Category Archives: World News

‘Stop killing children’: protests as Netanyahu arrives for UN address

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Protesters gather outside UN headquarters in New York to oppose Israeli PM’s visit and to call for end to Gaza war

As the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, arrived in New York on Thursday ahead of his address to the United Nations general assembly, scheduled for Friday morning, protesters opposed to the war in Gaza gathered near UN headquarters.

One group of people who waved Israeli flags and campaign banners described themselves as an informal coalition of Jewish and Israeli-led organizations taking an anti-occupation and anti-war stance in relation to the Palestinian territories. They assembled close to the UN building in Manhattan to protest against Netanyahu’s arrival after he flew in from Israel overnight.

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China’s newest nuclear submarine sank in dock, US officials confirm

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Loss of state-of-the-art vessel in May or June is setback to Chinese push for naval parity with US

China’s efforts to achieve maritime military parity with the US have suffered a serious blow after its newest state-of-the-art nuclear submarine sank in a dock, American officials have confirmed.

The incident happened last May or June at the Wuchang shipyard near Wuhan – the same city where the Covid-19 pandemic is believed to have originated – and came to light, thanks to satellite imagery, despite efforts by the country’s communist authorities to stage a cover-up.

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Norwegian police seek missing man over pagers in Hezbollah blasts

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International warrant issued for Rinson Jose, who disappeared during work trip to US last week

Police in Norway have put out an international search warrant for a Norwegian Indian man in connection with the sale of pagers to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah that exploded last week, killing dozens of people.

Rinson Jose, 39, the founder of a Bulgarian company that is alleged to be part of the pager supply chain, went missing during a work trip to the US last week.

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Sudan’s army launches push to retake ground in capital

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Heavy bombardments and clashes reported before army commander addresses UN general assembly

Sudan’s army launched artillery and airstrikes in Sudan’s capital on Thursday in its biggest operation to regain ground there since early in its 17-month war with the Rapid Support Forces, witnesses and military sources said.

The push by the army, which lost control of most of the capital at the start of the conflict, came before its commander, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, gave an address at the UN general assembly in New York.

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Pakistan says police orchestrated killing of doctor accused of blasphemy

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Family of Dr Shah Nawaz can file murder charges against police officers over extrajudicial killing, official says

Pakistan’s government has said police orchestrated the killing of a doctor who was in custody having been accused of blasphemy. Officers then lied about the circumstances of his death, claiming he was killed in a shootout between police and armed men, a provincial minister said.

The statement marks the first time the government has accused security forces of what the doctor’s family and rights groups have said amounted to an extrajudicial killing carried out by police.

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Southern Water considers shipping supplies from Norwegian fjords to UK

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Contingency plan using sea tankers to deal with future shortages would be paid for from customers’ bills

Southern Water, one of Britain’s biggest water companies, is drawing up contingency plans to tanker water from Norway to deal with future supply shortages and drought.

Southern, which has 2.7 million customers for drinking water supply in the south-east of England, could import water from Norwegian fjords to provide up to 45m litres a day, and would pay for it from customers’ bills.

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‘We always felt safer here’: Tel Aviv unmoved by Hezbollah missile attack

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Beachgoers say they are unafraid but in this one-time ‘capital of hostages’, Lebanon is now main talking point

Air raid sirens blared in Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning as, for the first time, Hezbollah fired a surface-to-surface missile at the coastal city. A few minutes after the incident, beachgoers flooded the bustling promenade, playing beach volley, cycling and kite surfing.

“Was there an attack this morning?” asked Eyal Kadosh, 31, confused, while resting on a bench with a friend after their daily workout. “Well, I’m here, what should happen will happen anyway.”

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Eswatini opposition leader in critical condition after alleged poisoning

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Mlungisi Makhanya stable in hospital in South Africa, where he was in exile from Africa’s last absolute monarchy

The leader of Eswatini’s main opposition party is in a critical but stable condition after allegedly being poisoned in what allies say is an assassination attempt.

Mlungisi Makhanya is in a hospital in South Africa after the alleged poisoning on Monday night at his home in the capital, Pretoria, where he was living in exile from Africa’s last absolute monarchy, said Penuel Malinga, the secretary general of the People’s United Democratic Movement (Pudemo).

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Italy revives policy of failing badly behaved pupils to ‘bring back respect’

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‘Grades for conduct’, similar to a law introduced by Mussolini, aims to tackle rising aggression towards teachers

Italy has reinstated a measure to fail badly behaved pupils as concerns grow over aggression directed at teachers.

The “grades for conduct” policy, similar to a measure first introduced by Benito Mussolini’s fascist government in 1924, is part of an education bill that was approved in parliament on Wednesday, and gives schools the power to fail students based purely on their behaviour.

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‘This is the normalisation of racism’: apprehension at prospect of election success for Austria’s far right

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Anti-migrant, anti-Islam FPÖ could emerge as most voted for party in Sunday’s parliamentary poll

After winning the EU elections in June, Austria’s far-right Freedom party (FPÖ) seized the moment, calling for the appointment of a EU “remigration” commissioner to be tasked with the forced return of migrants and citizens with a migration background to their countries of origin.

The muted reaction that followed was a sharp contrast to Germany, where months earlier, allegations that members of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) had attended a meeting at which they discussed remigration dominated headlines and prompted tens of thousands to take to the streets in protest.

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Hong Kong: Stand News journalists given jail terms for ‘sedition’

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Chung Pui-kuen sentenced to 21 months while Patrick Lam gets 11-month term but is released on medical grounds

The former editor-in-chief of Hong Kong’s Stand News has been sentenced to jail on sedition charges for the publication of news reports and other articles that prosecutors said tried to promote “illegal ideologies”.

Chung Pui-kuen, 55, the former editor-in-chief and the former acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam, 36, were found guilty of conspiring to publish seditious materials in late August after almost a year of delays. The parent company of the now-defunct Stand News, Best Pencil Ltd, was also convicted.

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China announces new measures to arrest housing slump and boost growth

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Benefits to rise for poorest and local authorities to be given powers to intervene in real estate markets

Chinese leaders have vowed to arrest a slump in the housing market and boost growth after conceding that measures by the central bank to stimulate investment this week were likely to prove inadequate.

Promising to deploy “necessary spending” by the state to meet this year’s economic growth target of 5%, China’s politburo said it would increase benefits for the poorest and give local authorities the cash and power to intervene to prevent further falls in house price values.

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Middle East crisis threatens Lebanon’s ‘very existence’, foreign minister tells UN – as it happened

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Lebanon’s National News Agency reports that trade unions in the country have called on people to show solidarity, and for “the owners of food establishments, bakeries, gas stations and pharmacies to keep their establishments open, and facilitate everything necessary for our people.”

In a statement the trade unions also called on “merchants not to raise prices and not to exploit people.”

They want to do exactly what Hamas did in the south. Remember, we have been in this situation for a whole year. In the past week, the army has fought as it should, as we expect, to bring us back home. It seems we are again taking two steps back.

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White House pledges further $8bn in aid as Zelenskyy visits – as it happened

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Ukraine’s foreign minister has discussed ways to achieve a lasting peace in Ukraine with his Chinese counterpart at the UN general assembly, Kyiv said on Thursday.

According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, who had earlier met Russia’s top diplomat, told a security council session this week that diplomacy was the only solution to the war in Ukraine.

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Race to combat mpox misinformation as vaccine rollout in DRC begins

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Poll suggests half of Congolese have not heard of deadly disease, as conspiracy theories and rumours spread

For doctors and nurses fighting mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the virus itself is not the only enemy. They are also facing swirling rumours and misinformation.

The first of millions of promised doses of mpox vaccine have finally started to arrive. Now the focus is on ensuring that people who need them will take them when the vaccination campaign begins next month, and teaching wider communities how to protect themselves.

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Outcry as New Orleans judge further delays retired priest’s rape case

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Calls rise for Benedict Willard to be punished after recusing himself from Lawrence Hecker case on morning of trial

Court watchdogs and advocates for victims of sexual abuse are calling for a New Orleans judge to be punished and voted out of office after he controversially delayed the trial of retired Catholic priest charged with child rape and kidnapping – on the morning of jury selection.

Judge Benedict Willard’s critics say his angry outbursts have been a problem over more than two decades on the bench. But they are raising fresh concerns after Willard’s decision to remove members of the local district attorney’s office during a rape trial in August reverberated to affect the eagerly anticipated trial of Lawrence Hecker, 93, on Tuesday.

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Alabama executes death-row prisoner with nitrogen gas

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Alan Miller, 59, second person in US to be executed via controversial technique, shook and trembled on gurney

Alabama has carried out the second execution in the US using the controversial method of nitrogen gas, an experimental technique for humans that veterinarians have deemed unacceptable in the US and Europe for the euthanasia of most animals.

Alan Eugene Miller, 59, was pronounced dead at 6.38pm local time at a south Alabama prison.

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‘Thrown like a rag doll’: British tourist narrowly survives hippo attack in Zambia

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Roland Cherry, from Warwickshire, sustained severe bite wounds after being mauled by animal during safari

A man narrowly survived after being dragged to the bottom of a river and “thrown through the air like a rag doll” when he was attacked by hippo while canoeing on holiday in Zambia.

Roland Cherry, who was on five-week holiday through southern Africa with his wife, Shirley, sustained severe bite wounds across his body, including a 10in wound to his abdomen, as well as a thigh injury and dislocated shoulder in the attack.

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Japanese man who spent 46 years on death row cleared of murders

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Iwao Hakamada found not guilty of 1966 murder of his boss and his family after a retrial was ordered a decade ago

A Japanese man who spent almost half a century on death row has been found not guilty of multiple murders, in a closely watched trial that has raised questions about Japan’s use of the death penalty.

Iwao Hakamada, 88, was sentenced to hang in 1968 after being found guilty of murdering his boss, his wife and their two teenage children, and setting fire to their home two years earlier.

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US thwarts French and British push for Lebanon ceasefire call at UN

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Washington says Israel has legitimate security problem and more complex diplomatic agreement is required

An effort led by France and Britain to secure a joint statement by the UN security council calling for a ceasefire in Lebanon has stalled in the face of US objections.

Washington is eager to avoid any suggestion there is any equivalence of blame for the eruption of the crisis that has led to the loss of life of hundreds of people in Lebanon.

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