Category Archives: World News

Macron names right-leaning French government under Michel Barnier

Posted on by

New cabinet likely to face immediate no-confidence motion from leftwing bloc sidelined by president

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has named a new government led by the prime minister, Michel Barnier, marked by a shift to the right 11 weeks after an inconclusive parliamentary election.

The first major task for Barnier, appointed just more than two weeks ago, will be to submit a 2025 budget plan addressing France’s financial situation, which the prime minister this week called “very serious”.

Continue reading...

Elon Musk backs down in his fight with Brazilian judges to restore X

Posted on by

The platform agrees to appoint a legal representative in Brazil, pays fines and takes down user accounts that the court had ordered removed

Elon Musk fought the law. The law appears to have won.

X, Musk’s social media platform, has backed down in its fight with the Brazilian judiciary, after complying with court orders that had blocked users in the country from accessing X.

Continue reading...

Sicily: fear of foreign actors prompts security request for wreck of luxury yacht

Posted on by

Officials concerned about sensitive hard drives of tech mogul Mike Lynch, who died in sinking of Bayesian

Italian authorities have confirmed a request for additional security around the wreck of the luxury yacht Bayesian, which sank in August killing seven, including British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, after fears were raised that material in watertight safes onboard could be of interest to foreign governments.

Italian prosecutors fear that would-be thieves might try to reach the wreckage in order to loot expensive jewelry and other valuable objects onboard, including intelligence data, CNN reported, citing unnamed sources.

Continue reading...

‘We’re not safe any more’: Lebanon reels from week of attacks that have intensified war with Israel

Posted on by

The country was divided before, unsure about its approach to Hezbollah, but now people are thinking as one

The smell of burnt rubber hung heavy over the rescue workers as they dug, painstakingly ­removing rubble, their shadows long and movements harsh under the burning ­floodlights. Onlookers watched the progress in silence, waiting for any sign of life under the building levelled by four Israeli missiles in Dahieh, the ­southern suburbs of Beirut, just a few hours before on Friday afternoon.

Broken glass stained with blood had been swept to the side and the area cordoned off, members of Hezbollah and the Lebanese civil defence barking orders to make sure emergency vehicles could access the area. Men with freshly bandaged hands, the product of booby-trapped pagers a few days before, milled about as women sobbed.

Continue reading...

Could this be the week Netanyahu goes from pariah to fugitive? | Andrew Roth

Posted on by

The last time the Israeli PM spoke at the UN, he was touting his vision of a new Middle East. Now he is on the brink of catastrophe

One year ago, Benjamin Netanyahu came to the UN with a vision of a “new Middle East” anchored by Israel’s growing ties with its Arab partners in the region. Now he is on the brink of launching a major escalation against Hezbollah, ignoring calls for restraint from his allies over the Gaza war and defying criticism that he is prevaricating in negotiations over a temporary ceasefire.

The Israeli PM remains scheduled to speak on Friday at the UN general assembly in an appearance that is sure to lead to walkouts and protests on the streets of midtown Manhattan.

Continue reading...

Ukraine strikes two Russian munition depots, says military

Posted on by

Overnight attacks apparently show growing capability to strike targets deep inside Russia

Ukraine said it hit two Russian munition depots overnight, in attacks that illustrated its growing capability to strike targets deep inside Russia.

A statement by Ukraine’s military general staff said the munitions depots were at Tikhoretsk in southern Russia and Oktyabrsky in the western region of Tver.

Continue reading...

‘Everything is left behind’: as Russians close in on Ukrainian city, families agonise whether to flee

Posted on by

In Pokrovsk, eastern Ukraine, residents have clung on to hope until the bitter end. Now many are saying goodbye to their homes

Valeria Tanashchuk packed up a few last belongings from her home. Going in the evacuation van waiting outside: her daughter Nicole’s favourite bear, clothes, items of furniture and a microwave oven. Staying behind: her mother Marina’s collection of detective novels, a wall poster with the Ukrainian alphabet written on it, and a pair of furry slippers.

“We don’t want to leave. But would choice do we have?” Tanashchuk asked, as a thunderous boom echoed nearby. “The explosions get worse every day. They are louder and more frequent.” What would she do next? “I don’t have a concrete plan,” she said. “I will try and find work somewhere. We had hoped until the end that everything would be OK.”

Continue reading...

‘Not all men, but a lot of them’: will Gisele Pelicot rape trial finally change France’s attitude to sexual abuse?

Posted on by

The horrifying details of the case that shook the country, and the local mayor’s reaction, show a refusal to confront abuse

As the horror of how Dominique Pelicot drugged his wife, Gisèle, and allowed at least 83 men to rape her continued to unfold in a French courtroom last week, it was hard to see how the case “could have been worse” as one local official suggested.

Louis Bonnet, mayor of Mazan, the southern French town of 6,000 ­people where the Pelicots and a ­number of the alleged rapists lived, who added that “no one was killed”, later apologised and admitted his words were not “entirely appropriate”.

Continue reading...

At least 37 killed in Israeli strike on Beirut, Lebanon says

Posted on by

Women and children confirmed among dead, as US and UN officials warn against further escalation

Three children and seven women were among 37 people killed by an Israeli strike on Beirut that targeted a top Hezbollah leader in a densely populated neighbourhood, Lebanese authorities have said, as US and UN officials warned against further escalation.

On Saturday, Israel closed its northern airspace as it awaited Hezbollah retaliation for the assassination of Ibrahim Aqil, a veteran commander of the elite Radwan unit, along with more than a dozen other militants. On Saturday afternoon, fires broke out after a barrage of rockets from Lebanon.

Continue reading...

Heavy rain triggers landslides and floods in northern Japan

Posted on by

One person dead and several missing after deluge in Noto, still recovering from 1 January earthquake

Heavy rain pounded Japan’s north-central Noto region, triggering landslides and floods and leaving one person dead and several missing, officials have said.

The deluges caused swollen rivers to overflow, flooding homes and leaving some people stranded in a region still recovering from the deadly 1 January earthquake.

Continue reading...

Former Harrods worker says manager ‘brushed off’ Fayed complaints

Posted on by

Woman says store’s former owner told her he was her ‘boyfriend’ and kissed her on the forehead

A former Harrods worker has criticised Harrods for the way it handled the alleged misconduct of the store’s former owner Mohamed Al Fayed.

Five women have alleged they were raped by Fayed, who died last year at the age of 94, and a number of others have alleged sexual misconduct.

Continue reading...

Dutch row over which victims of Nazis get ‘stumbling stone’ plaques

Posted on by

Commemorations of 45 people ‘experimentally’ gassed reveal dark moments in the Netherlands’ history

They call them stumbling stones – little brass plaques in the pavement marking addresses where Holocaust victims once lived.

As the Netherlands marks 80 years of liberation, a row has sprung up about placing Stolpersteine for 45 Dutch political prisoners – Jewish activists, communists, critical Christians – who were “experimentally” gassed by the Nazis at the Bernburg psychiatric clinic in Germany in 1942.

Continue reading...

Strikes inside Russia with US missiles key to Ukraine’s plan to end war, says Zelenskyy

Posted on by

Zelenskyy will present ‘victory plan’ to US president during trip to Washington next week, when he is also likely to hold talks with Trump

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged Joe Biden to allow Ukraine to carry out long-range strikes inside Russia with US-supplied weapons, and to earn “a place in history” by “strengthening Ukraine” before he leaves office.

Speaking before a crucial trip next week to Washington, where he will meet Biden and the US vice-president and presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, and address the UN, Zelenskyy said he would present a “victory plan” to end the war.

Continue reading...

Israel ‘challenges’ international criminal court bid for Netanyahu arrest warrant

Posted on by

ICC requested arrest warrants for Israeli PM and his defence minister in May for alleged war crimes in Gaza

Israel has submitted an “official challenge” to a request from the international criminal court prosecutor for an arrest warrant against its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

In May the ICC’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, requested the court issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Continue reading...

UN pleads against further violence after Israeli strike kills top Hezbollah leader

Posted on by

IDF airstrike on Beirut that killed at least 14 causes fears of escalation into even more devastating conflict

Further violence between Israel and Iran’s allies Hezbollah and Hamas could ignite a devastating regional conflict, the United Nations has warned, after an Israeli airstrike in Beirut killed at least 14 people including a senior Hezbollah leader and wounded 66.

The strike killed Ibrahim Aqil, a figure on the group’s top military council who was wanted by the US for his alleged connection with the 1983 bombing of the US embassy in Beirut.

Continue reading...

Mental health overtakes cancer and obesity as Britons’ biggest health worry

Posted on by

Ipsos survey asked people in 31 countries what they thought of their health and healthcare

Mental health has overtaken cancer and obesity as the health problem most Britons worry about, a global survey has revealed.

Experts said the shift in the public’s perception reflected the sharp rise in recent years in mental ill-health caused by the Covid pandemic, the cost of living crisis and male violence against women.

Continue reading...

Ibrahim Aqil: a founder member of Hezbollah’s military wing

Posted on by

Aqil, who has reportedly been killed by an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, had risen through the ranks of the organisation

Ibrahim Aqil, who is reported to have been killed by an airstrike in Beirut on Friday, was one of the last founder members of Hezbollah’s military wing to have survived more than 40 years of conflict with Israel.

Aqil, who was in his early 60s, had risen through the ranks and reached a senior position in the organisation. Exact details of his role are unclear, but the Israel Defense Forces described him as “the head of the Hezbollah terrorist organization’s operations team, the acting commander of the Radwan [special forces] unit”.

Continue reading...

Trump-aligned Georgia election board votes 3-2 to require hand-count on election day

Posted on by

Republican majority approves requirement for poll managers to hand-count ballots before tabulating votes

Forty-six days before the election, Georgia’s state election board approved a new rule requiring a hand count of paper ballots cast on election day before tabulating votes.

The three Trump-aligned members that make up the majority on the board approved the rule that would require three people in every precinct to check machine-vote tallies by hand-counting the election results, despite a warning from the state attorney general that this rule and others in consideration “very likely exceed the board’s statutory authority”.

Continue reading...

How a digital detox day could help people take control of downtime

Posted on by

Offline Club’s first global event on Sunday will begin with tips on how to be phone-free for 24 hours every week

Haunted by a pile of unread books? Or taunted by climbing equipment lurking in the cupboard? If you are one of the UK adults who spends on average five hours a day looking at screens rather than participating in pastimes, perhaps it’s time to join the offline revolution.

Instead of spending those five hours staring at a screen, you could read about 300 pages of a book, climb Mount Snowdon, or – depending on your pace – run a marathon. Some are even choosing to turn off their devices for the day.

Continue reading...

EU to offer new youth mobility scheme in test of Labour ‘reset’ with Brussels

Posted on by

Officials warn repeat of Tory rejection could dent new government’s hopes of pacts on defence and agriculture

Fresh proposals to allow young people to move between the UK and the EU will be presented to the British government within weeks, in what is seen as a key early test of Labour’s “reset” in relations with Brussels.

Informed sources say the first draft of a new version of Ursula von der Leyen’s April proposal has already been discussed by member states and will be put to a working group in Brussels next week.

Continue reading...