Category Archives: World News

Starmer urges all sides in Middle East to ‘step back from the brink’

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UK prime minister tells parliament that the first anniversary of 7 October Hamas attack is a ‘day of grief’ for region

Keir Starmer has urged all sides to pull back from the brink in the Middle East as he addressed the House of Commons on the anniversary of the 7 October attack by Hamas on Israel.

With Israel yet to decide how to respond to Iran’s unprecedented missile strike last week, the prime minister said he supported “Israel’s right to defend herself against Iran’s aggression, in line with international law”.

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World leaders mark first anniversary of 7 October attack on Israel

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Pope and UN secretary general call for end to fighting as governments and individuals commemorate attack by Hamas

The US president, Joe Biden, has condemned the “unspeakable brutality” of the 7 October attacks launched by Hamas on Israel as world leaders, governments and individuals around the globe marked their first anniversary in commemorations ranging from official statements to formal ceremonies and small private vigils.

The attack killed nearly 1,200 people, according to Israeli government figures, including hundreds at a music festival near the Israel-Gaza border, and saw about 250 hostages taken to Gaza.

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Large French Alpine ski resort to close in face of shrinking snow season

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Local people and businesses left ‘in lurch’ after council says it cannot afford to support or develop Alpe du Grand Serre

A large French Alpine ski resort has announced it is to close, citing a lack of funds to become a year-round destination, as low- and medium-altitude mountain areas around Europe struggle with a truncated season due to global heating and declining snowfalls.

Local councillors voted not to reopen Alpe du Grand Serre in the Isère this winter, saying they could no longer pay for the mountain lifts or pay to complete a programme to diversify as an all-year tourist destination.

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‘The pain will never leave’: Nova massacre survivors return to site one year on

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Low sobs and prayers for those killed by Hamas punctuated by sound of artillery fire towards nearby Gaza

One year ago, nearly 400 young Israelis were massacred at the site of the Nova music festival during the 7 October Hamas attack. As mourners gathered at the site of the festival to commemorate the victims on Monday, their low sobs and murmured prayers were punctuated by the sound of artillery and machine guns being fired by soldiers into nearby Gaza.

Perhaps no single scene across Israel more expressly exhibited the horrific violence meted out against hundreds of civilians by Hamas, and the subsequent ferocity of the Israeli response against that organisation and millions of people inside of Gaza.

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‘They told us a big attack wouldn’t happen’: the intelligence failures before 7 October

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A year on, there are still bitter recriminations over warnings missed by Israeli military and intelligence services

In the late afternoon on 7 October, an Israeli software engineer in his mid-30s found himself driving down a deserted road parallel to the perimeter fence that separated Gaza from Israel. He had been fighting for hours with an AK-47 taken from a dead Hamas militant. Now he and three friends were headed to the town of Ohad to search for relatives who had gone missing.

“Only when we set off south did we understand how big this was. It was like an apocalypse,” the engineer, who did not want to be named, said last week. “There were hundreds of bodies of civilians inside their cars or on the road, hundreds of dead terrorists with their pickup trucks or motorbikes. There were dead police, army vehicles on fire. We were alone.”

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Philippines: Duterte to run as mayor despite inquiry into his drugs crackdown

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Former president to run in his home city of Davao despite ICC’s investigation into possible crime against humanity

The former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, whose anti-drugs crackdown is being investigated by the international criminal court as a possible crime against humanity, has registered to run for mayor of his home city.

Duterte, 79, filed his papers with the Election Commission in Davao City, where he had served as mayor for about two decades before winning the presidency in 2016. His son, incumbent Davao city mayor, Sebastian Duterte, would run as his vice-mayor in next year’s midterm elections, officials said.

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Ireland is a ‘playground’ for Russian intelligence, says former army chief

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Comment follows claim Kremlin recruited member of parliament to damage UK-Irish relations during Brexit talks

Ireland is a “playground” for Russian intelligence, a former deputy chief of an Irish army unit has said following claims that a member of parliament was recruited by the Kremlin to undermine Anglo-Irish relations during Brexit talks.

Cathal Berry, now a Teachta Dála (TD, member of the Irish parliament), said he had not been surprised by a report at the weekend that the unnamed politician had been recruited “as an agent of influence” in a honeytrap operation.

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Pakistan bans Pashtun group as government cracks down on dissent

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Protests have been broken up with violence and opposition politicians from Imran Khan’s party arrested

Pakistani authorities have unleashed a draconian crackdown on dissent, breaking up opposition protests with violence and mass arrests and banning a movement to promote the rights of the ethnic Pashtun community under terrorism laws.

Hundreds of riot police fired teargas and charged with batons as supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the party of the incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan, gathered to protest over the weekend in the cities of Islamabad and Lahore.

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Biden to visit Angola as global powers vie for African influence

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US and EU are supporting infrastructure projects in Angola, which has historically been closer to Russia and China

When Joe Biden travels to Angola on Sunday, it will be the first trip to an African country of his presidency and the first to the continent by a sitting US president since Barack Obama visited Kenya and Ethiopia in 2015.

It is a marker of how Africa’s 54 countries are increasingly courted by global powers, drawn to the continent by geopolitical shifts and an abundance of minerals needed for electric cars and other battery-powered technologies.

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Trump speaks at 7 October event in Florida – as it happened

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Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are among the global leaders commemorating the anniversary of the 7 October attack in Israel today, as is Donald Trump.

At 11.45am ET, the president will hold a ceremony at the White House, where he’ll conduct a yahrzeit candle lighting alongside an unnamed rabbi. Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, will at 4pm plant a tree on the grounds of the vice-president’s residence in honor of the lives lost in the attack. Harris will also give a speech.

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Russian court sentences 72-year-old American for fighting for Ukraine

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Steven James Hubbard given six years and 10 months in prison, but family cast doubt on his reported confession

A Russian court has sentenced a 72-year-old American citizen, Stephen James Hubbard, to six years and 10 months in prison after convicting him in a closed-door trial of fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine.

Investigators said Hubbard, a native of Michigan, was paid $1,000 (£760) a month to serve in a Ukrainian territorial defence unit in the eastern city of Izyum, where he had been living since 2014.

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Israel launches intense wave of airstrikes on 120 sites in Lebanon

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Military says 100 aircraft used in attack on targets in south of country as Israeli operations expand on multiple fronts

Israel launched an intense wave of air raids on southern Lebanon on Monday, with 100 aircraft targeting about 120 sites in the space of an hour, according to the country’s military.

An IDF Arabic spokesperson issued an urgent warning to Lebanese civilians to avoid being on the beach or on boats on the coast from the Awali River southward until further notice.

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Missing emu Irwin found dead in Wiltshire river after weeklong search

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Malmesbury sanctuary pays tribute to ‘jolly’ bird, which is thought to have drowned after falling into swollen river at night

The tale of Irwin the missing emu has ended sadly, with the “jolly” big bird’s body found in a river close to the sanctuary where he was last seen alive a week ago.

Staff at the Malmesbury animal sanctuary in Wiltshire believe Irwin slipped into the swollen river while playing with other emus and drowned.

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US cities and campuses on high alert over 7 October anniversary events

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Rallies and vigils planned across the country to mark Hamas attacks on Israel and ensuing war in Gaza

Demonstrations and memorials marking the anniversary of the 7 October attacks on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza are to take place around the US, with cities and campuses on high alert for any unrest as the threat of a full-scale war in the Middle East looms.

Dozens of rallies, marches and other events are planned on Monday in protest against the Israeli offensive, which was sparked by the Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and resulted in another 250 being taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory war has killed more than 41,000 people in the besieged territory.

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Rescued elephants drown as heavy flooding hits Thai tourist hub Chiang Mai

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Northern Thailand has been hit by severe floods over recent weeks, with Typhoon Yagi worsening the seasonal monsoon rains

Two elephants have drowned, while power was cut and hotels were forced to evacuate guests after the Thai tourist hotspot Chiang Mai was hit by its worst flooding in decades over the weekend.

Across Thailand, 20 provinces are flooded, including nine in the northern region, where 8,625 households are affected according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.

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7 October, one year on: a return to kibbutz Nir Oz – podcast

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Bethan McKernan visits Nir Oz in southern Israel to talk to survivors about Hamas’s attack on 7 October last year, and to discuss what has happened to their kibbutz and the wider region since

About a quarter of kibbutz Nir Oz’s population was killed or kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October last year. Proportionally, nowhere in Israel was affected more.

Twelve months later, our Jerusalem correspondent, Bethan McKernan, travels down southern Israel to visit the settlement, just a few miles away from the Gaza Strip, to talk to survivors.

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‘A year is just too long’: relatives of Gaza hostages speak of their anguish

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Many are deeply sceptical of the argument that only more military pressure will bring their loved ones back

Eli Albag had been fighting for the release of his daughter from captivity in Gaza for almost a year when he was pelted with eggs and verbally abused.

The father of Liri Albag, who is held hostage by Hamas, was protesting recently outside a political event attended by Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in the coastal city of Netanya.

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New Zealand navy ship Manawanui sinks off Samoa

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All crew safe after specialist dive and hydrographic vessel ran aground near the southern coast of Upolu as it was conducting a reef survey

A Royal New Zealand Navy vessel has run aground and sunk off Samoa – the first time the navy has lost a ship since the second world war, the New Zealand Defence Force said in a statement on Sunday.

Manawanui, the navy’s specialist dive and hydrographic vessel, ran aground near the southern coast of Upolu on Saturday night as it was conducting a reef survey, Commodore Shane Arndell, the maritime component commander of the New Zealand Defence Force, said in a statement. All 75 crew and passengers were safe.

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Communist China not the motherland, says Taiwan’s president, because our republic is older

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Lai Ching-te argues the reverse may be true because the Republic of China – the mantle that nationalists carried with them to Taiwan – predates the People’s Republic

It is “impossible” for the People’s Republic of China to become Taiwan’s motherland because Taiwan has older political roots, the island’s president has said.

Lai Ching-te, who took office in May, is condemned by Beijing as a separatist. He rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying the island is a country called the Republic of China that traces its origins back to the 1911 revolution overthrowing the last imperial dynasty.

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Irregular migration into UK and large European countries is same as 2008, research shows

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Despite hostile political discourse about migrants, the numbers are steady, at less than 1% of total population

The number of irregular migrants living in the UK and other large European countries has not changed for years despite hostile political discourse about migrants overwhelming the continent, according to researchers.

Migration researchers from 18 of the world’s leading universities and research organisations including the University of Oxford have released the public database as part of the MIrreM project, which measures irregular migration.

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