Treatment of Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who has been suspended from senate, shines light on women’s rights
Last July, Nigeria’s third-most powerful man gave a rare apology on the floor of the senate which he heads.
Godswill Akpabio had chastised his colleague Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan for speaking out of turn, saying: “We are not in a nightclub”. But after receiving what he said was a deluge of insulting text messages from Nigerians, he apologised publicly a few days later.
Continue reading...Up to 100 injured after Trump orders strikes in response to shipping attacks
The US has launched airstrikes against Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis, killing at least 31 people and injured up to 100 more, in Donald Trump’s first such use of US military might in the region since he took power in January.
US officials have said the airstrikes, which aim to punish the Houthis for their attacks against Red Sea shipping, may continue for weeks.
Continue reading...Launched by Nasa and SpaceX, the Falcon 9 is picking up Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, whose eight days on board the International Space Station became nine months
A long-awaited mission to return stranded US astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore from the International Space Station has been launched by Nasa and SpaceX.
The pair were due to spend eight days on the ISS in June, but technical problems with the experimental spacecraft that took them there have left them stuck on the orbital laboratory for nine months.
Continue reading...Farmers and bikers join students in climax to movement that Aleksandar Vučić labels an ‘imported revolution’
A vast demonstration has been gathering in Belgrade, marking the climax of more than four months of student-led protests and the biggest challenge to President Aleksandar Vučić in the 11 years of his increasingly autocratic rule.
Vučić stoked tensions in the run-up to yesterday’s mass protest, suggesting there would be an attempt to overthrow him by force and calling it an “imported revolution” with the involvement of western intelligence agencies, but he provided no evidence for the claims. The demonstrations against government corruption and incompetence have so far been overwhelmingly peaceful.
Continue reading...Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy, has written op-eds and reports questioning Ukraine’s role in negotiations
A retired US general charged with helping sell the Trump administration’s Ukraine peace plan wrote a string of op-eds and reports for a rightwing thinktank in which he repeatedly questioned whether Ukraine had a legitimate part to play in peace negotiations.
Keith Kellogg also blamed the war on the machinations of a US “military-industrial complex” and “[Joe] Biden’s national security incompetence” rather than Russia’s 2022 invasion, which has been condemned across the globe and resulted in a war that has cost hundreds of thousands of lives.
Continue reading...Ancient Mesopotamian stone tablets show extraordinary detail and reach of government in cradle of world civilisations
The red tape of government bureaucracy spans more than 4,000 years, according to new finds from the cradle of the world’s civilisations, Mesopotamia.
Hundreds of administrative tablets – the earliest physical evidence of the first empire in recorded history – have been discovered by archaeologists from the British Museum and Iraq. These texts detail the minutiae of government and reveal a complex bureaucracy – the red tape of an ancient civilisation.
Continue reading...Voters reflect on their priorities and mood shifts in their communities before a crucial contest
When the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, resigned in early January, after months of pressure to quit, the approval ratings of the progressive firebrand had dropped from their peak of 65% in September 2016 to 22%.
At the end of last year, the Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, described by many as “Trump Lite”, was the clear favourite to win Canada’s next general election, and the top pick of 45% of Canadians for prime minister. At the time, the three biggest issues for voters were all economic: reducing the cost of everyday items, inflation and interest rates, and access to affordable housing.
Continue reading...Authorities in capital make apparent attempt to disrupt demonstration by cancelling public transport
Tens of thousands of people from across Serbia joined an anti-corruption rally in Belgrade on Saturday, in what is regarded as the culmination of months of protest that have shaken the grip of the country’s autocratic president, Aleksandar Vučić.
The sound of whistles and vuvuzelas echoed throughout the Serbian capital, which has been on high alert since the rally was announced.
Continue reading...British steelmakers lobby for government to set limit to compete with France and Germany
The British steel industry has called for capped energy prices for heavy industry in order to match France and Germany, as companies grapple with the fallout from Donald Trump’s trade war.
UK Steel, a lobby group, has proposed the government set a maximum price for energy through a contract for difference (CfD), before an announcement of a new steel strategy.
Continue reading...Swedish company’s valuation jumped 24% in 2024 as ‘buy now, pay later’ market is projected to top $160bn by 2032
The Swedish fintech firm Klarna disclosed on Friday that its revenue jumped 24% in 2024 as the “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) pioneer made public its filing for a much-anticipated US stock market listing.
The company, which reshaped online shopping through its short-term financing model, drew investor attention as its valuation soared from $5.5bn to $46.5bn in just two years, fueled by three funding rounds between mid-2020 and 2021.
Continue reading...Shaken by rail protests, Kyriakos Mitsotakis brings in new transport minister while tacking right on migration
The Greek prime minister has appointed a former far-right student activist to the helm of the migration ministry as part of a broad reshuffle aimed at “resetting” his government amid public outrage over its handling of a deadly 2023 train crash.
In an attempt to stem declining approval ratings, Kyriakos Mitsotakis placed the self-described nationalist, Makis Voridis, in the sensitive post while selecting a number of younger officials to key portfolios including the transport ministry.
Continue reading...Former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor sworn in and expected to call election soon
Mark Carney has said Canada will never be part of the US, after being sworn in as the country’s 24th prime minister in a sudden rise to power.
“We will never, in any shape or form, be part of the US,” the former governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England told a crowd outside Rideau Hall in Ottawa, rejecting Donald Trump’s annexation threats. “We are very fundamentally a different country.”
Continue reading...A spokesperson offered no evidence for the claim after 26 people were killed on a train that was hijacked in Balochistan province on Tuesday
Pakistan’s military has accused neighbouring India of sponsoring militant groups in the south-west of the country as survivors recounted their ordeal from an unprecedented attack that killed 26 passengers on a hijacked train.
The scope of the attack in Balochistan province underscores the struggles that Pakistan faces to rein in militant groups.
Continue reading...Apparent rejection of new offer to free US-Israeli hostage dashes hopes of progress but will please Tel Aviv
The Trump administration has accused Hamas of making “entirely impractical” demands and stalling on a deal to release a US-Israeli hostage in exchange for an extension of the Gaza ceasefire.
“Hamas is making a very bad bet that time is on its side. It is not,” the office of Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and the US national security council said in a statement. “Hamas is well aware of the deadline, and should know that we will respond accordingly if that deadline passes,” it said, adding that Trump had already vowed Hamas would “pay a severe price” for not freeing hostages.
Continue reading...Backing of Greens is tantamount to approval of chancellor-in-waiting’s proposal to relax debt brake
Germany’s conservative chancellor-in-waiting, Friedrich Merz, has said he has secured the support of the Green party for his radical plan to increase spending on defence and infrastructure after marathon talks that went through the night, paving the way for its approval in parliament.
“Germany is back,” Merz said in Berlin on Friday. “Germany is making its large contribution to the defence of freedom and peace in Europe.”
Continue reading...Duterte faces charges over his years-long campaign against drug users and dealers that rights groups say killed tens of thousands. This live blog is closed
Philippine ex-president Rodrigo Duterte is appearing by video link before judges at the international criminal court.
Duterte would follow the proceedings through a video link, a court spokesperson said.
To some Duterte’s arrest this week came as a sudden shock. But for years many brave Filipinos, from priests, politicians, pathologists, to relatives of the victims and journalists, have worked tirelessly, in and out of the spotlight, to expose the horrors of the deadly campaign and collect enough evidence to hold Duterte to account.
Continue reading...While carefully avoiding an outright rejection of US ceasefire proposals, Moscow is playing for time
For once, the US president and European leaders were on the same page.
Grasping for a familiar metaphor, a chorus of western heads of state declared this week that “the ball was in Russia’s court” after Ukraine agreed in talks with the US on Tuesday to an immediate 30-day ceasefire.
Continue reading...More than 200mm of rain fell in 24 hours, destroying 900 homes and leaving 40,000 people without power
Cyclone Jude was the third cyclone to hit Mozambique this season. First spotted as a depression last Friday to the south-west of the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, it intensified over the next few days to a moderate tropical storm, affecting northern Madagascar on Saturday and killing at least one person.
Jude strengthened into a tropical cyclone as it tracked westwards over the Mozambique Channel, where sea surface temperatures of close to 30C provided the heat and moisture necessary to fuel the cyclone.
Continue reading...Ed Miliband visits Beijing as part of plan to create global axis working in favour of climate action
The UK is hoping to shape a new global axis in favour of climate action along with China and a host of developing countries, to offset the impact of Donald Trump’s abandonment of green policies and his sharp veer towards climate-hostile countries such as Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Ed Miliband, the UK’s energy and net zero secretary, arrived in Beijing on Friday for three days of talks with top Chinese officials, including discussions on green technology supply chains, coal and the critical minerals needed for clean energy. The UK’s green economy is growing three times faster than the rest of the economy, but access to components and materials will be crucial for that to continue.
Continue reading...Experts say legislation will prevent vulnerable people from accessing justice in latest government-backed crackdown
Human rights groups in Peru have voiced alarm over a controversial anti-NGO law that prevents civil society organisations from taking legal action against the state for human rights abuses – a move that activists say will prevent the vulnerable from accessing justice.
Peru’s deeply unpopular congress added a harsher amendment to an existing bill which was fast-tracked through the chamber with 81 votes in favour, 16 against and four abstentions on Wednesday.
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