Category Archives: World News

Global plastic production must be cut to curb pollution, study says

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Analysis lays bare huge challenge of mismanaged waste on eve of UN plastic treaty talks in Busan

Global plastic production must be reduced to tackle the immense challenge of plastic pollution, according to an analysis published on the eve of crucial talks to hammer out the world’s first legally binding treaty on plastic waste.

Mismanaged plastic waste, which leaches into the environment and can be harmful to health, will double to 121m tonnes by 2050 if limits are not placed on the production of plastic, according to Samuel Pottinger, the lead author of the research.

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Jailed Bosnian Serb general says he aided and abetted Srebrenica genocide

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Confession met with scepticism after other war criminals made similar statements to win early release from prison

A Bosnian Serb general jailed by the war crimes tribunal in The Hague for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre has confessed to having “aided and abetted the genocide”.

Survivors and families of the more than 8,300 people who died in the mass killing reacted with scepticism to the confession by Radislav Krstić, a corps commander who led the assault on the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica and oversaw the execution of captured men and boys.

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Israeli strikes intensify on three fronts as Lebanon talks reach critical stage

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IDF hits Gaza, Syria and Beirut suburbs, as analysts say raids could be aimed at forcing hand of Hezbollah in negotiations

Israel has intensified its air offensives on three fronts, launching dozens of new strikes in Lebanon, Gaza and Syria as negotiations for a ceasefire on its northern border reach a critical point.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said about 30 targets had been struck in the southern suburbs of Beirut in 48 hours and described continuing efforts to “dismantle and degrade” the military capabilities of the militant Islamist organisation.

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UK court sides with Icelandic firm over artist’s spoof corruption apology

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Judge considering complaint by fishing firm Samherji rules artist Odee unlikely to be able to defend work as parody

The property rights of Iceland’s largest fishing company prevail over the right to artistic expression of an artist who spoofed the firm’s website to draw attention to a high-profile corruption scandal, London’s high court has ruled.

For his 2023 work We’re Sorry, the Icelandic artist Oddur Eysteinn Friðriksson, who goes by the moniker Odee, copied the corporate identity of Samherji, a major supplier to Britain’s fish and chips industry, and uploaded on to the spoof website a statement titled “Samherji Apologizes, Pledges Restitution and Cooperation with Authorities”.

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Banana-phobe Swedish minister’s staff insisted on ‘no traces in the room’

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Colleagues speak up in Paulina Brandberg’s support after leaked emails reveal efforts to spare her from the fruit

A Swedish government minister’s fear of bananas has become a national talking point after emails revealed that such is the strength of her aversion that aides try to clear rooms of the fruit before she enters.

Paulina Brandberg, the minister for gender equality and work life, has previously spoken out about her issue with bananas, describing it as “the world’s weirdest phobia”.

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Almost half of Valencia’s flood victims were aged over 70, figures show

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Police reveal ages and genders of the 216 people who died in Valencia, along with eight other victims elsewhere in Spain

Almost half of the 216 people known to have died in the catastrophic floods that hit the eastern Spanish region of Valencia at the end of October were 70 or above, according to a police analysis.

Figures from the data integration centre set up after the disaster show that 131 of the victims were male, 85 were female and 104 were aged over 70, including 15 aged over 90.

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Gulag History Museum in Moscow temporarily closed ‘for safety reasons’

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Kremlin critics fear move is part of Russia’s efforts to whitewash Soviet past and shut independent cultural institutions

Moscow’s award-winning Gulag History Museum announced its surprise closure on Thursday, a move critics attribute to the Kremlin’s efforts to whitewash Russia’s Soviet past.

The closure was officially put down to alleged violations of fire safety regulations but comes amid an intense campaign by Russian officials against independent civil society and those who question the state’s interpretation of history.

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French military systems in Sudan may break UN arms embargo, says Amnesty

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Group says it has identified the Galix defence system on armoured vehicles imported from the UAE and calls for government to investigate

France must investigate the use of its military systems by Sudan’s paramilitary forces, which could be in breach of an arms embargo, Amnesty International has said.

The group said it had identified the French-made Galix defence system being used in Sudan on armoured vehicles manufactured in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – considered a key supplier of weapons to the Rapid Support Force (RSF).

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Chinese city still officially in summer as 30-year heat record broken

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Temperatures in Guangzhou fail to drop below level that meteorological service uses to mark change in season

One of China’s biggest cities is still officially in summer, despite it being mid-November, as temperatures have failed to drop below the threshold considered necessary to mark the change in season.

This week, Guangzhou, a hot and humid city of nearly 19 million people in southern China’s Guangdong province, broke a three-decade heat record, according to the local meteorological service. As of Wednesday the city had experienced 235 summer days, beating 1994’s 234-day season.

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Evaristos united: namesakes Bernardine and Conceição meet at book festival

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Celebrated authors discuss the somewhat connected stories of their shared surname at literary event in Rio

Born more than 5,500 miles apart, the Booker prize winner Bernardine Evaristo, 65, and Brazil’s most celebrated living Black author, Conceição Evaristo, 77, share the same surname, though they are – as far as is known – unrelated.

But their surnames’ stories are somewhat connected, and shed light on aspects of the history of Brazil, the country that received the largest number of enslaved Africans during the transatlantic slave trade.

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Fears for spread of malaria in Africa as study finds resistance to frontline drug

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Signs of resistance to artemisinin in tenth of children with severe malaria similar to situation in Asia, say researchers

Researchers have found “troubling” evidence for the first time that a lifesaving malaria drug is becoming less effective in young African children with serious infections.

A study of children being treated in hospital for malaria in Uganda, presented at a major conference on Thursday, found signs of resistance to artemisinin in one patient in 10.

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Conflict in Gaza an ‘Israeli terrorism creation factory’, warns Australian on UN inquiry

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Former human rights commissioner Chris Sidoti says ‘there is no end in sight’ as ongoing bombardment is sowing seeds for generations of hostilities

“Kids aren’t terrorists,” Chris Sidoti told the handful of journalists assembled in the quiet of the UN’s New York headquarters.

Thousands of kilometres from the conflict in Gaza he was documenting, Sidoti felt compelled to repeat it: “Kids aren’t terrorists.”

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Donald Trump announces vaccine skeptic RFK Jr to lead US health department – live updates

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Pick needs Senate confirmation and could spark controversy among Trump’s Republican allies, given Kennedy’s anti-vaccine stance and conspiracy theories

An independent central bank is “fundamental” to getting good economic outcomes, a senior Federal Reserve official said on Thursday, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The Fed has a dual mandate from Congress to act independently to tackle both inflation and unemployment – primarily by raising and lowering interest rates. Anything that undermines the Fed’s independence could spook traders in the financial markets, who might come to question if it could effectively tackle inflation over the longer term.

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Dutch authorities investigate alleged police violence after pro-Palestinian protest

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Amsterdam police say they are aware of footage that appears to show officers beating protesters after banned rally

Dutch authorities have said they are investigating reports of police violence against pro-Palestinian protesters after a banned rally on Wednesday evening had been broken up.

Amsterdam police said on X that they were aware of online footage, which seemed to show police officers beating protesters who had already been released after being taken away from the site of the protest.

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Middle East crisis: Israeli strike kills six in southern Lebanon, health ministry says – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. You can read all our coverage of the Israel-Gaza war here and all our coverage of Israel’s war on Lebanon here

Overnight the IDF announced that six soldiers had been killed in clashes with Hezbollah inside southern Lebanon.

The Times of Israel reports “it was one of the heaviest single-day losses in the operation that began in late September,” and that “according to an initial IDF probe, the soldiers were killed in an exchange of fire with at least four Hezbollah operatives inside a building in a village in southern Lebanon.”

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Monaco Grand Prix’s long-term future resolved with F1 extension until 2031

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  • Race remains on F1 calendar after six-year deal agreed
  • Contest has been part of motor sport scene since 1950

Formula One’s iconic Monaco Grand Prix will remain on the calendar until at least 2031 after a six-year extension was announced on Thursday, with a date change to June that also avoids future clashes with the Indianapolis 500.

The race around the streets of Monte Carlo was part of the first world championship season in 1950 and has been present since, with the exception of 2020 during the global pandemic.

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Colombia outlaws child marriage after 17-year campaign

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Country closes 137-year legal loophole, becoming one of 12 in Latin America and the Caribbean to entirely ban marriage for minors

Colombian lawmakers have approved a bill to eradicate child marriage in the South American country after 17 years of campaigning by advocacy groups and eight failed attempts to push legislation through the house and senate.

After five hours of heated, drawn-out debate on Wednesday evening, lawmakers approved the proposed legislation, dubbed They are Girls, Not Wives, which prohibits the marriage of anyone under the age of 18.

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Bill Clinton book describes ‘frustration’ over Monica Lewinsky affair questions

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In new memoir Citizen, Clinton acknowledges he has not directly apologized to Lewinsky over White House affair

Bill Clinton, the former US president, has written of his “frustration” at being questioned about his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky while acknowledging that he has never apologized to her directly.

Clinton became embroiled in one of the biggest political scandals in history when it emerged in 1998 that he had a sexual relationship with the then 22-year-old Lewinsky. The president, who initially lied before apologizing, was impeached by the House of Representatives but acquitted by the Senate.

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Paris prosecutor seeks jail and public office ban for Marine Le Pen

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Request in embezzlement trial threatens to undermine National Rally’s efforts to polish image before 2027 polls

A Paris prosecutor has requested a five-year prison sentence and a five-year ban from public office for the far-right leader Marine Le Pen, at a trial in which she and 24 others are accused of embezzling EU funds.

The trial, which comes almost a decade after initial investigations started, threatens to undermine her National Rally (RN) party’s efforts to polish its image before the 2027 presidential election, which many believe she could win.

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Insults and a haka in New Zealand parliament as MPs debate Māori rights bill

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Voting temporarily suspended amid disruptions including a Māori party MP ripping up a copy of the bill

New Zealand’s parliament has erupted into fiery debate, personal attacks and a haka over a controversial bill that proposes to radically alter the way New Zealand’s treaty between Māori and the crown is interpreted.

The treaty principles bill was tabled by the libertarian Act party – a minor partner in New Zealand’s coalition government – and passed its first reading on Thursday, amid scathing speeches and disruptions.

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