meghan McCain’s podcast, Citizen McCain. Nearly a year later, seated in the Naval Observatory, Vance reflected on how radically her life has changed – “people call you ma’am. No one’s ever called me ma’am before this.”

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At least 16 people killed and 400 injured in Kenyan protests

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Police clashed with people marching in Nairobi and other areas to honour those killed in protests last year

At least 16 people have been killed and 400 injured in Kenya as a nationwide demonstration to honour those killed during last year’s anti-government protests turned chaotic, with police clashing with protesters in different parts of the country.

Amnesty Kenya’s executive director, Irũngũ Houghton, said the death toll had been verified by the government-funded Kenya national commission on human rights. “Most were killed by police,” he said.

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Change in Nato mindset brought on by Vladimir Putin as much as Donald Trump

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Allies agreed to raise defence spending to counter likely prospect of Russian remilitarisation if Ukraine war ends

The price was high, but for now, at least, a crisis in Nato has been averted. Donald Trump may like to take the credit for almost all of the 32 allies agreeing to a sharp increase in defence spending, but the reality is that the dramatic change in the Nato mindset was as much brought on by Vladimir Putin.

The Russian president’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was the first jolt, but there is a second uncomfortable reality. If there is a sustainable ceasefire in Ukraine, it will mean the deployment of a European-led peacekeeping force in the country – and after a while, Russia’s military might will inevitably recover.

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Iran’s parliament approves bill to suspend cooperation with IAEA

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Move makes it harder to verify degree of damage inflicted on Iran’s three key nuclear sites by US and Israeli bombing

Iran’s parliament has unanimously agreed to suspend all cooperation with the IAEA, the UN’s nuclear inspectorate, making it harder for an independent expert assessment to be made about the degree of damage inflicted on Iran’s three key nuclear sites by the joint US and Israeli bombing.

It also makes it harder for the location of any highly enriched uranium to be known. The vote is a sign that Iran wants to harden its negotiating position on cooperation with the west in the wake of 12 days of attacks mounted by Israel and the US, but supported by European governments only with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

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Pakistan debates Trump Nobel peace prize nomination after US strikes on Iran

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Pakistani government had credited US president with ‘pivotal leadership’ in its ceasefire negotiations with India

Donald Trump’s intervention into the Iran-Israel war, and brokering then announcing a ceasefire, has drawn a heated debate in Pakistan – where the government had formally nominated the US president for the Nobel peace prize as the US military was making its final preparations for a strike that threatened all-out war in the Middle East.

A statement in the early hours of Saturday local time – shortly before US B-2 bombers left the Whiteman air force base in Missouri and headed to Iran – had credited Trump for a “legacy of pragmatic diplomacy” and “pivotal leadership” for ensuring Pakistan’s ceasefire with India in a conflict that had begun with the killing of tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir in April.

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Trump and Hegseth admit doubts about level of damage to Iran nuclear sites

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President calls intelligence ‘inconclusive’, while defence secretary describes harm to facilities as ‘moderate to severe’

Donald Trump and the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, have admitted to some doubt over the scale of the damage inflicted on Iran’s nuclear sites by the US bombing at the weekend, after a leaked Pentagon assessment said the Iranian programme had been set back by only a few months.

“The intelligence was very inconclusive,” Trump told journalists at a Nato summit in The Hague, introducing an element of uncertainty for the first time after several days of emphatic declarations that the destruction had been total. “The intelligence says we don’t know. It could’ve been very severe. That’s what the intelligence suggests.”

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Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez arrive in Venice for divisive wedding

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Celebrity guests for nuptials of Amazon founder and former TV journalist arrive as activists continue to protest against event

The billionaire Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, and the former TV journalist Lauren Sánchez have arrived in Venice as they prepare to tie the knot in a lavish three-day celebration that has divided the lagoon city.

Scores of celebrities and other members of the world’s super-rich will also join the pair in Italy, arriving on superyachts and private jets.

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Briton accused of staging Disneyland mock wedding with child is charged with fraud offences in France

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Sex offender was arrested after alleged hiring of Disneyland Paris for fake ceremony with nine-year-old ‘bride’

A British sex offender accused of staging a mock wedding with a child at Disneyland Paris has been charged with money-laundering and fraud offences in France.

Jacky Jhaj, 39, who in 2016 was found guilty of sexual activity with two 15-year-olds, was arrested this weekend at Disneyland Paris after the theme park was hired for a private wedding. Staff are said to have called police when they saw that the “bride” in a wedding dress was a nine-year-old girl.

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Mourners left waiting as court orders halt to former Zambian president’s funeral

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Halt to burial in Johannesburg is latest chapter in feud Edgar Lungu had with his successor Hakainde Hichilema

The funeral of the former Zambian president Edgar Lungu has been stopped while mourners waited in a cathedral in Johannesburg, as an extraordinary feud Lungu had with his successor continues to play out after his death.

A high court judge in Pretoria ordered a halt to Lungu’s burial at the Cathedral of Christ the King in central Johannesburg on Wednesday morning after a last-minute request by Zambia’s attorney general.

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Judge blocks Trump from withholding EV charger funds awarded to 14 states

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Trump officials had ordered states not to spend $5bn given by Biden under national EV infrastructure scheme

A US district judge has blocked the Trump administration from withholding funds previously awarded to 14 states for electric vehicle charger infrastructure.

Seattle-based judge Tana Lin, who was appointed to the bench by Joe Biden in 2021, granted a partial injunction to the states that filed suit against Trump’s Department of Transportation.

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Hull teenager becomes second Briton ever to join professional sumo stable

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Nicholas Tarasenko, 15, gets rare chance to break into professional sumo ranks after winning amateur tournaments and learning Japanese

A teenager from Hull has arrived in Japan to pursue his dream of becoming a grand champion sumo wrestler, as only the second Briton to win a place at one of the ancient sport’s professional stables.

Nicholas Tarasenko, 15, left Yorkshire for Japan straight after finishing his GCSEs, to become the first British hopeful to join a stable since Nathan Strange – a Londoner who fought under the ring name Hidenokuni – in 1989.

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Fears of unrest as Kenyans mark first anniversary of storming of parliament

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Rights activists plan to march countrywide in honour of those killed during anti-government protests

Kenyans plan to march countrywide on Wednesday, the first anniversary of the historic storming of parliament by protesters, to honour those killed during last year’s anti-government protests, but there are fears that the march could escalate into unrest.

Rights activists, family members of killed and missing protesters, and young Kenyans, who were the main drivers of last year’s protests, have mobilised online and offline, with opposition leaders terming the day a “people’s public holiday” and the government warning against attempts to disrupt public order.

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Five members of biggest British Jewish body suspended over Israel criticisms

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Elected representatives of Board of Deputies were among signatories of open letter objecting to actions in Gaza Strip

Five elected representatives to the largest body representing British Jews have been suspended for two years after criticising the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza.

All 36 signatories to an open letter published in April have been found to have breached the Board of Deputies’ code of conduct after a two-month investigation.

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Man wrongfully deported to El Salvador must be returned to US, court rules

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White House must return Jordin Melgar-Salmeron, who was deported less than 30 minutes after his removal was barred

An appeals court has ordered the Trump administration to return a man wrongfully deported to El Salvador to the US and to explain how it is complying in a ruling apparently designed to break a pattern of apparent government defiance of judicial orders.

The US court of appeals for the second circuit in New York also required the government to provide a declaration of the current whereabouts and custodial status of Jordin Melgar-Salmeron, who was deported on 7 May less than half an hour after the court had expressly barred his removal.

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Jeff Bezos alters Venice wedding plans after threat of inflatable crocodiles

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Amazon founder reportedly forced to change venue for his wedding celebrations in Italian city

Campaigners in Venice have claimed victory after Jeff Bezos was reportedly forced to change the venue for his wedding celebrations in the city as his guests started arriving on Tuesday for the three-day jamboree.

The main reception for the wedding of Bezos and Lauren Sánchez, a former TV journalist, was due to be held in the Scuola Grande della Misericordia, a majestic 16th-century building in the city centre.

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Ex-French PM Dominique de Villepin launches party with view to 2027 presidential run

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Senior figure has set up Humanist France and is attracting support due to his criticisms of Israel’s actions in Gaza

The former French prime minister and foreign policy chief Dominique de Villepin has launched a political party called Humanist France, with a view to a possible bid for the French presidency in 2027.

De Villepin, who was prime minister under the rightwing president Jacques Chirac from 2005 to 2007, is best known for his dramatic speech to the United Nations in 2003, setting out France’s opposition to a US-led Iraq war and warning of the “incalculable consequences” of military action in the region.

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WHO says attack on Sudanese hospital killed more than 40 civilians

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Five health workers reportedly among the dead in West Kordofan as paramilitary RSF blames Sudanese military

The head of the World Health Organization has condemned an attack on a hospital in Sudan that he said had killed more than 40 civilians, as the country’s civil war, which has caused the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, rages on.

The attack on al-Mujlad hospital in West Kordofan happened on Saturday close to the frontline between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The WHO’s local office, which did not assign blame, said six children and five health workers were among the dead and that there were “dozens of injuries”.

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Iran-Israel ceasefire boosts markets risk appetite; UK inflation may ‘plateau’, warns Bank of England’s Greene – business live

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Oil has fallen to its lowest level since June’s conflict began, while stock markets have jumped across Asia and Europe

Travel and leisure stocks across Europe are rallying too.

This has pushed up the STOXX Europe travel and leisure index by 4.1% in early trading, which Reuters reports it the biggest one-day jump since 10 April.

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Europe’s pledge to spend more on military will hurt climate and social programmes

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Nato spending plan overlooks risks to security posed by environmental breakdown and social decay, say economists

Europe risks choosing militarism over social and environmental security, economists have warned, as the head of Nato said all 32 members had agreed to increase weapons spending.

Analyses drafted in anticipation of a Nato summit beginning on Tuesday warned of the opportunity cost that higher military spending would pose to the continent’s climate mitigation and social programmes, which are consistently underfunded.

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