Person held on suspicion of aiding and abetting murder of Londoners Farooq Abdulrazak and Juan Cifuentes
Swedish authorities have arrested and held a person on suspicion of aiding and abetting the murder of two British citizens who were found dead in a burnt-out car in Malmö.
The two victims, whose identities have been confirmed by the prosecutor as Farooq Abdulrazak, 37, and Juan Cifuentes, 33, were discovered on 14 July.
Continue reading...Researchers warn Asia will become an increasingly dangerous place to live until fossil fuels are replaced
The “hyper-violent” Typhoon Gaemi was made fiercer and more likely to strike by the climate crisis, scientists have found. They said “Asia will become an increasingly dangerous place to live until fossil fuels are replaced”.
The typhoon hit the Philippines, Taiwan and Hunan province in China in late July, with floods and landslides destroying homes, killing at least 100 people and affecting millions. Winds reaching 145mph (233 km/h) sank two large ships, while floods in Manila were as deep as a one-storey building.
Continue reading...Organisations who try to save lives in Mediterranean say Sicily response showed what can be done
The tremendous resources and global attention dedicated to the tragedy of the Bayesian superyacht hint at a double standard for shipwrecks in the Mediterranean, several NGOs dedicated to assisting asylum seekers have said, citing the barriers they regularly face as they attempt to save lives in the same waters.
The groups that spoke to the Guardian were swift to express their regret and extend their sympathies for the deaths of seven people after the luxury vessel was hit by violent storms off the coast of Italy.
Continue reading...Pavel Durov, who has French citizenship, faces prosecution over alleged failure to suppress spread of sexual images of children and calls for violence
The head of Telegram, Pavel Durov, has been charged by the French judiciary for allegedly allowing criminal activity on the messaging app but avoided jail with a €5m bail.
The Russian-born multi-billionaire, who has French citizenship, was granted release on condition that he report to a police station twice a week and remain in France, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement.
Continue reading...Kyiv calling for more air defence support as repairs resume after latest strikes, with fears more could be catastrophic
Ukrainian authorities are scrambling to assess the damage caused by one of the biggest Russian airstrikes of the war earlier this week, which targeted energy infrastructure across the country, further crippling a sector targeted by Moscow multiple times in the spring.
While much of Ukraine is still experiencing the tail end of a very hot summer, this week’s strikes have brought into focus concerns about the hard colder months that lie ahead. “This winter is going to be tough, that’s for sure,” said Nataliia Shapoval, head of the Kyiv School of Economics Institute.
Continue reading...Gun battles reported to be continuing as Israel claims all those killed in overnight raids and airstrikes were militants
Israeli forces killed at least 10 Palestinians in the West Bank in overnight raids and airstrikes they said were intended to contain attacks on Israelis using Iranian-supplied arms.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the West Bank operations, some of the most extensive in recent years, were likely to go on for some days, in what it described as a preventive campaign to forestall attacks on Israelis.
Continue reading...Targeting of government-funded group active in Hebron hills brings punitive measures closer to Israeli cabinet
The US has announced new sanctions against extremist settlers in the West Bank who are funded by the Israeli government, as Washington steps up its attempt to rein in worsening settler violence.
The sanctions target one organisation and one individual with long involvement in the intimidation of Palestinians with the aim of seizing their land. The US Treasury has made them “specially designated nationals”, which means their assets are blocked and US citizens and companies are prohibited from dealing with them.
Continue reading...Waters around vessel attacked by Houthi rebels last week appear to be free of oil, EU mission Red Sea says
The area around a Greek-flagged tanker attacked last week by Yemen’s Houthi rebels appears to be free of oil, the EU mission in the Red Sea has said.
The tanker came under fire last week off Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah. The Houthis, who control Yemen’s most populous regions, said they were behind the attack.
Continue reading...A month on from disputed election, Perkins Rocha detained in crackdown that opposition fears will intensify
The Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has accused Nicolás Maduro’s regime of “kidnapping” one of her key allies as protesters took to the streets to mark one month since the allegedly stolen presidential election and a cabinet reshuffle left government opponents fearing an upsurge in repression.
Activists say more than 1,600 people have been detained during the post-election crackdown ordered by Venezuela’s authoritarian president. On Tuesday, one of the opposition’s most important figures, the lawyer and spokesperson Perkins Rocha joined their ranks after being captured on the streets of Caracas, seemingly by Maduro’s secret police.
Continue reading...Extinct in central Europe for 300 years, 36 northern bald ibis are following an ultralight aircraft on their long-forgotten migration route from Austria to Spain
The northern bald ibis was extinct in central Europe for 300 years. Now, it has returned – and scientist “foster parents” aboard a tiny plane are teaching the birds to fly their long-forgotten migration routes.
Thirty-six of these endangered birds are now following an ultralight aircraft 1,740 miles (2,800km ) from Austria to Spain, on a trip that could take up to 50 days to complete.
Continue reading...PM does not rule out setting up system in future after meeting with Olaf Scholz, who stressed desire for closer ties
Keir Starmer has held the door open for some form of youth mobility exchange with EU countries after talks in Germany with Olaf Scholz, who stressed to the British prime minister his wish for closer such ties.
While Starmer said at a press conference with the German chancellor that the UK did not have plans to join the EU’s youth mobility scheme – with No 10 having previously ruled out such a move – speaking to reporters later, he pointedly did not rule out setting up some sort of system for other link-ups, for example student exchanges.
Continue reading...Instead of chastising family over breakage, director of the Hecht Museum invites them back
A rare bronze age jar – its history stretching back at least 3,500 years – had long graced the entrance of the Hecht Museum in Haifa, Israel, offering visitors a closeup look at an intact artefact believed to predate the biblical King David and King Solomon.
That is, until it was accidentally smashed by a four-year-old earlier this week.
Continue reading...Toymaker hopes to bring down oil-based plastic it uses by paying up to 70% more for certified renewable resin to encourage production
Lego plans to make half the plastic in its bricks from renewable or recycled material rather than fossil fuels by 2026, in its latest effort to ensure its toys are more environmentally friendly.
The Danish company last year ditched efforts to make bricks entirely from recycled bottles because of cost and production issues. At the moment, 22% of the material in its colourful bricks is not made from fossil fuels.
Continue reading...Italian prosecutors said to be investigating engineer and sailor as well as captain over sinking in which seven died
Italian prosecutors are investigating two more crew members from the British tech tycoon Mike Lynch’s yacht, along with its captain, in connection with the vessel’s sinking more than a week ago, a judicial source has said.
Lynch and six other people were killed when the British-flagged Bayesian, a 56-metre (184ft) yacht, capsized and sank off the coast of Porticello, a fishing village near Palermo in Sicily, in the early hours of 19 August, within minutes of being hit by a pre-dawn storm.
Continue reading...Carmaker increases portfolio to 14 and will also launch challenge in large and luxury vehicle sectors
The carmaker Hyundai has said that it will double the range of its hybrid car models amid a wider slump in consumer demand for “pure” electric vehicles.
Hyundai, which is increasing the number of hybrid vehicles in its portfolio to 14, also plans to move beyond making compact and mid-size electric vehicles (EVs) and challenge in the large and luxury vehicle sectors.
Continue reading...UN-backed institutions in west of Libya show no sign of backing down over dismissal of bank’s governor of 20 years
A crisis in the Libyan economy sparked by an escalating and sometimes violent contest over the control of the country’s central bank can only be cured through diplomacy, the US embassy in Libya has said, as it backed efforts by the UN to convene an emergency meeting of the groups involved.
The embassy, led by the ambassador Richard Norland, pleaded with all sides to heed a UN call to hold talks, saying the contest over the administration of the bank “undermines confidence in Libya’s economic and financial stability in the eyes of Libyan citizens and the international community, and increases the likelihood of harmful confrontation”.
Continue reading...Calls for inquiry as video appears to show Guardia Civil boat knocking at least one person out of dinghy bound for Spain
Human rights campaigners in Morocco and Spain have called on Spanish authorities to launch an investigation after a video appeared to show a Spanish police boat briefly mounting a small dinghy carrying people towards the coast of Spain.
The incident took place on Sunday as a vessel carrying four people approached the Spanish semi-exclave of Melilla. The video appeared to show the larger, more powerful Guardia Civil patrol boat veering towards the Zodiac inflatable, making several manoeuvres before skimming over the top of the boat, causing at least one person to fall out of the small vessel.
Continue reading...Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi also claims 100 settlements have been seized as forces try to repel Russian counterattack
Ukraine has captured 594 Russian soldiers during its three-week military operation in the Kursk region and has seized 100 settlements inside Russia, Kyiv’s commander-in-chief said on Tuesday.
Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi said Moscow had redeployed 30,000 troops to the border region and they were trying to counterattack and to encircle Ukrainian forces but these attempts were being repelled.
Continue reading...While saying the Guardian’s report that he tried to kiss female extras was ‘totally untrue’, the director told Rolling Stone ‘they were young women I knew’
Francis Ford Coppola says that he did kiss film extras on the set of his forthcoming film Megalopolis but that “they were young women I knew”.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Coppola responded to a question about a report in the Guardian that said the director tried to kiss female extras during preparation for a “bacchanalian nightclub scene”, and that significant numbers of crew left the project during production.
Continue reading...Aid workers preparing to distribute medicine to children in effort to contain outbreak call for pause in fighting
The UN has said its ability to function in Gaza is being crippled by a flurry of Israeli evacuation orders, forcing Palestinians into ever smaller and more remote areas, days before a critical effort to contain a polio outbreak.
Aid workers warn that without a humanitarian pause, a vaccination drive due to begin this weekend could fail to reach enough children to stop the spread of the virus, which was detected there this month for the first time in 25 years. A baby has already been partly paralysed by the disease, and health experts have warned it could spread rapidly given the terrible sanitation and overcrowding in camps for Gaza’s exhausted, displaced population.
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