Category Archives: World News

Life expectancy growth stalls across Europe as England sees sharpest decline, say researchers

Posted on by

Poor diet, obesity and inactivity blamed on decline with Norway the only country seeing a rise

Life expectancy improvement is stalling across Europe with England experiencing the biggest slowdown. Experts are blaming this on an alarming mix of poor diet, mass inactivity and soaring obesity.

The average annual growth in life expectancy across the continent fell from 0.23 years between 1990 and 2011 to 0.15 years between 2011 and 2019, according to research published in the Lancet Public Health journal. Of the 20 countries studied, every one apart from Norway saw life expectancy growth fall.

Continue reading...

Six soldiers in Guyana injured in clash with suspected Venezuela-based gang

Posted on by

Guyana plans to ‘take all necessary measures’ for security as tensions likely to further rise between the two countries

Six soldiers in Guyana have been injured after armed men in neighboring Venezuela opened fire, in an attack expected to further heighten tensions between the two South American countries.

Two of the soldiers are in critical condition following Monday’s attack, according to the head of Guyana’s army, the chief of staff Brig Gen Omar Khan, who blamed suspected gang members.

Continue reading...

Sudan paramilitary group kills more than 200 people in three-day attack, activists say

Posted on by

The Emergency Lawyers network said the RSF killed civilians south of Khartoum, with hundreds more either wounded or missing

Sudanese paramilitaries have killed more than 200 people in a three-day assault south of Khartoum, according to a lawyers’ network, while the army-backed government put the death toll at more than double that figure.

The Emergency Lawyers network, which has documented human rights abuses during 22 months of fighting between the rival security forces, said hundreds more were wounded or missing and feared drowned after the paramilitaries opened fire on villagers as they attempted to flee across the White Nile.

Continue reading...

Pope Francis has double pneumonia on top of earlier respiratory tract infection

Posted on by

Pontiff, 88, already in hospital when latest diagnosis made, as Vatican confirms medical situation is ‘complex’

Pope Francis has been diagnosed with double pneumonia after further tests showed a continuing “complex” medical situation, the Vatican said in a statement on Tuesday.

The pontiff, 88, underwent a chest X-ray, which “demonstrated the onset of bilateral pneumonia that required further pharmacological therapy”.

Continue reading...

Kabul evacuation whistleblower wins case against UK government

Posted on by

Civil servant Josie Stewart found to have been unlawfully dismissed in 2022 after she told BBC about failures

A civil servant who blew the whistle about the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and Boris Johnson’s involvement in a decision to evacuate a pet charity from Kabul has won her case for unfair dismissal against the government in a legal first.

An employment panel of three judges unanimously found the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) unfairly dismissed Josie Stewart in 2021 after she leaked information in the public interest.

Continue reading...

UN rights body accuses Rwanda-backed militia of killing children in eastern DRC

Posted on by

OHCHR says Tutsi-led M23 group killed three boys in Bukavu last week after capturing the city

The UN human rights office accused the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels of killing three children in Bakavu, the Democratic Republic of the Congo city they captured last week, expressing alarm at human rights violations by the militia.

“Our office has confirmed cases of summary execution of children by M23 after they entered the city of Bukavu last week. We are also aware that children were in possession of weapons,” Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the UN’s Office of the high commissioner for human rights (OHCHR), said on Tuesday.

Continue reading...

New footage shows Delta plane flipping over in fiery crash landing in Toronto

Posted on by

Accident at Pearson, Canada’s busiest airport, sent 21 to hospital including three in critical condition on Monday

Footage has emerged of the fiery plane crash at Toronto’s Pearson airport on Monday, showing the Delta Air Lines jet skidding along the runway and then flipping over, as a wing rips off and the tail is engulfed in flames. The crash, which occurred at Canada’s busiest airport, sent 21 people to the hospital, including three in critical condition.

Soon after the crash, mobile phone clips captured the harrowing moments when passengers escaped through the plane’s upside-down doors and into the bitter cold. Blasts of fire retardant hung in the air and some of the passengers stood dazed in the snow. Others unleashed a string of expletives as they processed the unfolding chaos.

Continue reading...

Hamas says it will hand over bodies of Bibas family and free six hostages

Posted on by

Remains of Shiri Bibas and young sons Kfir and Ariel, whose deaths had not been confirmed, to be returned on Thursday

Hamas has said it will release six hostages from Gaza this week and hand over the bodies of four others, including the remains of two young children from the same family whose deaths had not previously been confirmed.

Khalil al-Hayya, a Hamas negotiator, said the four bodies to be handed over on Thursday would include those of 32-year-old Shiri Bibas and her sons, Kfir and Ariel, who were nine months old and four years old when Hamas abducted them from the Nir Oz kibbutz during the 7 October 2023 attack that ignited the Gaza war.

Continue reading...

Ukraine and Europe made to sit outside as US and Russia sharpen their carving knives

Posted on by

In this back-to-the-future world, Russia is fully restored to the top table, while the US envoys outdo each other to praise Trump

Ukraine was laid out on the glossy conference table in Riyadh on Tuesday, not to be dissected on this occasion, but rather for an initial inspection by the Americans and Russians, who have reserved the carving knives for future use.

No Ukrainians were present for these opening discussions on the country’s fate, or for the lunch of whole lamb and “symphony of scallops”, nor was anyone there representing the rest of the European continent. Whether they will be given a seat at the table before lines are drawn is far from clear. For now, they must wonder if they are among the “irritants” in US-Russia relations referred to by the US state department.

Continue reading...

Brazil mayor was shot in ‘fake attack’ for election boost – but still lost in landslide

Posted on by

José Aprígio da Silva was seriously hurt in October by assailants with assault rifles but police say it was faked

As campaign strategies go it was unorthodox and illegal: buy an AK-47, hire a pair of phony hitmen, and stage a fake assassination attempt against the mayor that would generate public sympathy and help him win a second term in power.

That, Brazilian police claim, was the gameplan last October when, on the eve of the local election, an armoured vehicle carrying José Aprígio da Silva came under fire in Taboão da Serra, a town on the outskirts of São Paulo.

Continue reading...

Ukraine officials say US is ‘appeasing’ Russia with talks in Riyadh

Posted on by

Absurd for Moscow to talk about peace while it is killing Ukrainians, official says, after drone strikes across country

Ukraine reacted with gloom and dismay on Tuesday to the meeting between the US and Russia in Saudi Arabia, with officials in Kyiv saying the Trump administration was “appeasing” Moscow.

They said negotiations between the two delegations got under way in Riyadh just hours after Russia attacked Ukraine with dozens of drones. At least two people were killed and 26 injured in strikes across the country.

Continue reading...

Syrian authorities arrest three men with suspected links to Tadamon massacre

Posted on by

Men are accused of involvement in the execution of nearly 300 civilians by government forces in Damascus in 2013, which the perpetrators filmed

Authorities in Damascus have arrested three men they claim were involved in a notorious massacre of civilians by Syrian security forces revealed by the Guardian three years ago.

Footage posted online purported to show one of the men, Monzer al-Jazairi, with his hands bound and being led through the heavily damaged streets of Tadamon, the Damascus suburb where nearly 300 people were killed in an atrocity filmed by the perpetrators themselves and then leaked by a whistleblower to activists in Europe.

Continue reading...

British motorcycling couple detained in Iran charged with espionage

Posted on by

Craig and Lindsay Foreman accused of entering country ‘under guise of tourists’

A British couple detained in Iran have been charged with espionage after travelling to the country as part of a round-the-world motorbike trip.

The Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency said Craig and Lindsay Foreman, who are in their early 50s, had been charged after allegedly gathering information in different locations in the country.

Continue reading...

Thousands of tourists flock to see Etna eruption, blocking rescue services

Posted on by

Tourists blocking streets and indulging in ‘dangerous’ behaviour, say Sicilian officials

Thousands of tourists have flocked to Mount Etna to watch spectacular eruptions on the volcano, but some people are blocking streets and preventing rescue services from reaching those in need of assistance, the local authorities have said.

Sicily’s head of regional civil protection, Salvo Cocina, described the tourism of recent days at Etna as “wild” and “extremely dangerous”, warning that day-trippers drawn by the exceptional views had parked their cars along narrow streets, impeding rescue vehicles.

Continue reading...

‘He targeted me’: Guy Pearce says he ‘sobbed’ over Kevin Spacey encounters

Posted on by

The Oscar-nominated actor has said he is attempting to be more candid about his former co-star’s alleged behaviour

Guy Pearce, the actor Oscar-nominated for his role in Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, has opened up about his experiences when working with Kevin Spacey on 1997 film LA Confidential.

Pearce had previously been oblique about his time with Spacey, who has been dogged by accusations of sexual misconduct, which Spacey has always denied, calling him “a handsy guy” in 2018. But speaking on Hollywood Reporter’s podcast Awards Chatter, the actor said he was now attempting to be franker about his co-star’s alleged behaviour.

Continue reading...

Placebo frontman Brian Molko charged with calling Meloni ‘fascist’ and ‘racist’

Posted on by

The singer is being charged with defamation of the far-right Italian prime minister leader while performing at a festival in Turin in 2023

Placebo frontman Brian Molko is being charged with defamation after appearing to call the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, a “piece of shit, fascist, racist” in Italian while performing at a festival in Turin in 2023.

In August 2023, Meloni sued Molko over the comments. Prosecutors subsequently opened an investigation into the claims and have charged Molko with “contempt of the institutions”.

Continue reading...

Sadiq Khan says ‘Brexit was a mistake’ and closer EU ties could counter Trump tariffs

Posted on by

London mayor to tell meeting that mobility scheme would benefit young people and economy

Sadiq Khan will tell EU diplomats “Brexit was a mistake” and renew his backing for a youth mobility scheme as he argues strengthened ties with the bloc would help offset Donald Trump’s threatened tariff regime.

At a meeting on Tuesday, the mayor of London will tell delegates that Britain’s withdrawal from the trading bloc “continues to have a negative impact”, and he will promise to make the case for “being bold” in efforts to seek closer alignment.

Continue reading...

Campaigners urge F-35 fighter jet producing nations to stop supplying Israel

Posted on by

Exclusive: More than 200 civil society groups say governments have failed to prevent planes from being used to violate international law

More than 200 organisations worldwide have called on nations involved in producing F-35 fighter jets to “immediately halt all arms transfers to Israel” amid fears they have failed to prevent the planes from being used to violate international law.

The letter, signed by 232 civil society organisations, was sent on Monday to government ministers in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, the US and the UK as the war in Gaza reached 500 days.

Continue reading...

US ‘backstop’ vital to deter future Russian attacks on Ukraine, says Starmer

Posted on by

British prime minister says force would need protections such as air cover that only US can provide

Keir Starmer has urged Donald Trump to provide a US “backstop” to a European peacekeeping force in Ukraine, saying it is the only way to deter Russia from attacking the country again.

The UK prime minister’s appeal to Trump came after an emergency summit in Paris that heard widespread calls by European leaders for a large boost in defence spending.

Continue reading...

PM does not rule out vote on Ukraine peacekeeping role for UK troops

Posted on by

Spokesperson says Keir Starmer’s previously stated view that military action needs consent of MPs has not changed

Keir Starmer has not ruled out holding a parliamentary vote on committing UK troops to a peacekeeping role in Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire, after calls from some within Labour and the Lib Dems.

Downing Street hinted that a US-backed guarantee would be needed in order for the UK to send ground troops, saying it was an “essential” part of any ceasefire deal with Russia.

Continue reading...