Category Archives: World News

Palestinian prisoners describe systemic abuse in Israel’s jails

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Guardian interviews back up report by rights group B’Tselem, which says jails should now be labelled ‘torture camps’

Violence, extreme hunger, humiliation and other abuse of Palestinian prisoners has been normalised across Israel’s jail system, according to Guardian interviews with released prisoners, with mistreatment now so systemic that rights group B’Tselem says it must be considered a policy of “institutionalised abuse”.

Former detainees described abuse ranging from severe beatings and sexual violence to starvation rations, refusal of medical care, and deprivation of basic needs including water, daylight, electricity and sanitation, including soap and sanitary pads for women.

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US and UK expected to be drawn in as Iran prepares retaliation against Israel

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Response from Tehran, which blames Israel for killing of Hamas leader, could risk wider regional conflict

As Israel braces for what appears to be a likely Iranian retaliation, it is almost certain western and regional powers will be drawn in. Overnight, Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defence minister, briefed his US counterpart, Lloyd Austin, discussing according to Israel’s readout “a series of scenarios” and corresponding “defensive and offensive capabilities” should Tehran attack.

Gallant held a similar discussion with the UK defence secretary, John Healey, on Friday, giving the new Labour minister “an operational situation assessment”, Israel said. A day later Britain indicated it was moving military assets into Cyprus to prepare for a possible evacuation of UK nationals from Lebanon. The need for heightened readiness in the Middle East will not be lost on the RAF and its Typhoon pilots stationed at the Akrotiri airbase, either.

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‘Delicate, authentic, charismatic’: Dolce & Gabbana launches €99 dog perfume

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Italian brand makes first foray into pet scents – but RSPCA warns against such products as dogs rely on sense of smell

If the axiom that a dog is man’s best friend holds any credence, Dolce & Gabbana has now elevated it with the introduction of its latest perfume: a mist for dogs.

But the RSPCA has warned against messing with dogs’ sense of smell by giving them their own fragrance, warning the odour could come across as unpleasant for them – and hamper their ability to connect with their surroundings.

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Middle East crisis: Hezbollah launches drone attack on northern Israel as border skirmishes continue – as it happened

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US president Joe Biden to meet national security team as fears grow of Iranian attack on Israel

Iran’s foreign ministry has called in ambassadors and heads of missions for a meeting with the country’s acting foreign minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, to reiterate Iran’s will to respond to Israel, Reuters reports.

Spain’s foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, has spoken with his Jordanian counterpart, Ayman Safadi, about the risk of escalation in the Middle East.

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Wood Group suitor pulls out of takeover, blaming market turmoil

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Shares in FTSE 250 company slump 37% in early trading after Dubai-based Sidara cites geopolitical risk

The share price of the British oil services company John Wood Group has plunged by more than a third after a Dubai-based suitor pulled out of a purchase amid global market turmoil.

In a statement to the stock market on Monday the engineering company Sidara said it had pulled out of a bid for Wood “in light of rising geopolitical risks and financial market uncertainty”.

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Mac and cheese for life! Philippines’ heartfelt gifts to Carlos Yulo after double Olympic gold

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Pledges of pesos, property and pasta as ‘Caloy’ makes history for his country with floor exercise and vault victories in artistic gymnastics

The Filipino gymnast Carlos Yulo’s historic double gold medal win at the Paris Olympics has been celebrated across the Philippines, with businesses showering the athlete with gifts – from cash and a new home, to a lifetime supply of mac and cheese.

Ferdinand Marcos, the president, said the Philippines had “witnessed history” when Yulo became the first Filipino man to win an Olympic gold medal after competing in the artistic gymnastic floor exercise on Saturday. He is only the second Filipino athlete to win an Olympic gold, after weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz in 2020. On Sunday, Yulo soared to the top of the podium again in the vault, thus becoming the first Filipino to win two golds – and at a single Olympics.

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Papua separatists kill helicopter pilot from New Zealand, say police

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Shooting in Indonesia’s easternmost region comes almost 18 months after kidnap of another New Zealand pilot

Separatist rebels in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua killed a helicopter pilot from New Zealand, police have said, adding that four passengers onboard the aircraft were safe.

Glen Malcolm Conning, a pilot for Indonesian aviation company PT Intan Angkasa Air Service, was shot to death, said Faizal Ramadhani, a national police member and head of the joint security peace force in Papua. The gunmen were allegedly with the West Papua Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement, Ramadhani said.

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Bangladesh PM has resigned and left country, army chief confirms

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Sheikh Hasina’s reported departure comes as fresh wave of violent protests erupts across country

The prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, has resigned and left the country, the head of the army has confirmed, amid some of the worst violence since the birth of the south Asian country more than 50 years ago.

In a briefing to reporters, Army Chief Gen Waker-Uz-Zaman announced he was assuming control at “a critical time for our country” and would establish an interim government.

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Shares in New York and London tumble on fears of US recession

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FTSE 100 on track for its lowest close since April and Japan’s Nikkei suffers biggest fall since crash of 1987

Shares on Wall Street and in London have fallen heavily amid a global stock market rout triggered by fears of a recession in the US.

The tech-focused Nasdaq index dropped by 6% as trading in New York opened on Monday, while the broader S&P 500 index fell by 4.2% in a sell-off triggered by weak US jobs data. The Dow Jones industrial average lost more than 1,100 points, a 2.8% decline.

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‘Everything is a target’: Dnipro suffers consequences of Russia’s bloody war

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Ukrainian city of 1 million people hit by number of deadly aerial attacks seemingly aimed at terrorising the population

At 5pm on 28 June, Lana Yefimova left work as usual, walking from her office in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Minutes later a Russian rocket hit the nine-storey apartment block opposite her workplace and crashed through the upper floors, ripping through ceilings. “I ran back to find a fire. It was huge. My colleague Yulia was hurt. She broke her pelvis. I was in shock,” Yefimova said.

Four people were killed inside the residential building at 24a Vikonkomivska Street and 12 injured, including a pregnant woman and a baby. The attack was seemingly random – another erratic death-bringing moment in Russia’s bloody war. “They want to frighten us so we leave,” Yefimova said. “It’s politics. And terror.”

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A death at work in the age of extreme heat – podcast

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Samira Shackle and Jeff Goodell explain the dangers resulting from extreme heat, and what society can do to mitigate them

David Azevedo died because of the heat. A construction worker living in a small city in central France, he had recently started a new job when a heatwave struck in the summer of 2022. He would not even see out his first week.

The journalist Samira Shackle interviews his sister Anne-Marie about what happened, and how her family have feared every heatwave since.

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RFK Jr says he was behind mystery of dead bear dumped in Central Park with bicycle

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In a video on X, the independent presidential candidate said he and his friends thought the prank in New York would be funny

Robert F Kennedy Jr released a bizarre video on Sunday in which he admitted that, a decade ago, he dumped a dead bear cub in New York City’s Central Park and staged the scene to make it look like a bicyclist had run over the animal.

The video was apparently an effort to combat an upcoming New Yorker story that he predicted will be a “bad story”.

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Nicolás Maduro vows to ‘pulverise’ challenge to his rule after disputed Venezuela election

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Maduro told troops he is ‘willing to do anything’ to protect his ‘revolution’ amid growing criticism of crackdown on opposition

The Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro has vowed to “pulverise” the latest challenge to his rule and told troops he is “willing to do anything” to protect his “revolution” amid growing criticism of the crackdown that followed last week’s disputed election.

Maduro says more than 2,000 people have been arrested in the days since the 28 July vote while human rights groups say at least 22 people have been killed.

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Gaza: airstrikes on schools and a hospital kill 30 amid ‘heated’ US-Israeli talks

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Two schools and a hospital complex struck as Palestinian stabs two Israelis to death in a city near Tel Aviv

Israeli airstrikes hit two schools and a hospital complex in Gaza on Sunday, killing at least 30 people, amid reports of heated disagreements between US and Israeli leaders about a possible ceasefire deal.

Inside Israel, a Palestinian stabbed two people to death in a city near Tel Aviv, adding to tensions as the country braces for Iran’s response to the assassinations of key allies this week.

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Jubilation in Caribbean at St Lucia’s and Dominica’s first Olympic medals

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Sprinter Julian Alfred and triple jumper Thea LaFond both win gold on Saturday

There was jubilation in the Caribbean on Sunday after St Lucian sprinter Julian Alfred and Dominican triple jumper Thea LaFond secured their countries’ first ever medals, both golds.

From entering the Games as a little-known competitor, Julian Alfred demonstrated immense athletics prowess by winning the women’s 100-metre finals on Saturday, in 10.72sec.

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Dozens of people killed in Bangladesh as protesters renew call for PM to quit

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Military announces curfew and mobile internet access cut off as fresh wave of demonstrations erupts across country

Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds injured as renewed anti-government protests swept across Bangladesh, with protesters calling for the prime minister to resign as mobile internet access was cut off in an attempt to quell the unrest.

The country’s leading Bengali-language daily newspaper, Prothom Alo, said at least 95 people, including at least 14 police officers, had died on Sunday in the violence. Channel 24 reported at least 85 deaths.

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Jordan in last-ditch effort to prevent Iran retaliating for Haniyeh killing

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Foreign minister’s rare visit to Tehran appears likely to fail given Iranian insistence on making a decisive response

Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, has made a rare visit to Iran in a last-ditch effort to persuade it to hold back from attacking Israel in response to the assassination of the Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran last week.

The western ally with a large Palestinian population is facing a tough balancing act as it faces domestic calls to break off relations with Tel Aviv and to stop protecting it after shooting down Iranian missiles aimed at Israel earlier this year.

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Ukrainian pilots have started flying F-16s, says Zelenskiy

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President confirms long-awaited arrival of US-made fighter jets as Ukrainian pilots fly overhead

Ukrainian pilots have started flying F-16s, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said, confirming the long-awaited arrival of the US-made fighter jets more than 29 months since Russia’s invasion.

Ukraine’s president announced the use of F-16s, which Kyiv has long lobbied for, as he met military pilots at an airbase flanked by two of the jets, with two more flying overhead.

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Sheep and goat plague won’t halt production of feta, say Greek farmers

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Producers insist they have enough milk despite culling of thousands of animals due to livestock virus

Greek farmers have denied that production of feta cheese is likely to be hit hard by the outbreak of a deadly virus among goats and sheep that has led to the culling of thousands of animals.

Livestock industry officials sought to dispel fears that the cheese, a mainstay of the Mediterranean diet, could be imperilled because of the rate at which the highly infectious disease has spread.

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Fifth of medicines in Africa may be sub-par or fake, research finds

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Analysis suggests extent of problem UN estimates is causing 500,000 deaths a year in sub-Saharan region

A fifth of medicines in Africa could be substandard or fake, according to a major research project, raising the alarm over a problem that could be contributing to the deaths of countless patients.

Researchers from Bahir Dar University in Ethiopia analysed 27 studies in the review and found, of the 7,508 medicine samples included, 1,639 failed at least one quality test and were confirmed to be substandard or falsified.

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