Category Archives: World News

Up to 169 killed in Yemen as Houthis battle for strategic Red Sea heights

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Thousands flee fighting as Iran-aligned group seeks to consolidate territorial gains against Saudi-backed government forces

As many as 169 people have been reportedly killed in Yemen in the last three days as Iran-aligned Houthis battle Saudi-backed government forces for control of strategic heights on the Red Sea coast, while thousands flee the violence.

Houthi military officials said at least 118 people had been killed in clashes, as well as Saudi air and artillery strikes on Taiz, al-Jawf, Marib and Saada provinces since Sunday, Agence France-Presse reported. Yemeni government sources have said at least 36 people have been killed on their side of the conflict.

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‘The fault lines in our world are widening’, António Guterres warns as world leaders gather for UN General Assembly – live updates

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The UN secretary-general said the world must work together to solve problems in final major assembly address as secretary general

Tehran appears to have relaxed its preconditions for reopening the strait of Hormuz, saying it is prepared to do so within seven days so long as the US takes reciprocal steps to ease the pressure on Iran.

Previously Iran had set seven onerous pre-conditions for lifting the blockade including “an end to war on all fronts” and a commitment by the US to cease all aggressive actions against Iran including sanctions.

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Poorer nations will be among the last to benefit if global emissions cut to net zero

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Scientists found unequal impact of the climate crisis would not be reversed even if implicit goal of the 2015 Paris agreement is achieved

The unequal impact of the climate crisis on the world’s poorest people, including those in tropical areas, has been highlighted by new research that finds they will be among the last to feel the benefits if global greenhouse gas emissions are cut to net zero.

Temperatures have risen more significantly in tropical areas relative to their historic range than at higher latitudes, including in wealthier countries in Europe and North America.

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‘The choice was prison or exile’: journalists who fled Russia publish grim portrait of Putin

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Roman Badanin and Mikhail Rubin, who were forced to move abroad in 2021, tell of president capable of ‘limitless cruelty’

At 6am on 29 June 2021, the Russian journalist Roman Badanin was woken by a knock on the door of his family’s Moscow apartment. “Come quickly, someone has scratched your car in the courtyard,” a voice shouted from outside. As he opened the door, masked men pushed their way in.

Across the city, a similar raid was happening at the home of Badanin’s colleague Mikhail Rubin. The masked men were officers of the FSB, the Russian intelligence service, instruments of the “climate of fear and violence” that the journalists say Vladimir Putin has imposed on Russia in their forensically detailed biography of the Russian president.

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Andy Burnham does not rule out Brexit reversal being in next Labour manifesto

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PM says immediate focus is on rebuilding bridges with EU as he prepares for first meeting with Ursula von der Leyen

Andy Burnham has opened the door to fighting the next election on the UK rejoining the EU, but said his immediate priority was continuing to rebuild bridges with European allies.

The prime minister, who will hold his first meeting with the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, on Tuesday, did not rule out including reversing Brexit in Labour’s next manifesto – but suggested the country should focus on securing closer trading ties first.

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Brigitte Bardot’s personal items sell for nearly €1m at auction in Paris

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Dog collars, guitars and self-portraits among 285 objects, with money going to her animal welfare foundation and son

An auction of the French film star turned animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot’s personal items has fetched nearly €1m (£858,000, US$1.15m, A$1.61m) in Paris, almost 20 times the estimate, according to the auction house Millon.

A total of 285 objects were auctioned, ranging from straw hats, sunglasses and nightgowns to tableware and furniture from Bardot’s homes in Paris and Saint-Tropez, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

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Appeals court rules in favor of Trump-backed Missouri congressional maps

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Supreme court, which has twice blocked maps from being used in November, likely to have final say in legal fight

A long-running legal fight over Missouri’s congressional map took another turn Monday when a federal appeals panel ruled in favor of new districts backed by Donald Trump, even though the US supreme court has blocked those districts from being used in the November election.

A three-judge panel of the 8th US circuit court of appeals said Missouri should use the new Republican-drawn US House districts in the November election, just as the state did in its August primary. To revert to its prior districts for the general election would violate the US constitution, the appeals judges said.

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Healthcare in Africa ‘under growing strain’ after US withdrawal from aid programs, report warns

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Accra Reset’s report states countries in the region and global south should take greater control of their health development after USAID debacle

The United States’ withdrawal from key aid programs has put has put healthcare in Africa and the Global South “under growing strain” a new report warns.

The report says the Trump administration’s cuts to programs such as US Agency for International Development (USAID), as well as the Covid-19 pandemic and rising costs of living globally have brought “new urgency” for the need to reform healthcare in the region.

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Airlines urge action after UK flights delayed and cancelled again

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Nats says fault at Prestwick has been ‘fixed’ after airports in Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland are hit

Airlines have called for “action and accountability” over the UK’s air traffic control services after a technical issue led to flights being disrupted for the second time in a fortnight.

Dozens were cancelled and others severely delayed after a fault on Monday morning at National Air Traffic Services (Nats), this time at its second control centre at Prestwick in South Ayrshire.

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Charges dropped against Stanford students over pro-Palestine protest

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Students faced prison terms and thousands of dollars in restitution over campus protest against Israel’s war on Gaza

Five Stanford University students who faced prison sentences and thousands of dollars in restitution in connection to a campus protest against Israel’s war on Gaza had all charges dropped on Monday.

The students also had their restitution severely reduced, ending a two-year legal saga that also saw the lead prosecutor in the case removed by the court.

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Colombia declares public calamity as wildfire threatens popular tourist area

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Wildfire forces evacuations and burns through mountains surrounding Villa de Leyva in the north-east

Colombian authorities declared a public calamity as a wildfire burned through mountains surrounding one of the country’s best-known colonial towns in the north-east, scorching large swaths of vegetation and forcing evacuations.

Nearly 20 active fires are burning across the South American country. Dry conditions have increased fire danger in Colombia as it braces for the effects of El Niño, which can help wildfires spread.

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US strikes on alleged drug boats may constitute ‘crimes against humanity’, UN expert says

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Dozens of US attacks on boats in the Pacific and Caribbean have killed more than 230 people since September 2025

A special rapporteur for the UN human rights council has concluded that there are “reasonable grounds to believe” that the United States attacks on boats allegedly carrying drugs in the Pacific and Caribbean “constituted crimes against humanity”.

The boat strikes, carried out since September 2025 on the stated grounds of stopping drugs being trafficked by sea to the US, have killed more than 230 people. The latest, on Saturday, killed four people in the Caribbean.

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Chancellor vows to stay on for Germany’s ‘democratic future’ after latest loss to far-right AfD

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Merz seeks to shore up support after CDU loses two state elections and is ejected from Mecklenburg parliament

Germany’s beleaguered leader, Friedrich Merz, has vowed to keep his fractious coalition government together for the good of the country’s “democratic future” after his conservative party suffered a drubbing at the polls in two state elections.

Merz, who has vowed to plough ahead with an unpopular reform agenda, dismissed speculation over his position, saying it was vital that he and his coalition government remained in place.

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Man and police officer wounded in exchange of gunfire near Ontario synagogue

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Officials say man was critically injured and officer was wounded in Yom Kippur incident near Belleville synagogue

A police officer and a man were wounded in an exchange of gunfire on Sunday near a synagogue in Ontario as members of the Jewish community marked Yom Kippur, authorities said. The man was hospitalized in life-threatening condition.

The Canadian province’s special investigations unit said the exchange of gunfire happened near the Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, Ontario, about 110 miles (160km) east of Toronto. Belleville police said the officer encountered the man at about 7.10pm and that both were taken to a hospital.

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Pakistan jails sisters of Imran Khan before protest seeking his release

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Police crack down on family and political supporters of former PM who say authorities are ‘slowly killing’ him in prison

Three sisters of Pakistan’s incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan have been arrested amid a heavy-handed government crackdown on plans for a nationwide protest to demand Khan’s release.

The lawyer for the three sisters, Aleema Khan, Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi, said on Monday that they had all been detained and jailed for 30 days under a warrant that accused them of being a threat to public order.

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Putin consolidates grip on Russia as 49 Ukraine war veterans elected to parliament

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United Russia party’s record victory in tightly controlled vote likely to be used as evidence of support for war against Ukraine

Russia’s new parliament will include 49 deputies who have taken part in the war against Ukraine, officials have said after a landslide victory by the ruling United Russia party in widely criticised elections.

The pro-Kremlin party won a record 355 seats in the country’s 450-seat Duma lower house of parliament, according to preliminary figures. The result further consolidates Vladimir Putin’s grip on power and gives United Russia a super-majority bigger than its previous 2016 record of 343 seats.

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Latest German election humiliation puts Merz on borrowed time as CDU unrest grows

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Chancellor acknowledges disastrous state election results but vow to push on is likely to further alienate voters, and his own party

Friedrich Merz called it a “disaster”, and that was even before the full scale of the catastrophe for himself and his conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) came into view after Sunday’s state elections.

In what one outlet called a “power move”, the German chancellor made a highly unusual televised speech just minutes after polls closed in the states of Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, attempting to get ahead of the narrative with a pledge to stay on and fight for his economic recovery programme.

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Japanese islands brace for Dujuan to become a typhoon again

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Storm system expected to hit Izu Islands as it strengthens. Meanwhile, Atlantic hurricane season is unusually quiet

Tropical Storm Dujuan is skirting the coast of Japan and despite avoiding a direct landfall, is still expected to leave its mark. Dujuan briefly reached typhoon status on Friday before weakening to a tropical storm again on Sunday morning. But it is expected to restrengthen back to a typhoon by Tuesday morning. Sustained winds could reach 80mph (129km/h), with gusts approaching 100mph.

Although mainland Japan has avoided a direct hit, Dujuan’s track takes it across the Izu Islands, where evacuation warnings are in place. Heavy rain, flooding and landslide alerts are widespread, with high waves adding another threat to exposed coastal areas and islands.

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Freedom oppressed: the journalists caught up in Trump’s ICE crackdown

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Media workers are grappling with increasingly volatile press climate in US, with some detained and even deported

As hundreds of masked and armed US federal agents besieged the streets of Minneapolis, turning the midwestern city into the frontline of the Trump administration’s unprecedented crackdown on immigration, the independent photographer John Abernathy was documenting one of the protests that had become a daily occurrence when Immigration and Customs Enforcement tackled him.

A photograph of him on the ground, pepper spray running down his face, captured the violence with which ICE agents had for weeks treated immigrants and the thousands of US citizens who had come to their defence. It was also a stark reminder that journalists were not immune to the agency’s aggressive tactics.

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Trump reportedly to form health funding board that could veto ‘woke’ initiatives

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President’s latest order expected to bring NIH funding under control of Trump administration to align with agenda

Donald Trump’s latest executive order is expected to establish a board responsible for approving National Institutes of Health grant funding, marking another attempt by the Trump administration to censor topics that do not align with the president’s agenda.

The executive order, reported by outlets including the Washington Post and Politico, was discussed in a meeting on Friday where senior administration officials accused the NIH of funding “woke” initiatives that went against Trump’s political priorities.

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