Category Archives: World News

Alleged Netanyahu leak may have harmed Gaza hostage deal, says court

Posted on by

Doctored intelligence files allegedly leaked by Israeli PM’s office ‘harmed the achievement of Israel’s war aims’

An alleged intelligence leak from Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has ballooned into a major scandal for the Israeli prime minister after a court partly lifted a gag order on the case, saying that the affair may have undermined efforts to reach a hostage deal in the Gaza war.

Four people have been arrested in connection with the joint investigation by the police, internal security services and the army, a court in the city of Rishon LeZion said on Sunday night.

Continue reading...

Korean cinema in ‘precarious period’ due to Netflix, says Jang Joon-hwan

Posted on by

Director of Save the Green Planet, which is getting US remake, says film industry suffering amid rise of streaming

When Parasite became the first non-English language film in Oscars history to win best picture in 2019, it marked a breakthrough moment for Korean cinema.

But the surge of interest that followed the director Bong Joon-ho’s international success has not translated into a thriving local film industry, according to another of its leading lights.

The London Korean film festival takes place at BFI Southbank, Ciné Lumière and Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) 1-13 November. Echoes In Time: Korean Films of The Golden Age and New Cinema is at BFI Southbank until 31 December

Continue reading...

Narendra Modi condemns attack on Hindu temple in Canada as tensions rise

Posted on by

Indian prime minister blames Sikh activists for clash in Brampton over which three people have been arrested

India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has condemned a “deliberate attack” on a Hindu temple in Canada, blaming Sikh activists for the violent clash at a time of escalating diplomatic tensions between the two countries.

Videos on social media showed demonstrators protesting outside the Hindu Sabha Mandir temple in the city of Brampton, where Indian diplomats were visiting ahead of Diwali celebrations. Some protesters held yellow Khalistan flags, representing a region of India they hope to one day carve out as a Sikh homeland.

Continue reading...

Sweden scraps plans for 13 offshore windfarms over Russia security fears

Posted on by

Decision comes after military concludes projects would complicate defending Nato’s newest member against attack

Sweden has vetoed plans for 13 offshore windfarms in the Baltic Sea, citing unacceptable security risks.

The country’s defence minister, Pål Jonson, said on Monday that the government had rejected plans for all but one of 14 windfarms planned along the east coast.

Continue reading...

Climate crisis leaves European farmers vulnerable to far right, say campaigners

Posted on by

Populist groups capitalising on costly environmental policies that affect farmers by offering them support

The painful impacts of the climate crisis and globalisation have left farmers in Europe marginalised and vulnerable to populist politicians, warn anti-racism campaigners and academics.

They argue that if the transition to a low-carbon economy is not properly funded, planned and equitable, it risks fuelling a resurgence of the far right across the continent.

Continue reading...

Meredith Kercher’s sister speaks out as Amanda Knox project starts filming in Italy

Posted on by

Sibling of murder victim says it is ‘difficult to understand’ purpose of eight-part series co-produced by Knox

Meredith Kercher “will always be remembered for her own fight for life”, the sister of the murdered British student has said as filming began in Italy on a controversial TV series co-produced by Amanda Knox about the case.

Filming of the eight-episode series, Blue Moon, has coincided with the 17th anniversary of the murder, for which Knox was twice convicted before being definitively acquitted in 2015.

Continue reading...

Alleged mastermind in murders of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira formally charged

Posted on by

Brazilian federal police announce end of two-year inquiry into killing of journalist and Indigenous expert in Amazon

Federal police in Brazil have formally charged the alleged mastermind of the murders of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira in the Amazon, accusing him of arming and funding the criminal group responsible for the crime as well as plotting to hide the victims’ bodies.

In a statement released on Monday morning, police in the Amazon city of Manaus announced they had concluded the two-year investigation into the shootings of the British journalist and the Brazilian Indigenous expert in June 2022.

Continue reading...

British couple missing after Valencia floods found dead in their car

Posted on by

Daughter confirms death of Don and Terry Turner, aged in their seventies, in eastern Spain

A British couple missing in Valencia after floods hit the region have been found dead in their car, their daughter has told the BBC.

Don Turner, 78, and his wife Terry, 74, had not been seen since torrential downpours caused flash floods in eastern Spain.

Continue reading...

Middle East crisis live: Leaks from Netanyahu’s office may have compromised peace deal, Israeli court finds – as it happened

Posted on by

Breakdown in peace negotiations may have been caused by leaked and falsified documents involving close aide to Israeli PM

Israeli media reports that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet today with opposition leader Yair Lapid for a security briefing.

The Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry has issued a statement condemning the reported burning of cars by Israeli settlers in Al-Bireh in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The ministry affirms that the Jewish terrorist elements who stormed Al-Bireh would not have committed this heinous crime had they not felt protected, supported and immune from the political level in the occupying state, especially the ministers of the extreme Israeli right who openly incite against Palestinian citizens, their land and their property in full view.

Continue reading...

Eight go on trial over beheading of teacher Samuel Paty in Paris

Posted on by

History teacher stabbed and decapitated near his school in a Paris suburb in 2020 in case that shocked France

Eight people have gone on trial in Paris for their alleged role in events leading to the beheading of the history teacher Samuel Paty in 2020, a case that horrified France and heightened fears of terrorist attacks on schools.

Paty, 47, was stabbed and then decapitated near his secondary school in the Paris suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, by Abdoullakh Anzorov, a radicalised 18-year-old who arrived in France aged six with his Chechen parents and had been granted asylum.

Continue reading...

First Thing: Trump election subversion efforts better organized than in 2020, experts warn

Posted on by

From seeding doubt about voter fraud to using legal means, the efforts stand in contrast to last election’s more haphazard efforts. Plus, authorities seize massive amounts of fentanyl in California

Good morning.

Experts are preparing for Donald Trump to stage an aggressive attempt to challenge the election results if he appears to be losing Tuesday’s vote, warning that such efforts will be far more organized than his attempt at overturning the result following the 2020 race.

Just how close could the vote be? Analysts are predicting the closest election since 2000, when George W Bush won by 537 votes, and warning of the threat of civil unrest and political violence.

Where will Trump and Harris be on the final day of campaigning? Harris will be in three cities in Pennsylvania; Trump will make appearances in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Continue reading...

French parents whose children took own lives sue TikTok over harmful content

Posted on by

Lawsuit alleges TikTok’s algorithm exposed teenagers to videos promoting suicide, self-harm and eating disorders

Seven French families have filed a lawsuit against TikTok, accusing the platform of exposing their adolescent children to harmful content that led to two of them taking their own lives at 15, their lawyer said.

The lawsuit alleges TikTok’s algorithm exposed the seven teenagers to videos promoting suicide, self-harm and eating disorders, lawyer Laure Boutron-Marmion told broadcaster Franceinfo on Monday.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

Continue reading...

UK says it voted against UN nuclear war panel because consequences already known

Posted on by

Foreign Office argues scientific study into modern effects of nuclear war not needed

The UK was one of three countries to vote against creating a UN scientific panel on the effects of nuclear war because, the Foreign Office argued, the “devastating consequences” of such a conflict are already well known without the need for a new study.

The UK, France and Russia were the only countries to vote on Friday night against a UN general assembly committee resolution drafted by Ireland and New Zealand to set up an international scientific inquiry to take a fresh look at the multifaceted impact of nuclear weapons use.

Continue reading...

Moldova’s president wins western praise for election triumph

Posted on by

Maia Sandu’s victory amid claims of Russian interference boosts EU hopes and deals setback to Kremlin

Europe’s most powerful leaders have congratulated Moldova’s pro-western president, Maia Sandu, after she won a second term, cementing the country’s EU aspirations and dealing a setback to the Kremlin.

With nearly 98% of the vote counted in the second round of the presidential elections on Sunday, Sandu had 54% of the vote, ahead of Alexandr Stoianoglo, a Kremlin-friendly political newcomer, backed by the pro-Russia party of Socialists.

Continue reading...

Spain floods: searchers scour car parks and malls amid fears death toll will rise

Posted on by

Day after king and PM pelted by angry residents, search focuses on areas where people could have been trapped

Hundreds of civil and military emergency workers are searching shopping centres, garages and underground car parks for more victims of floods in the Valencia region that have killed at least 214 people, as public anger mounts over Spanish authorities’ handling of the disaster.

Yellow and amber weather warnings were in place for parts of Valencia and neighbouring Catalonia on Monday, with people in the affected areas advised to stay off the roads and keep away from the coast and rivers.

Continue reading...

Four wounded after axe used in fight on Paris suburban train

Posted on by

Source says one person’s hand was severed in altercation involving several people at Ozoir-la-Ferrière station

Four teenagers were wounded, two of them seriously, after an axe was used during a fight on a suburban train outside Paris, French police sources have said.

One of the victims, all aged 16 or 17, had a hand cut off and another had their skull split open. The main suspect in the incident was later arrested.

Continue reading...

Candidates make final push in battleground states after Iowa poll shows Trump trailing Harris – US election live updates

Posted on by

Kamala Harris to visit Michigan as Donald Trump heads to Pennsylvania as election nears final hours

We have already covered the presidential nominees’ schedules but what are their running mates up to?

Tim Walz will be in North Carolina this evening. The Queen City News says details are limited but according to a press release, Walz will hold an event in Gastonia to encourage voters to cast their ballots. Earlier in the day, former president Bill Clinton will hold a campaign rally at a church in Charlotte at 10am, it says.

Continue reading...

Vaccination centre and aid official’s car bombarded in Gaza, says UN

Posted on by

Unicef director says three children injured after polio clinic came under fire despite promised humanitarian pause

A polio vaccination centre and the car of a UN aid official involved in this weekend’s vaccination campaign came under fire despite a promised “humanitarian pause” in Israeli bombardment, the UN has said.

Catherine Russell, the executive director of the UN child support and protection agency, Unicef, said: “At least three children were reportedly injured by another attack in the proximity of a vaccination clinic in Sheikh Radwan while a polio vaccination campaign was under way.”

Continue reading...

Netanyahu in fresh storm over Gaza hostages after arrests linked to alleged leak

Posted on by

Court says arrests followed investigation into suspected breach of national security that had ‘harmed Israeli war aims’

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is at the centre of a new political storm related to a hostage deal in the Gaza war after the arrest of several people in connection with an alleged leak of classified documents from his office.

An Israeli court announced the arrests on Friday afternoon, before the beginning of Shabbat, saying that a joint investigation by the police, internal security services and the army suspected a “breach of national security caused by the unlawful provision of classified information”, which had also “harmed the achievement of Israel’s war aims”.

Continue reading...

Middle East crisis: Israeli attacks kill at least 31 people in Gaza, medics say – as it happened

Posted on by

Nearly half of those killed were reported to be in northern Gaza, where the IDF has been conducting an intense assault

There are mounting concerns over whether the Israeli government’s ultimate war aims in Gaza include territorial expansion, as the IDF’s siege on the northern part of the territory – under sweeping evacuation orders - intensifies.

Here is an extract from a report by my colleagues Malak A Tantesh and Julian Borger, who explore these concerns further:

The IDF says it is hunting Hamas militants but suspicions are growing that Israel is putting into practice a blueprint it had officially distanced itself from, known as the “generals’ plan”.

The plan, named after the retired senior officers promoting it, was intended to depopulate northern Gaza by giving the Palestinians trapped there an opportunity to evacuate and then treating those that stayed as combatants, laying total siege.

Continue reading...