Category Archives: World News

Gérard Depardieu appears in Paris court for trial on sexual assault charges

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Actor is expected to testify on Tuesday over allegations by two women who worked with him on 2021 film

The French actor Gérard Depardieu has appeared in court in France on trial for allegedly sexually assaulting two women during a film shoot in 2021.

Depardieu, 76, dressed in a black suit and trainers with his grey hair swept back, arrived at the Paris criminal court amid a large police presence. Dozens of protesters had gathered outside the courthouse and shouted: “Victims, we believe you; rapists, we see you.”

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Trump’s shuttering of global media agency endangers reporters, staff say

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Employees who may have to return home risk death or imprisonment at hands of authoritarian governments

Foreign workers at US government-backed media outlets being cut by the Trump administration say they face deportation to their home countries, where some risk imprisonment or death at the hands of authoritarian governments.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration moved to defund the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), an independent federal agency that oversees the Voice of America (VoA), the US’s largest and oldest international broadcaster, and provides grants to Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe and other news agencies. The agency had around 3,500 employees with an annual budget of $886m in 2024.

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US and Russia begin talks in Saudi Arabia on Ukraine ceasefire

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Uncertainty remains over how and when 30-day halt on energy strikes would take effect amid a gulf on expectations

US and Russian officials have begun talks in Saudi Arabia as Donald Trump pushes to broker a limited ceasefire that Washington hopes will mark the first step toward lasting peace in Ukraine.

Ukraine and Russia have agreed in principle to a one-month halt on strikes on energy infrastructure after Trump spoke with the countries’ leaders last week. But uncertainty remains over how and when the partial ceasefire would take effect – and whether its scope would extend beyond energy infrastructure to include other critical sites, such as hospitals, bridges, and vital utilities.

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Ekrem İmamoğlu: jailed rival to Turkish president who could emerge stronger

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Istanbul mayor has become the only politician capable of challenging Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the ballot box

When crowds of police arrived at the residence of the Istanbul mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, to arrest him in a dawn raid last week, his response was calm and deliberate. The mayor of Turkey’s largest city – a longtime rival of the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan – issued a video message to his supporters, filming himself as he put on a crisp white shirt and tie to be dressed for his detention.

“A small group is trying to usurp the will of the people,” he said. “I will stand strong.”

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Mark Carney laments Canada’s lost friendship with US in visit to 9/11 town

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Canadian PM makes remarks on visit to Newfoundland town that sheltered US airline passengers after attacks

Mark Carney has lamented Canada’s lost friendship with the United States as he visited the town that sheltered thousands of stranded American airline passengers after the 9/11 attacks.

The Canadian prime minister’s visit to Gander, Newfoundland, on the second day of a national election campaign comes against the backdrop of a trade war and sovereignty threats from Donald Trump.

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Mumbai comedy club ransacked after performer’s joke about local politician

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Shiv Sena party supporters tore apart the Habitat comedy club after Kunal Kamra’s satirical song about a top minister

A mob violently ransacked a Mumbai comedy club and its building has been partly demolished after one of India’s most prominent comedians performed a satirical song about a local ruling politician during a performance there.

Kunal Kamra has a reputation for his acerbic comedy which often pokes fun at political figures. Few comedians in India dare to make political jokes for risk of a backlash.

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Drones, informers and apps: Iran intensifies surveillance on women to enforce hijab law

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Iranian police are using digital tools to identify and punish women who defy the Islamic state’s harsh dress code

Like many women in Iran, Darya is used to feeling under surveillance. Yet in recent months, the 25-year-old finance analyst from northern Tehran says that she never knows who could be watching her every move.

She says she has received messages from the police before warning her of suspected violations of the country’s strict hijab laws, but last November she was sent an SMS message containing her car registration plate that stated the exact time and place that she had been recorded driving without her head properly covered. Next time it happened, the SMS warned, her car would be impounded.

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Motability: is it true that the disability scheme is taking UK taxpayers for a ride?

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Understanding the rightwing backlash over the government scheme helping people with serious disabilities get cars

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Motability really ought to be a boring subject: a government scheme helping people with serious disabilities get a car by using a portion of their benefits to pay for the lease. But over the past week, anyone who had never heard of Motability would have got a more lurid impression.

First reported in the Daily Mail, and then in a string of follow-up stories, Motability was portrayed not as a useful mechanism for helping people with disabilities but an outrageous example of con artists milking the taxpayer.

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Anger in Greenland over visits this week by Usha Vance and Mike Waltz

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Greenland’s prime minister says trip is ‘demonstration of power’ and accuses US of interfering in its political affairs

Greenland’s prime minister has accused Washington of interfering in its political affairs with the visit of an American delegation this week to the Arctic island coveted by the US president, Donald Trump.

“It should be said clearly that our integrity and democracy must be respected without foreign interference,” Múte Egede said on Monday, adding that the planned visit by the second lady, Usha Vance, along with the national security adviser, Mike Waltz, “cannot be seen as just a private visit”.

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Weather tracker: Severe thunderstorms threaten flooding in northern Australia

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A broad trough has dragged in warm, moist air and offers perfect ingredients for heavy rainfall and even supercells

Northern parts of Australia have been under a flood warning this weekend, with further flooding set to bring havoc to south-eastern parts of the Northern Territory and western Queensland early this week. A broad trough – an area of locally lower pressure – has been moving across northern Australia, dragging in warm, moist air from the Gulf of Carpentaria and providing the perfect ingredients for the formation of severe thunderstorms, and even supercells.

More than 70mm (2.75in) of rain fell in an hour under the slow-moving storms over the weekend in what is usually an arid, low rainfall zone with a desert/grassland climate classification. Some parts of the region have sparse observation data, but some local stations have been able to record more than 100mm within 24 hours, with 132mm of rain at Marion Downs, Queensland.

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MPs think they may have been targets of ‘disinformation’ over Bangladesh inquiry

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Group received emails about Ahsan Mansur, the central bank official investigating money laundering allegations

British MPs believe they may have been targeted by a “disinformation” campaign aimed at discrediting the man leading efforts to trace funds allegedly laundered from Bangladesh into the UK.

MPs raised the alarm after receiving emails about Ahsan Mansur, who was installed as the central bank governor of Bangladesh last year, after a student-led revolution swept away the autocratic government of Sheikh Hasina.

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Israeli strike at Gaza hospital kills five, including senior Hamas figure

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Ismail Barhoum and medics die in attack, which Israel says was based on extensive intelligence

An Israeli airstrike on Sunday night hit the largest hospital in southern Gaza, killing five people, including a Hamas political leader.

The Gaza health ministry said the strike hit the surgery department at Nasser hospital in the city of Khan Younis. The Israeli military said its attack followed extensive intelligence and used precise munitions to minimise harm at the site.

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Gulf in US and Russian expectations marks start of latest ceasefire talks

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As Washington signals hope for ‘real progress’, Moscow warns ‘difficult negotiations’ lie ahead

US and Ukrainian officials have met for further talks aimed at hammering out a ceasefire in Russia’s war in Ukraine, with Washington signalling its hope for “real progress” even as Moscow warned that “difficult negotiations” lie ahead.

The gulf in expectations marked the start of the latest round of negotiations in Saudi Arabia, which was set to follow with a meeting between American officials and Russia on Monday. The US is pushing for a broad ceasefire in Russia’s war in Ukraine by 20 April, according to Bloomberg, though sources said the timeline may slip given the wide gap that exists between Kyiv and Moscow’s positions.

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South African ambassador expelled from US welcomed home by supporters

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Ebrahim Rasool, declared persona non grata by Washington, was surrounded by crowds at Cape Town airport

The South African ambassador who was expelled from the US and declared persona non grata by the Trump administration was welcomed home on Sunday by hundreds of supporters who sang songs praising him.

Crowds at Cape Town International airport surrounded Ebrahim Rasool and his wife Rosieda as they emerged in the arrivals terminal in their home town, and they needed a police escort to help them navigate their way through the building.

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Starmer is warned against ‘appeasing’ Trump with tax cut for US tech firms

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Labour MP and Lib Dem leader express concern social media companies could be let off hook just as benefits are cut

Keir Starmer has been warned against “appeasing” Donald Trump as he considers reducing a major tax for US tech companies while cutting disability benefits and public sector jobs.

His chancellor, Rachel Reeves, confirmed on Sunday that there were “ongoing” discussions about the UK’s £1bn-a-year digital services tax that affects companies including Meta and Amazon.

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Istanbul mayor jailed on day of likely presidential nomination

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Ekrem İmamoğlu, rival of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, placed in pre-trial detention along with dozens of staff and officials

An Istanbul court has formally arrested the city’s mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, on corruption charges, sending him to pre-trial detention on the day he is expected to receive his party’s nomination to run for president.

The mayor of Turkey’s largest city and a rival of the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was jailed on charges of leading a criminal organisation, bribery, misconduct and corruption, along with dozens of his staff and municipal officials.

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Gérard Depardieu to appear in Paris court over sexual assault allegations

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Actor, 76, denies claims made by assistant director and set designer who worked with him on Les Volets Verts

Gérard Depardieu will become the most high-profile French person to stand trial on #MeToo abuse allegations when he appears in a Paris court on Monday.

The actor, a titan of French cinema with more than 200 films and television series to his name, is accused of sexually assaulting two women during a film shoot in 2021.

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Canada to head to polls as Mark Carney calls snap election for 28 April

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Prime minister launches contest expected to focus on US relations, as Liberals enjoy lead over Conservatives

Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, has called a snap election on 28 April, firing the starting gun on a contest that is widely expected to focus on the strained relationship with the US amid threats to Canada’s economic and political future.

“We are facing the most significant crisis of our lifetime because of President [Donald] Trump’s unjustified trade actions and his threats to our sovereignty,” he said. “He wants to break us, so America can own us. We will not let this happen. We’re over the shock the shock of the betrayal, but we can never forget the lessons. We have to look out for ourselves. We have to look out for each other.”

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Trump’s expansionism threatens the rules-based order in place since second world war

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UN charter says members ‘shall refrain from the threat or use of force’ against a country’s territory or independence

The post-second world war taboo on acquiring territory through force or by the threat of force is being unravelled by a generation of political leaders, led by expansionist threats from Donald Trump that are unprecedented for a US president.

Experts are warning that a combination of the Russian aggression against Ukraine and Trump’s comments explicitly pushing for the US to acquire Greenland, Canada, the Panama canal and Gaza is fuelling a permissive environment that threatens long-recognised borders and the international rules-based order that has existed since the end of the war.

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Gaza medics issue malnutrition alert as total Israeli blockade enters fourth week

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Israel continues to batter territory in renewed offensive as death toll from nearly 18 months of war passes 50,000

Malnutrition is spreading in Gaza, medics and aid workers in the devastated Palestinian territory are warning, as a total Israeli blockade of all supplies enters its fourth week.

There has been no sign that Israel will open entry points to allow essential aid to flow or ease its new offensive in Gaza, which started on Tuesday with a wave of airstrikes that killed 400 people, mostly civilians, ending two months of relative calm. On Sunday, Palestinian officials said the total death toll from nearly 18 months of conflict had passed 50,000.

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