Category Archives: World News

Spain proposes 100% tax on homes bought by non-EU residents

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Pedro Sánchez announces measure in response to anger over rising housing costs

Spain has announced plans to impose a tax of up to 100% on real estate bought by non-residents from countries outside the EU, such as the UK, in an aim to tackle the country’s housing crisis.

The measure was one of a dozen unveiled on Monday by the country’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, as the government seeks to quell mounting anger over housing costs that have soared far beyond the reach of many in Spain.

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South Africa launches operation at illegal gold mine amid fears many dead

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Phone video shared by mining NGO appears to show dozens of wrapped bodies in underground tunnel

The South African government has launched a mission to bring to the surface potentially hundreds of people in an illegal mine who last year had supplies of food, water and medicine blocked by police in an attempt to force them out.

The government agreed to the attempt on Friday after the sister of one of those underground initiated a court case in response to letters from miners brought to the surface on Thursday.

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South Korea’s impeached president gets a pay rise while still resisting arrest

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Yoon Suk Yeol’s failed coup attempt in December plunged country into worst political crisis in decades

The impeached South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeol, will receive a pay rise, official documents revealed, as he continues to resist arrest over his ill-fated martial law declaration.

Yoon suspended civilian rule on 3 December, sending soldiers into parliament and plunging the country into its worst political crisis in decades. He was forced to backtrack hours later.

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Oliviero Toscani, photographer behind provocative Benetton ads, dies aged 82

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Tributes paid to Italian known for images that drew attention to social themes including HIV/Aids and racism

Tributes have been paid to Oliviero Toscani, the Italian fashion photographer renowned for the provocative images used in Benetton’s advertising campaigns, who has died aged 82.

Toscani, who for two decades was the art director of the global clothing chain, died on Monday after being hospitalised close to his home in the Tuscan town of Cecina.

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Israel-Gaza war live: Progress made in ceasefire and hostage release talks, officials say, but deal not yet reached

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Israel claims not to have seen ‘final’ draft of agreement designed to end war as some officials optimistic deal is close

At least 46,584 Palestinian people have been killed and 109,731 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Monday.

At least 19 Palestinians were killed in the last 24 hours, the ministry said.

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Cyclone Dikeledi kills three in Madagascar, and Mayotte is hit again

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Tropical storm batters eastern parts of Africa, including French territory still recovering from Cyclone Chido

Over the weekend, eastern parts of Africa were threatened by Tropical Cyclone Dikeledi. What started as a slight tropical disturbance between Indonesia and Australia on 2 January progressed westwards while developing into a depression over the week that followed.

The depression strengthened into a moderate tropical storm with heavy downpours and gusty winds exceeding 39mph (63km/h) across central parts of the Indian Ocean. At this time, the system was named Dikeledi. It continued westwards and deepened into a tropical cyclone on the evening of 10 January as maximum sustained wind speeds hit 74mph – the equivalent of becoming a category 1 hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean.

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Apple asks investors to block proposal to scrap diversity programmes

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Conservative thinktank wants firm to end its DEI efforts because they create ‘litigation, reputational and financial risks’

Apple has asked shareholders to vote against a proposal to scrap its diversity, equity and inclusion programmes, as tech rivals scale back similar schemes before Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

The National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative thinktank, wants the iPhone maker to end its DEI efforts because they expose companies to “litigation, reputational and financial risks”. The proposal will be voted on at Apple’s annual general meeting on 25 February.

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India’s Maha Kumbh Mela festival gets under way for first time in 144 years

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The grand version of the 12-yearly Hindu pilgrimage is expected to draw more than 400 million devotees

The world’s largest religious gathering kicked off on Monday as millions of Hindu devotees gathered on the banks of Ganges in India to mark the beginning of the Maha Kumbh Mela.

The Kumbh Mela pilgrimage takes place every 12 years and is widely seen as the “festival of festivals” in the Hindu religious calendar in India, attended by a vibrant mix of sadhus or holy men, ascetics, pilgrims and tourists. This year’s celebration is particularly significant as the Maha or grand Kumbh Mela only takes places every 144 years, marking the 12th Kumbh Mela and a special celestial alignment of the sun, moon and Jupiter.

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UK should back tough Trump sanctions on Iran, report says

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Former top UK official believes intensifying economic pressure on Tehran would erode internal support for regime

The UK should back Donald Trump’s expected maximum economic sanctions against Iran as part of an effort to encourage nationals to end their support for the current regime in Tehran, Mark Sedwill, the former cabinet secretary, argues in a report published on Monday.

He writes: “It is not for the west, let alone the UK, to determine who rules Iran. That is for the Iranian people. But we can make clear that the right choice will bring benefits just as the wrong one will bring more of the same.”

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Missing Briton’s belongings found in Dolomites as rescuers continue search

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Italy’s Alpine cliff and cave rescue corps find items belonging to Aziz Ziriat as search continues

Items belonging to a British hiker who has been missing in the Dolomites since New Year’s Day have been found as the search for him continues.

Sam Harris, 35, and Aziz Ziriat, 36, from London, last sent messages home on 1 January and the pair did not check in for their flight home on 6 January. Friends and relatives have travelled to Italy.

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AfD launches manifesto as campaign season for German election begins

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Polling for far-right insurgent and its extreme policies is rising but other parties have closed ranks against it despite their weak popularity

Germany’s far-right AfD party has signed off on its manifesto before next month’s critical election, proposing a series of deeply controversial policies on everything from migration to education as the campaign for a new government in Europe’s powerhouse formally kicked off.

The party, founded in 2013, endorsed the far-right concept of “re-migration” into its programme, threatening the mass deportation of migrants if it came to power.

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Sweden neither at war nor at peace, says PM, as warships sent to Baltic Sea

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Ulf Kristersson says ‘hostile intent cannot be ruled out’ as increased surveillance follows suspected cable sabotage

The Swedish prime minister has said that his country is neither at war nor at peace as he announced that Sweden would be sending armed forces into the Baltic Sea for the first time as part of increased surveillance efforts amid a spate of suspected sabotage of undersea cables.

The country announced it will contribute up to three warships and a surveillance aircraft to a Nato effort to monitor critical infrastructure and Russia’s “shadow fleet” as the alliance tries to guard against sabotage of underwater infrastructure.

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Ministers from 17 countries meet for Saudi talks on speeding aid to Damascus

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Riyadh meeting also discussed keeping pressure on Syria’s new leadership to meet commitment to inclusive transition

Ministers from 17 Middle East and western countries have met in Riyadh to discuss how to speed aid to the new Syrian government while keeping pressure on the caretaker leadership to meet its commitment to run an administration representative of all religions and ethnic groups.

The meeting on Sunday came as protesters in Syria called on the west to move faster on lifting economic sanctions, and so persuade more refugees to return from Europe and the states surrounding the country.

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Somalia and Ethiopia agree to restore diplomatic ties after year-long rift

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Somalia severed relations over sea access agreement Ethiopia signed with separatist region of Somaliland

Somalia and Ethiopia have agreed to restore diplomatic representation in their respective capitals, more than a year after Somalia severed ties over a sea access agreement landlocked Ethiopia signed with the separatist northern Somali region of Somaliland.

In a joint statement after an unexpected visit by Somalia’s president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, to Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, both countries committed to “restore and enhance bilateral relations through full diplomatic representation in their respective capitals”.

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Court ruling on Belgium’s conduct in colonial Africa hailed as turning point

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Verdict of crimes against humanity for kidnap of mixed-race children could pave way for wider justice, activists say

A historic court ruling that found Belgium guilty of crimes against humanity during its colonial rule of central Africa has been hailed as a turning point that could pave the way for compensation and other forms of justice.

Belgium’s court of appeal ruled last month that the “systematic kidnapping” of mixed-race children from their African mothers in Belgian-ruled Congo, Rwanda and Burundi was a crime against humanity. The case was brought by five women who were removed from their Congolese mothers as small children between 1948 and 1953, and who now live in Belgium and France. Each was awarded €50,000 (£42,000) in damages.

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Trump ‘beauty parade’ may favour populist right leaders over Starmer

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Diplomats have advised the UK prime minister to have a face-saving response just in case he comes low down on the list at the inauguration

Donald Trump may invite ­populist rightwing leaders from Europe such as Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán to the White House before Keir Starmer, senior UK ­diplomats believe.

Downing Street and the Foreign Office are eagerly pressing for the prime minister to be at the head of the traditional “beauty parade” of overseas leaders who are called to see the new president in the days after the inauguration on 20 January. Representations are being made via the UK embassy in Washington.

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Two killed and four seriously injured in bus crash on German motorway

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Coach en route from Berlin to Polish city of Szczecin ended up on its side near Prenzlau, north-east of German capital

A bus accident on a motorway in northeastern Germany on Saturday left two people dead and another four seriously injured, police said.

The accident happened on an exit from the A11 motorway that leads to a car park close to an interchange near Prenzlau, north-east of Berlin, German news agency dpa reported. Seven people were slightly injured.

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Tram collision in Strasbourg leaves dozens injured

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Rescue services treat 100 more people for shock or stress after collision in tunnel leading to central train station

Two trams collided in Strasbourg in eastern France on Saturday, causing dozens of injuries, though none critical, authorities said. The accident took place during the afternoon in a tunnel leading to the city’s central train station.

An additional 100 people, though uninjured, were assessed for shock or stress, said René Cellier, director of the Bas-Rhin fire and rescue service. Emergency services deployed 130 firefighters, 50 rescue vehicles and established a wide safety perimeter.

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‘He is peddling stories’: Bob Woodward denies Republican’s claim he said Biden was corrupt

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Washington Post reporter says he never made comments to James Comer published in the congressman’s new book

The Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward forcefully denied making statements attributed to him by James Comer, the Republican chair of the powerful House oversight committee, in which Woodward supposedly said Joe Biden was financially corrupt.

“The statements attributed to me in what is apparently his book are false,” Woodward said. “I made none of those statements he attributes to me. I repeat none, and not even in a paraphrased form.”

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Reeves’ drive for growth seeks China lifeline after UK market turmoil

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Chancellor’s mission to Beijing weighted with greater expectations

Rachel Reeves hailed a new era of “respectful and consistent future relations with China” as pressure grew on the embattled ­chancellor to deliver on her government’s central promise to fire up UK economic growth.

After meeting China’s vice-­premier, He Lifeng, in Beijing, Reeves said Britain’s relationship with the world’s second largest economy would be “frank and open on areas where we disagree”, while stressing it would be pragmatic in ­“finding opportunities for safe trade and investment”.

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