Category Archives: World News

Trump says he and Putin will discuss land and power plants in Ukraine ceasefire talks

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Trump says negotiators have already discussed ‘dividing up certain assets’ and that he will talk to Putin on Tuesday

Donald Trump is to speak to Vladimir Putin on Tuesday after the Russian president last week responded to a US-brokered plan for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine with a series of sweeping conditions he said would need to be met.

The Kremlin confirmed on Monday that the two leaders were due to speak on Tuesday by phone, after Trump’s statement that he planned to discuss with Putin ending the war in Ukraine. The US president also said that negotiators had already talked about “dividing up certain assets”, including power stations.

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Trump administration pulls US out of body investigating Ukraine invasion

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Russia and allies were target of International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine

The Trump administration is withdrawing from an international body formed to investigate responsibility for the invasion of Ukraine in the latest sign that the White House is adopting a posture favouring Vladimir Putin.

The Department of Justice said it was pulling out of the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA) two years after the Biden administration joined it with a commitment to hold Putin, Russia’s president, to account for the 2022 invasion and subsequent crimes committed by Russian forces.

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Hungary’s government submits bill to ban Budapest Pride event

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Ruling coalition continues its crackdown on LGBTQ+ people under its ‘child protection’ legislation

Hungary’s ruling coalition is continuing its crackdown on the country’s LGBTQ+ community, as members submitted a bill to parliament that would ban the popular Budapest Pride event and allow authorities to use facial recognition software to identify people attending.

The bill, presented on Monday, is almost certain to pass as the coalition has a two-thirds majority in parliament.

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Carney visits Macron and Starmer as he seeks alliances amid Trump trade war

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Canadian PM stresses importance of ‘reliable allies’ in Paris before travelling to London where he was received by king

Canada is the “most European of the non-European countries”, Mark Carney said during his first overseas trip as prime minister to France and the UK, where he is seeking stronger alliances to deal with Donald Trump’s attacks on his country’s sovereignty and economy.

Without mentioning the US president by name, Carney and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, made a joint appearance in Paris to show a united stance against what they said were economic and geopolitical crises – a reference to Trump’s trade war and “America first” diplomacy that has left longtime allies scrambling.

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China plans to ‘vigorously boost consumption’ to shore up economy

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Communist party aims to ‘promote reasonable wage growth’ and to reduce financial burdens amid Trump tariffs

China’s government has announced ambitious plans to “vigorously boost consumption” by putting up pay and reducing financial burdens, in its latest attempt to increase consumer confidence and lift its struggling economy.

The plans, announced by the ruling Chinese Communist party’s (CCP) central committee and state council on Sunday, include aims to “promote reasonable wage growth” and to improve the mechanisms for adjusting the minimum wage.

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Japan to deploy long-range missiles able to hit North Korea and China

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Planned missiles on Kyushu said to be part of ‘counterstrike capabilities’, as fears grow over US security pact

Japan is planning to deploy long-range missiles on its southern island of Kyushu amid concerns around the Trump administration’s stance towards its security pacts and continuing regional tensions.

The missiles, with a range of about 1,000km, would be capable of hitting targets in North Korea and China’s coastal regions, and are due to be deployed next year in two bases with existing missile garrisons. They would bolster the defences of the strategically important Okinawa island chain and are part of Japan’s development of “counterstrike capabilities” in the event it is attacked, according to reports from Kyodo News agency, citing government sources.

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US evangelical groups urge Trump to spare HIV/Aids program from aid cuts

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Christian organizations helped create Pepfar, credited with preventing 25m early deaths, particularly in Africa

Christian evangelical organizations instrumental in creating the US program that has saved millions of lives from HIV/Aids are pressing the Trump administration to rescue the scheme from crushing cuts to foreign assistance.

The state department has said that the two-decade-old President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar), which is estimated to have prevented 25m early deaths, is exempt from the cancellation of most US overseas aid. But the program is heavily reliant on logistical support from the US Agency for International Development (USAid), which has seen most of its projects killed off.

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Monday briefing: Is Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest a sign of the ICC’s strength or its limitations?

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In today’s newsletter: the former Philippines president was arrested and taken to The Hague after a tense standoff. It’s a much needed win for the international criminal court – but success is far from a given

Good morning.

Last Tuesday, chaos erupted at Manila’s main airport as authorities arrested the Philippines’ 79-year-old former president Rodrigo Duterte, who had arrived from Hong Kong. An arrest warrant issued in secret by the international criminal court (ICC) accused him of crimes against humanity for his alleged involvement in killings during his brutal “war on drugs”.

Benefits | Keir Starmer is to defy growing anger by driving through welfare cuts for some of the UK’s most severely disabled people, with an overhaul that could see more than 600,000 benefit claimants lose out on an average of £675 a month.

Ukraine | Donald Trump has said he plans to discuss ending the war in Ukraine with Vladimir Putin on Tuesday and that negotiators have already discussed “dividing up certain assets”. “We will be talking about land. We will be talking about power plants,” Trump said, when asked about concessions.

Space | A pair of US astronauts stuck for more than nine months on the International Space Station will be returned to Earth on Tuesday evening, Nasa has said. Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams are to be transported home with another American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut after a SpaceX Crew Dragon craft arrived at the ISS early on Sunday.

Business | Buy-to-let has become the largest single type of business in the UK – nearly four times as prevalent as fast food takeaways or hairdressers.

Healthcare | The health secretary, Wes Streeting, has said he believes there is an “overdiagnosis” of some mental health conditions as well as “too many people being written off” – factors he said were key to the government’s welfare measures.

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Italy one of five ‘dismantlers’ causing ‘democratic recession’ in Europe, report says

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Civil liberties report warns that Italy along with Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Slovakia intentionally undermining rule of law ‘in nearly all aspects’

Italy’s government has profoundly undermined the rule of law with changes to the judiciary and showed “heavy intolerance to media criticism”, in an emblematic example of Europe’s deepening “democratic recession”, a coalition of civil liberties groups has said.

A report by the Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties) said Italy was one of five “dismantlers” – along with Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Slovakia – that “intentionally undermine the rule of law in nearly all aspects”.

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British tourist missing after boat catches fire off Thai island

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Alexandra Clarke, 26, was on a diving excursion near Koh Tao when blaze broke out

A British tourist is missing in Thailand after the tour boat she was travelling on caught fire off the island of Koh Tao.

Alexandra Clarke, 26, from Lambeth, south London, was onboard the Davy Jones Locker for a diving excursion.

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Netanyahu says he will seek to dismiss head of Israel’s internal security service

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Prime minister's move against Shin Bet’s Ronen Bar will prompt further accusations of authoritarianism

Benjamin Netanyahu has announced he will seek to dismiss the director of Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, through a cabinet vote later this week, in a move that will prompt further accusations of authoritarianism.

The Israeli prime minister said in a video statement on Sunday that “ongoing distrust” made it impossible for him to continue to work with Ronen Bar, who has led Shin Bet since 2021.

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Pope seen praying at hospital chapel in photo released by Vatican

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Francis pictured for first time since he was admitted to hospital more than a month ago with pneumonia

The Vatican has released the first photograph of Pope Francis since the 88-year-old was admitted to hospital more than a month ago with pneumonia in both lungs.

The photo shows the pope, bare-headed, seated in a wheelchair and wearing a white robe and purple shawl, in front of a simple altar with a crucifix on the wall.

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North Macedonia mourns dead in nightclub fire as 15 people detained

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Government declares seven-day period of mourning after fire in eastern town of Kočani kills at least 59

North Macedonia has declared a seven-day period of mourning after a fire in a nightclub that left at least 59 dead and scores injured, as authorities detained 15 people for questioning and the interior minister said a preliminary inspection revealed the club was operating without a proper licence.

At the end of a day in which the small Balkan country grappled with a disaster not seen in decades, its interior minister Panche Toshkovski said the venue in the eastern town of Kočani where the pre-dawn blaze occurred appeared to be operating illegally.

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Macron says Russia’s permission not needed to deploy troops in Ukraine

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French president says France, UK and others could each deploy ‘a few thousand troops’ to key locations to show Ukraine ‘long-term support’

Emmanuel Macron has said France, the UK, and other nations providing security guarantees for Ukraine after any eventual ceasefire would not be aiming to deploy a “mass” of soldiers, but instead could send contingents of several thousand troops to key locations in Ukraine without needing Russia’s permission.

The French president told regional French newspapers, including Le Parisien and La Dépêche de Midi, that “several European countries, and indeed non-European ones” had “expressed their willingness” to join a possible deployment to Ukraine to secure a future peace agreement with Russia.

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Life of British man, 79, imprisoned by Taliban is in serious danger, say family

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Peter Reynolds, who runs a business in Afghanistan, was held along with his wife last month and needs heart pills, says his daughter

The life of a 79-year-old British man imprisoned along with his wife by the Taliban is in serious danger, his family have warned.

Peter Reynolds and his wife, Barbie, 75, who run a training business in Afghanistan, were detained last month when they travelled to their home in Bamiyan province.

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Arrest warrants issued as death toll rises to 59 from Kočani nightclub fire in North Macedonia – as it happened

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More than 150 people injured after blaze broke out in the early hours at Pulse club in town 60 miles from Skopje

At least 59 killed in North Macedonia nightclub fire

North Macedonia’s public prosecutor Ljupco Kocevski has said five prosecutors would investigate the fire.

“At the moment, orders have been issued for collecting of evidence” and some people were being interviewed, Kocevski said.

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Russell T Davies: gay society in ‘greatest danger I’ve ever seen’ after Trump win

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Exclusive: Doctor Who writer says he feels ‘a wave of anger heading towards us’ and hostility in UK as well as US

Russell T Davies has said gay society is in the “greatest danger I have ever seen”, since the election of Donald Trump as US president in November.

Speaking to the Guardian at the Gaydio Pride awards in Manchester on Friday, the Doctor Who screenwriter said the rise in hostility was not limited to the US but “is here [in the UK] now”.

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‘Great to see our friends arrive’: SpaceX capsule docks with ISS to bring back stranded Nasa astronauts

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The arrival of four astronauts will allow Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to return to Earth after nine months on the International Space Station

There were emotional scenes of smiling astronauts hugging and embracing in zero gravity on the International Space Station on Sunday after a replacement crew docked with the orbital outpost – a step towards the return home of two astronauts who have been stranded for more than nine months.

A SpaceX capsule delivered four astronauts to the ISS in a Nasa crew-swap mission that will allow the pair of stuck astronauts, Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams, to return home after nine months on the orbiting lab.

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Nightclub fire in North Macedonia kills 59 and leaves more than 100 injured

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Interior minister says blaze at pop concert in eastern town of Kočani probably caused by pyrotechnics

Fifty-nine people have been killed and more than 100 injured in a fire that broke out in a nightclub in North Macedonia early on Sunday.

The blaze in the small eastern town of Kočani is thought to have erupted when special-effect pyrotechnics caused the roof of the Pulse nightclub to go up in flames.

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Peruvian fisher rescued after three months stranded at sea

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Maximo Napa, 61, says he survived by eating cockroaches, birds and a turtle – and thinking about his mother

A Peruvian fisher was found alive after drifting at sea for 94 days, a navy official said on Saturday, as he was discharged from hospital after his ordeal.

Maximo Napa, 61, was rescued in his small fishing boat on Tuesday after being spotted by an Ecuadorian vessel off the coast of Chimbote in northern Peru.

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