Ksenia Khavana jailed for treason over donation to US charity that helps Ukraine
A Russian court on Thursday sentenced the US-Russian dual national Ksenia Khavana to 12 years in prison on a treason conviction for allegedly raising money for the Ukrainian military.
The rights group the First Department said the charges stemmed from a $51 (£40) donation to a US charity that helps Ukraine.
Continue reading...Two attacks in Clarendon killed eight and injured nine as government looks to focus on gang violence
Jamaica’s prime minister has issued a 14-day state of emergency in the country’s southern Clarendon parish amid fears of further violence after two shootings on Sunday left eight dead and nine wounded.
Seven people were killed when gunmen fired indiscriminately at a birthday party in Cherry Tree Lane, Clarendon; the eighth victim was killed in a second shooting.
Continue reading...Newspaper and campaign group allege Palestinians are sent ahead of troops into buildings or tunnels that need clearing
Israeli soldiers are using Palestinian civilians as human shields in Gaza to enter and clear tunnels and buildings they suspect may have been booby-trapped, a leading Israeli NGO and newspaper have reported.
The practice was so widespread across different units fighting in Gaza that it could in effect be considered a “protocol”, said Nadav Weiman, the executive director of Breaking the Silence, a group founded by Israeli combat veterans to document military abuses.
Continue reading...Islamist group says it won’t ‘negotiate just to negotiate’, raising fears of Iranian attacks on Israel if no deal is agreed
Hamas appears unlikely to participate in a new round of talks on a Gaza ceasefire deal on Thursday, further eroding hopes of an agreement that might stave off expected retaliatory strikes by Iran against Israel for the killing of a Hamas leader in Tehran last month.
Most observers already had low expectations of the ceasefire talks, with Israel hardening its position in recent weeks and fears that Hamas, now led by its most hardline faction, would offer few concessions.
Continue reading...Outbreak resembles early days of HIV, say experts, urging accelerated access to vaccines and testing
An outbreak in Africa of mpox, the disease formerly known as monkeypox, resembles the early days of HIV, scientists have said, as the World Health Organization declared it a public health emergency.
The declaration must accelerate access to testing, vaccines and therapeutic drugs in the affected areas, medical experts urged, and kickstart campaigns to reduce stigma surrounding the virus.
Continue reading...Nearly 300 people aged 19 and under were killed by Bahian security forces in 2023, making it Brazil’s highest rate
Activists have raised the alarm over police violence in the Brazilian state of Bahia, as new figures revealed that more children and adolescents are killed by the region’s security forces than anywhere else in the country.
Two hundred and eighty-nine people aged 19 and under were killed by police in Bahia last year, up from 242 in 2022, according to a new report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) and the Brazilian Forum on Public Safety.
Continue reading...People may have broken in and contaminated supply pipes at Cologne-Wahn airbase, the defence ministry says
The German armed forces are investigating the suspected sabotage of one of their military bases amid suspicions that it was broken into and the water supply system contaminated.
The defence ministry confirmed on Wednesday that state security was investigating the reported attack after suspicions of attempted or actual entry, as well as sabotage, at the Cologne-Wahn barracks, just outside Cologne.
Continue reading...Ruling marks first time a US judge has gone against a university over demonstrations against Israel-Hamas war
The University of California, Los Angeles, cannot allow pro-Palestinian protesters to block Jewish students from accessing classes and other parts of campus, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday.
The preliminary injunction marks the first time a US judge has ruled against a university over the demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war on college campuses earlier this year.
Continue reading...About 27,000 people displaced by heaviest rainfall since 2019 in country already hit by civil war and famine
Heavy rains in Sudan have killed dozens of people, compounding hardship in a country that is already facing multiple crises.
At least 68 people have been killed in Sudan as a result of rains that have plagued different parts of the country this year, the interior ministry said.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here
Ukraine’s military has said its forces in the Kursk region shot down a Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber.
Kristen Michal, the Estonian prime minister, has said “we must continue to show our steadfast support to Ukraine and further raise the cost of war for Russia.”
Continue reading...Investigators said to believe Ukrainian man was one of team that planted explosives on pipelines in September 2022
German authorities have issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian man on suspicion of being part of a team that blew up the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea, according to local media reports.
The man, a diving instructor identified only as Volodymyr Z, is last believed to have lived in Poland, and is alleged to have dived 80 metres to the seabed at night to plant explosive devices on the pipelines, which ran from Russia to Germany, in September 2022.
Continue reading...Kyiv says it has also launched a major drone attack on four Russian airbases and shot down an enemy jet
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said his country’s forces are continuing to advance into Russian territory after their surprise offensive, as Kyiv said it had launched a “major” drone attack on four Russian airbases.
Zelenskiy said Ukraine’s troops had advanced several kilometres in the largest attack on Russia since the second world war. In his nightly address on Wednesday he said Kyiv was achieving its strategic goal in the operation and reiterated his appeal to western partners to allow long-range strikes on targets inside Russia. “The bolder the partners’ decisions, the less Putin can do,” he said.
Continue reading...Defacing of Rome artwork celebrating Olympic champion Paola Egonu widely condemned across political spectrum
A mural celebrating the Italian Olympic volleyball champion Paola Egonu has become the target of “vulgar racism” after the athlete’s skin in the image was spray-painted pink.
The mural by the street artist Laika was defaced within a day of being unveiled on a wall close to the headquarters of the Italian Olympic committee (Coni) in Rome.
Continue reading...Kishida’s three-year term has been marked by scandal, rising living costs and record defence spending
Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has said he will not run for the presidency of his ruling Liberal Democratic party (LDP) next month – a decision that will result in the appointment of a new leader of the world’s fourth-biggest economy.
Kishida, who has been battling low approval ratings and a damaging fundraising scandal, said he would step down as LDP leader in September, telling reporters on Wednesday that the party needed an “open contest to promote debate”.
Continue reading...Mohamed Abuel-Qomasan’s wife and mother-in-law also killed in strike that hit home where they were sheltering
Four-day-old twins have been killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza while their father went to register their birth, he has said, as Israel continued its bombardment of the territory.
Mohamed Abuel-Qomasan said his wife, Joumana Arafa, a pharmacist, had given birth by caesarean section four days earlier and announced the twins’ arrival on Facebook, the Associated Press reported.
Continue reading...The Dutch beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde, who was convicted of raping a 12-year-old British girl in 2016, has said that he considered quitting the Paris Olympics amid the controversy surrounding his participation.
Van de Velde and his beach volleyball partner Matthew Immers reached the quarter-finals in Paris, where they lost to Brazil in straight sets. The pair played four matches in the tournament and Van de Velde was subjected to a stream of boos and whistles.
Continue reading...Suga has apologised after he was found lying on the ground in the Yongsan district of Seoul following an apparent accident
Suga, a member of the K-pop supergroup BTS, faces a potential prison sentence or a hefty fine after a breathalyser test revealed he was over the blood-alcohol limit when he reportedly fell off his e-scooter in Seoul last week.
Suga, who along with other members of the band has taken a break from music to perform compulsory national service, was found lying on the ground in the Yongsan district of Seoul on 6 August after an apparent accident, South Korean media reported.
Continue reading...Woman wins visiting rights to see daughter, but not son, in first recognition that child can have two legal mothers
A woman fighting a landmark LGBTQ+ custody battle in China said she “still has faith for the future” after winning the right to make monthly visits to her daughter.
Last month, Didi, who is 42 and lives in Shanghai, travelled to Beijing to visit her seven-year-old daughter, who lives in the capital with Didi’s estranged wife and their other child. It was the first time Didi and her daughter had seen each other in four years.
Continue reading...Unicef analysis also finds children in eight countries spend more than half the year in temperatures above 35C
Almost half a billion children are growing up in parts of the world where there are at least twice the number of extremely hot days every year compared with six decades ago, analysis by Unicef has found.
The analysis by the UN’s children’s agency examined for the first time data on changes in children’s exposure to extreme heat over the past 60 years.
Continue reading...Fires made at least three times more likely by climate crisis and emitted about 2bn tonnes of CO2, data reveals
Canada’s “record-shattering” wildfires last year produced nearly as much greenhouse gas emissions in one season as would be expected over a decade of fires in normal circumstances, data has shown.
The fires, in Canada’s “wildest season ever”, were made at least three times more likely by the climate crisis, and produced about 2bn tonnes of CO2, about a quarter of the total global emissions from wildfires last year, according to data in the State of Wildfires report, published on Wednesday.
Continue reading...