Category Archives: World News

Israel ‘wants to extend first phase of Gaza ceasefire deal’ as talks stall

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Israel ready to resume fighting if there is no progress in crucial talks this week, reports say

Israel is seeking to extend the first stage of the ceasefire agreement in the war with Hamas in Gaza and is prepared to resume fighting if there is no progress in crucial talks this week, according to reports.

Israel’s Kan Radio, along with Ma’ariv, a daily newspaper, reported on Tuesday that informal talks were under way aimed at extending the first 42-day stage of the ceasefire, which expires on Saturday. Official internationally mediated negotiations on how to implement the second stage – which would involve a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territory – were supposed to begin weeks ago, but have been repeatedly postponed as the fragile truce has lurched from crisis to crisis.

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German parliament in race against time to sign off on new defence fund

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Friedrich Merz, expected to be next chancellor, has spoken of urgent need for ramped-up defence, but ‘blocking minority’ could form in future Bundestag

Germany’s outgoing parliament could be asked to sign off on a new defence fund in its final weeks as the conservative winners of Sunday’s election seek to balance geopolitical demands with the looming pressures of a new Bundestag hostile to military spending.

Since the victory of his CDU/CSU alliance, Friedrich Merz has spoken of the urgent need for Europe to ramp up its own defence capabilities, saying it needs “independence from the USA” amid an unpredictable Trump administration and a looming threat from Russia.

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Denmark to ban mobile phones in schools and after-school clubs

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Government accepts advice of commission that also says children under 13 should not have their own smartphone

Denmark is to ban mobile phones in schools and after-school clubs on the recommendation of a government commission that also found that children under 13 should not have their own smartphone or tablet.

The government said it would change existing legislation to force all folkeskole – comprehensive primary and lower secondary schools – to become phone-free, meaning that almost all children aged between seven and 16-17 will be required by law not to bring their phones into school.

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Ex-US security officials urge funding for science research to keep up with China

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Appeal from officials, including two senior figures from Trump’s first term, comes amid reports National Science Foundation’s budget will be slashed

Chuck Hagel, the former US defense secretary, and other former US national security officials, including two senior figures from Donald Trump’s first term, on Tuesday warned that China was outpacing the US in critical technology fields and urged Congress to increase funding for federal scientific research.

The appeal comes a week after the National Science Foundation (NSF), which funds science research, fired 170 people in response to Donald Trump’s order to reduce the federal workforce. An NSF spokesman declined comment on reports that hundreds more layoffs were possible and that the agency’s budget could be slashed by billions.

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Activists call for state of emergency in Nigeria over gender-based violence

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Deaths of 22 women reported this year include 240% rise in January, campaigners say, as abusers act ‘with impunity’

Almost two dozen women have died due to gender-based violence across Nigeria in 2025 alone, activists and civil society organisations have said in a call for a state of emergency.

According to Femicide Observatory, run by the Lagos-based nonprofit Document Our History (DOHS) Cares Foundation, there were 17 cases reported in January, a 240% increase from the same period last year, with an additional five by 16 February. More than 100 femicides were documented in 2024.

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Taiwan detains Chinese-crewed cargo ship after undersea cable damaged

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Taiwan’s coastguard says it ‘cannot be ruled out that it was a grey-zone intrusion by China’

Taiwan’s coastguard has detained a cargo ship and its Chinese crew after an undersea cable in the Taiwan Strait was damaged on Tuesday, saying it cannot rule out the possibility it was a deliberate “grey zone” act.

“Whether the cause of the undersea cable breakage was intentional sabotage or a simple accident remains to be clarified by further investigation,” the coastguard said in a statement. “It cannot be ruled out that it was a grey-zone intrusion by China.”

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Dashcam footage captures deadly bridge collapse in South Korea

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Sections of partly constructed elevated motorway in Anseong fell one after the other, killing at least three construction workers

A motorway bridge collapse has killed at least three people and injured seven as spans of the partly built structure collapsed one after the other.

The accident took place on Tuesday in Anseong, about 70km (43.5 miles) from Seoul, when five 50-metre steel support structures collapsed in turn after being hoisted into place by a crane, the Yonhap news agency reported. The collapse was captured by the rear-facing dashcam of a car on a road beneath.

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Shimmering oarfish rarely seen near ocean surface pops up on Mexico beach

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Distinctive, slender deep-sea creature, also known as ‘doomsday’ fish, seen wriggling on Baja California beach

A shimmery, slinky oarfish – a deep-sea creature that is rarely seen near the surface – was spotted in Baja California Sur, along Mexico’s Pacific Coast, this month. A group of people visiting the area noticed the shiny, wriggling fish along the beach, and tried to guide it back into the water.

The slender creatures live at depths between 660 and 3,280ft underwater, and on the rare occasions that they have been seen by humans, they have usually been dead – washed ashore after storms. In Baja California Sur, Robert Hayes of Idaho, who was visiting the beach with his wife, saw a live fish and quickly began filming it.

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Trump says Putin will accept European peacekeepers in Ukraine

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France’s Macron corrects US president’s claim that Europe has only loaned funds to Kyiv at White House meeting

Donald Trump has said the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, would accept European peacekeepers in Ukraine as part of a potential deal to end the three-year war.

The US president was speaking alongside the French president, Emmanuel Macron, at the White House on Monday as the leaders sought to smooth over a transatlantic rift to achieve peace.

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ICC urged to investigate Biden for ‘aiding and abetting’ Gaza war crimes

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US-based nonprofit Dawn also accuses ex-secretary of state Antony Blinken and ex-Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin

A US-based nonprofit organization has urged the international criminal court to investigate former president Joe Biden and two of his cabinet members for complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

The request, submitted by the Democracy for the Arab World Now (Dawn) last month but made public by the group on Monday, urges the ICC to investigate Biden, as well as former secretary of state Antony Blinken and former defense secretary Lloyd Austin, for their “accessorial roles in aiding and abetting, as well as intentionally contributing to, Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza”.

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Trump has changed Ukraine debate ‘for the better’, says Downing Street

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Starmer’s spokesperson says US intervention ‘could bring lasting peace’ as No 10 treads carefully before White House visit

Donald Trump has changed the global conversation around Ukraine “for the better”, Downing Street has said, as the UK imposed further sanctions on Russia in an effort to force Vladimir Putin to make concessions.

As world leaders marked the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said the US president had opened the door to talks that could bring lasting peace.

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Missing British businessman’s body found in Kenyan forest

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Campbell Scott, a senior director at Fico, was reported missing while in Nairobi for a three-day conference

Police searching for a British businessman missing in Kenya have recovered a body, found in a sack in scrubland about 60 miles from Nairobi, reports said.

Campbell Scott, 58, a senior director at the data analytics company Fico, went missing on 16 February after arriving in the Kenyan capital to attend a conference at the JW Marriott hotel.

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Germany election: Merz says it’s ‘five to midnight’ for Europe

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Leader of victorious conservative alliance says continent must build defence capability as US moves towards ‘America alone’ motto

The man expected to be Germany’s next chancellor has said Europe must act swiftly to increase its defence capability in the face of a US administration whose motto is moving towards “America alone”, adding: “This is really five minutes to midnight for Europe.”

In a wide-ranging press conference after his conservative alliance’s victory in Sunday’s federal election, Friedrich Merz made it clear his focus was on the turbulent geopolitical landscape, saying that although he would seek good ties with the US he was also ready for “the worst-case scenario”.

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New Zealand minister quits after having ‘placed hand’ on staffer’s arm

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‘I took the discussion too far,’ says commerce minister Andrew Bayly, calling his own behaviour ‘overbearing’

A New Zealand government minister said on Monday he had resigned from his post after “placing his hand” on a staff member’s upper arm during an “animated” discussion.

The country’s minister for commerce and consumer affairs, Andrew Bayly, told reporters his behaviour towards the staff member had been “overbearing”.

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Family of elderly British couple held by Taliban call for Foreign Office support

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Daughter of Peter and Barbie Reynolds says government must do ‘everything in their power’ to secure their release

The family of a British couple arrested by the Taliban in Afghanistan have called on the government to do “everything in their power” to secure their release.

Peter and Barbie Reynolds, 79 and 75, who run education and training programmes in Afghanistan, were detained by the Taliban on 1 February while returning to their home in the central province of Bamiyan.

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Musk’s ‘Doge’ claim about USAid funds for India sets off political firestorm

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Apparently baseless claim that $21m was given to help voter turnout seized on by Trump and Modi government

Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” has been accused of setting off a political firestorm in India after it claimed that the US government had been sending millions of dollars to support the Indian elections.

In a list published on Musk’s social media platform X last week, Doge, a special group that Donald Trump created, claimed that a $21m grant distributed by USAid – the US agency for international development – to help “voter turnout in India” had been cancelled, as part of the president’s sweeping cuts to foreign aid.

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M23 militia’s advance in eastern DRC has killed 7,000 since January, UN told

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DRC prime minister tells human rights council fighting has left about 450,000 without shelter after camps destroyed

About 7,000 people have died in fighting in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo since Rwanda-backed M23 rebels started renewed advances in January, the DRC’s prime minister has said.

At a high-level meeting of the UN’s human rights council in Geneva on Monday, Judith Suminwa Tuluka also said the war had left about 450,000 people without shelter after the destruction of 90 displacement camps.

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Thousands of children in England accused of witchcraft in past decade

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Figures emerge as Kindoki Witch Boy film tells true story of Mardoche Yembi who underwent an exorcism as a child

Thousands of children in England have been accused of witchcraft over the past decade, according to new figures that come alongside a film released on Monday.

Faith-based abuse is a worldwide phenomenon but experts found 14,000 social work assessments linked to witchcraft accusations since 2015. In the year running to March 2024 alone, there were 2,180 assessments linked to witchcraft.

Children accused of witchcraft can call Childline on 0800 1111 or NSPCC on 0808 800 500.

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Forest fires push up greenhouse gas emissions from war in Ukraine

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Emissions estimated at 55m tonnes in 2024 and nearly 230m tonnes in three years of war

The burning of Ukraine’s forests at unprecedented rates over the past year has helped push the total greenhouse emissions from the war since Russia’s full-scale invasion to almost 230m tonnes, analysis shows.

The study, published on the third anniversary of the invasion, found the fighting and its consequences had led to 55m tonnes of emissions in the past 12 months.

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UN ‘gravely concerned by rising violence’ in West Bank; Gaza ceasefire in doubt as first phase nears end – Middle East crisis live

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Israeli tanks in West Bank for first time in more than two decades amid tensions over ceasefire agreement with Hamas

Hamas official Basem Naim has been talking to Al Jazeera about the precocious Gaza ceasefire deal which looks increasingly like it will collapse. As a reminder, Benjamin Netanyahu has delayed the handover of 620 Palestinians indefinitely as he is demanding Hamas stop what he called its “cynical use of hostages for propaganda”.

Naim – a member of Hamas’s political bureau - said the Israeli prime minister is “intentionally sabotaging” the truce agreement. He told Al Jazeera:

Before going to the next step, we have to be sure that the past step, which was releasing 620 prisoners, are already released.

Because Netanyahu is clearly sending strong messages that he is intentionally sabotaging the deal; he is preparing the atmosphere for returning back to the war.

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