Category Archives: World News

Venezuela judge issues arrest warrant for opposition leader after disputed election

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Edmundo González, widely believed to have beaten President Nicolás Maduro in the election, faces arrest for alleged crimes carrying long sentences if convicted

A Venezuelan judge on Monday issued an arrest warrant for Edmundo González, the opposition politician widely believed to have beaten President Nicolás Maduro in the recent election, for alleged crimes that could see him spend the rest of his life behind bars if convicted.

González, a 75-year-old retired diplomat, was catapulted into the eye of Venezuela’s political storm earlier this year when he agreed to challenge Maduro in the 28 July presidential election in the place of the banned opposition leader María Corina Machado.

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Defiant Netanyahu insists Israel must control strategic border corridor in Gaza

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Comments follow criticism from Joe Biden and protests against his handling of war and efforts to free hostages

Benjamin Netanyahu has defied protests at home and criticism from Joe Biden by vowing that Israel would not relinquish control over a strategic corridor along the Gaza-Egyptian border.

In a combative press conference, the Israeli prime minister presented control of the Philadelphi corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt as a primary war aim, entrenching a position that has emerged as a key obstacle to a ceasefire deal.

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Two US soldiers assaulted by nationalist youth group in Turkey, authorities say

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Fifteen suspected assailants, members of the Turkey Youth Union, were detained after attack in port city of Izmir

Two US military service members were “physically attacked” in the port city of Izmir in western Turkey on Monday by members of an anti-American youth group, authorities said.

Fifteen suspected assailants were detained in the attack on the two service members, who were dressed in civilian clothing at the time of the incident. Five other US service members joined in the incident after seeing the violent encounter, officials said.

Reuters contributed to this report

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Arctic tern and common gull join red list of UK species in crisis

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Seabirds are in a precarious position as their breeding areas are threatened by climate breakdown and overfishing

Five seabirds have been added to the UK’s conservation red list, meaning they are at dire risk of local extinction.

The government has been urged to act as the arctic tern, Leach’s storm petrel, common gull, great skua and great black-backed gull join other seabird species such as the puffin on the list after severe population declines.

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UK suspends 30 arms export licences to Israel after review

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Foreign Office says review found ‘clear risk’ UK arms may be used in violation of humanitarian law

The UK has broken with the Biden administration on a significant part of their tightly coordinated policy towards Israel by announcing it is suspending some arms export licences to Israel because of a “clear risk” they may be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.

The Foreign Office said a two-month internal review had raised concerns about the way Israel had conducted itself in the conflict in Gaza and that the decision specifically related to concerns around the treatment of Palestinian detainees and the supply of aid to Gaza.

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US seizes Nicolás Maduro’s jet and flies it to Florida

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Move is apparent escalation of pressure on Venezuelan leader over heavily contested claim of victory in July poll

US authorities have seized Nicolás Maduro’s plane in an apparent escalation of pressure on the Venezuelan president, more than a month after his widely contested claim of victory in the country’s national elections.

US authorities confirmed on Monday they had seized Maduro’s jet in the Dominican Republic after determining it was allegedly purchased in violation of US sanctions. The plane, described by US officials as Venezuela’s equivalent to Air Force One, has been flown to Fort Lauderdale in Florida.

Additional reporting Tom Phillips

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Man accused of enlisting strangers to rape drugged wife goes on trial in France

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Dominique Pélicot, 71, being tried with 50 other men over alleged abuse of woman for years at couple’s Provence home

A husband who allegedly drugged his wife and invited more than 80 strangers to rape her at their home for almost a decade went on trial on Monday in a case that has shocked France.

Fifty men accused of taking part in the abuse of the woman are also on trial at the court in Avignon. More than a dozen feminists dressed in black protested outside the courthouse as the trial opened.

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Anti-immigration leftists have potential to upend German political scene

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State election results for Sahra Wagenknecht Allianz mean Russia-leaning populists could play decisive role

It was, Sahra Wagenknecht declared on the social media platform X on Sunday, “a historic result” achieved from almost a standing start. Within eight months, her leftwing-conservative Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) has gone from an upstart party of breakaway populists to a decisive player with the potential to upend the German political scene.

The BSW party’s third place position in state elections in the eastern states of Thuringia (16%) and Saxony (12%), behind the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) and far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), now puts it in the position of kingmaker.

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Volkswagen considers German plant closures to save billions in costs

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Plans underline European carmakers’ problems in switching from petrol and diesel vehicles to electric models

Volkswagen is considering shutting two German factories, in what would be the carmaker’s first closures ever in its home country, as it struggles with the transition away from fossil fuels.

The Wolfsburg-based manufacturer on Monday informed its works council, which represents employees, that it was looking at closing “at least one larger vehicle manufacturing plant and one component factory in Germany” in order to find cost savings worth billions of euros.

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Shock as police chief taken off Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips murder case

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Activists and lawyers in Brazil say unexpected change is ‘a big step backwards’ in the investigation

Indigenous activists and lawyers in Brazil have voiced shock and dismay after the federal police chief leading the investigation into the murders of Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips was unexpectedly removed from the case.

Francisco Badenes, an experienced investigator, had been running the inquiry into the 2022 deaths of the Brazilian Indigenous expert and the British journalist since the second half of that year.

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Israeli court orders end of nationwide strike called over handling of hostage talks

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Schools, offices and airport had closed after trade union said general strike was needed to ‘shake those who need to be shaken’ over inaction

Israel’s first nationwide general strike since the Hamas attacks of 7 October, which was convened in support of a deal to free hostages held in Gaza, has ended after eight hours with a court order for workers to go back to their jobs.

The strike was organised amid widespread public anger at the government’s handling of the war in Gaza after the discovery of the bodies of six hostages at the weekend.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Ukrainian foreign minister urges its partners for permission for long-range strikes into Russia – as it happened

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Dmytro Kuleba calls on Kyiv’s Asian partners to consider increasing military aid to Ukraine after Moscow stages missile attack on Kyiv

Russian forces are fighting in the eastern Ukrainian cities of Selydove and Ukrainsk, pro-Russian bloggers said on Monday, as Moscow’s forces try to smash through part of Ukraine’s defensive line.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on the purported Russian advance, Reuters reported.

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‘A dark day for Germany is a dark day for Europe’: liberals react to far right success in German state election – as it happened

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Election results in Germany causes consternation across Europe as German chancellor says preliminary results in Thuringia are ‘bitter’

Here’s the updated seat distribution in Saxony.

The state election commission corrected the preliminary results.

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If China wants Taiwan it should also reclaim land from Russia, says president

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Lai Ching-te highlights Beijing’s contrasting approach to territorial loss during ‘century of humiliation’

If the Chinese Communist party truly believes it has a territorial claim to Taiwan, then it should also be trying to take back land from Russia, Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, has said.

Lai made the remark in an interview to local media on Sunday, noting Beijing’s very different approach to two similar historical moments of territorial loss.

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Norwegian outdoor tourism campaign shelved over environmental fears

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State-owned company halts initiative after warnings over opening up ‘right to roam’ laws to large numbers of visitors

A Norwegian tourism campaign aimed at promoting the country as a destination for outdoor activities has been suspended after warnings that opening up the country’s “right to roam” laws to mass tourism could lead to environmental destruction.

Allemannsretten – which gives Norwegians the legal right to camp, swim, ski and walk freely in nature, regardless of who the landowner is – provides the basis of friluftslivet (outdoor life), seen as foundational to the mountainous country’s culture.

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German far-right party AfD poised for state election victory in east

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Alternative für Deutschland leader speaks of ‘historic success’ of top place in Thuringia and second in Saxony

A far-right party became the biggest force in a German state parliament for the first time since the second world war, preliminary results showed on Sunday, while a new populist force on the left established a firm foothold in the country’s political landscape.

Voters in two closely watched elections in the former communist east made their dissatisfaction with Germany’s mainstream political parties clear, putting the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party in the top spot in Thuringia, with 32.8% of the vote, and second place in Saxony, with 30.6%, according to preliminary results.

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Publish data on ride-hailing apps ‘to cut exploitation and emissions’, say campaigners

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Campaign group says firms such as Uber should reveal data on driver miles to help boost wages

Uber and other ride-hailing apps should be forced to publish data on drivers’ workloads so that regulators can tackle exploitation and cut carbon emissions, campaigners argue.

Analysis by the pressure group Worker Info Exchange suggests drivers for Uber and its smaller rivals may have missed out on more than £1.2bn in wages and costs last year because of the way they are compensated.

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Protests in Israel and strike called amid eruption of outrage over Gaza war

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Tens of thousands take to streets as anger rises at Netanyahu government after deaths of six hostages

Tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets on Sunday night and a general strike was called amid an eruption of public outrage over the government’s handling of the war in Gaza after the deaths of six hostages being held deep underground by Hamas.

The discovery of the hostages’ bodies in Gaza over the weekend threatened to bring deep divisions over the war to breaking point. An estimated 100,000 protested in Tel Aviv, while others demonstrated in Jerusalem as pressure on the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to reach a ceasefire deal to bring the remaining hostages home reached a new peak.

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Spanish police arrest three over raids on ‘at least 22’ luxury Ibiza homes

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Two men and one woman accused of carrying out robberies at night and using gas to make residents groggy

The string of robberies, spanning years and all following a similar pattern, had left Spanish police perplexed.

Late at night as residents slept, the thieves – dressed in black and with their faces covered – would gain entry to some of Ibiza’s most exclusive homes, often making off with thousands of euros in stolen goods. The victims frequently reported the same groggy feeling when they woke up, leading police to suspect that the perpetrators were using some sort of gas to induce drowsiness.

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‘Positive’ start to polio vaccination rollout in Gaza despite continued fighting

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Families queue at vaccination centres on first day of complex campaign to inoculate children against emerging threat

A complex, large-scale vaccination campaign to inoculate children against the newly emerged threat of polio in the Gaza Strip has begun successfully despite ongoing fighting in the territory, according to UN officials and local health authorities.

Infectious conditions such as dysentery, pneumonia and severe skin diseases are affecting more than 150,000 people in Gaza, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, amid a dire humanitarian crisis and unsanitary conditions caused by Israel’s campaign to annihilate Hamas in the wake of 7 October.

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