Category Archives: World News

Official Kristi Noem social media accounts appear to have been deleted

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Error messages displayed on Facebook and X pages for South Dakota governor plagued by dog-killing admission

Kristi Noem, the Republican governor of South Dakota who has been dogged by controversy since recounting how she chose to shoot dead a puppy and a goat, attracted new questions when it was noted that some of her official social media accounts appeared to have been deleted.

On Monday, a link from Noem’s official website led to an error message on Facebook, which said: “This content isn’t available right now. When this happens, it’s usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it’s been deleted.”

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Leaders condemn Russian missile attacks that killed 36 across Ukraine

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Rescuers search through rubble of country’s largest children’s hospital, as Zelenskiy vows to retaliate

Western and UN leaders have condemned a daylight Russian missile barrage that hit Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital, leaving an unknown number trapped under the rubble, as strikes across the country killed 36 people in one of the deadliest attacks this year.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy vowed retaliation as he said Kyiv’s Okhmatdyt hospital, the main treatment centre in the country for children with cancer, had taken a direct missile hit. The strike was part of one of the heaviest attacks on the capital since Russia’s February 2022 invasion.

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‘It’s going to be a mess’: uncertainty tempers election relief in Lyon

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Surprise result ‘restores hope’ but politicians urged to heed warning after far-right National Rally falls short

Against the backdrop of Lyon’s emblematic Bartholdi fountain, much of which was sculpted by the artist behind New York’s Statue of Liberty, the same word was on seemingly everyone’s lips on Monday after the French election result: soulagement, or relief.

“It’s great that the far right didn’t win,” said Stéphane, 47. But he, like everyone else the Guardian spoke to, was swift to add a caveat given the political uncertainty that now looms over the nation. “It’s going to be a mess. They’re not going to agree on a lot of things.”

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Labour unlikely to rush into proscribing Iran’s Revolutionary Guards

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Exclusive: Lammy said to be looking at creating new category of state-sponsored terrorism to allow restrictions to be imposed

Labour is unlikely to rush into proscribing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, and will instead examine whether a new category of state-backed terrorism needs to be devised.

David Lammy, the foreign secretary, will also consult colleagues on the implications for Iranian foreign policy of the election at the weekend of a reformist-backed president, Masoud Pezeshkian.

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Nato will announce ‘historic’ Ukraine aid package – but hospital attack shows it’s not enough

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Members have put forward hard-fought aid package but as Russia resumes large-scale attacks it may not satisfy Kyiv

After one of the worst Russian missile strikes against Ukraine in recent months, Nato leaders will sit down in Washington this week to announce the details of a hard-fought aid package that will include crucial air defense systems meant to protect Ukrainian cities.

The package put forward by Nato countries has been presented as “historic” and is an widely seen as an attempt to “futureproof” continued aid to Ukraine – but it may not fully satisfy Kyiv, which has been facing unprecedented attacks against civilian sites and infrastructure.

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Le Pen and Orbán join forces in European parliament far-right alliance

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The group, styled Patriots for Europe, becomes the third-largest force and largest-ever far-right bloc assembly

France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen has joined forces with the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán in a new far-right alliance in the European parliament.

The group, styled Patriots for Europe, becomes the third-largest force in the European parliament and the largest-ever far-right bloc in the history of the assembly.

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Thousands of Palestinians flee amid heavy Israeli attack on Gaza City

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Civil emergency service says dozens killed in strikes launched after Israeli military issued evacuation orders

People in Gaza City have reported one of the heaviest attacks by Israeli forces since 7 October, sending thousands of Palestinians fleeing from an area already ravaged in the early weeks of the nine-month-old war.

The latest Israeli incursion into the eastern sector of Gaza City came as Israel’s far-right coalition parties threatened again to stop ongoing negotiations in Qatar for a ceasefire, arguing that halting the fighting now would be a huge mistake.

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Ecowas warns of ‘disintegration’ as juntas split from west African bloc

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Breakaway union by military rulers of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger exposes growing fissures within the region

The Ecowas grouping of west African countries has warned the region faces “disintegration” after three military rulers cemented their own breakaway union over the weekend.

Parallel meetings of Ecowas, or the Economic Community of West African States, on Sunday in Abuja and the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) – comprising Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger – in Niger’s capital, Niamey, on Saturday exposed growing fissures within the unstable region, pitting neighbours against each other.

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Kenyan cult leader goes on trial on terrorism charges over 400 deaths

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Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie alleged to have incited acolytes to starve to death to ‘meet Jesus’

The leader of a Kenyan doomsday cult has gone on trial on charges of terrorism over the deaths of more than 400 of his followers in a macabre case that shocked the world.

The self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie appeared in court in the Indian Ocean port city of Mombasa along with 94 co-defendants.

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International community should ‘create conditions’ for negotiations, says Xi Jinping – Ukraine war live

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Hungarian president Viktor Orbán meets Chinese president, days after holding talks on potential Ukrainian peace deal with Vladimir Putin

Germany’s defence minister, Boris Pistorius, said he received “significantly less” than he requested as part of the budget for his ministry for 2025.

Pistorius had sought to increase annual defence spending by €6.7bn ($7.25bn) in 2025. Neither he nor the government have commented on how much he will receive.

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Pakistani breast milk bank closes after Islamic clerics withdraw approval

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Doctors deplore decision and point to country’s high neonatal mortality rate as bank, which opened in June, forced to close without taking a single deposit

When he heard a hospital in Karachi was setting up a milk bank for babies, the news was a “huge relief” to Mohammad Munawwar.

With his wife very sick and their premature son Ayan in hospital, the 52-year-old father had had to collect milk five or six times a day from different female relatives who were breastfeeding their own babies.

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Labour expected to drop challenge to ICC over Netanyahu arrest warrant

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Exclusive: UK government appears unlikely to go ahead with legal bid, while Keir Starmer has spoken with Israeli PM over Gaza ceasefire

The new Labour government is expected to drop a bid to delay the international criminal court (ICC) reaching a decision on whether to issue an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza.

The development came as Keir Starmer, the new UK prime minister, told the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, that he believed the Palestinians had an undeniable right to a Palestinian state. Starmer spoke to Abbas on Sunday about the “ongoing suffering and devastating loss of life” in Gaza.

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Monday briefing: French opposition to the far right comes out on top

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In today’s newsletter: A shock defeat for the far right National Rally in France, while in the UK the new Labour government gets down to work

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Good morning.

The far right were riding high from the first round of voting in the French elections last week, after coming out on top with an unprecedented 12m votes. They were hoping to replicate that historic victory last night but their plans were scuppered after exit polls indicated that an unexpected left wing surge blocked the National Rally (RN) and its allies from their anticipated success.

Environment | The world has baked for 12 consecutive months in temperatures 1.5C greater than their average before the fossil fuel era, new data shows. Temperatures between July 2023 and June 2024 were the highest on record, scientists found, creating a year-long stretch in which the Earth was 1.64C hotter than in preindustrial times.

Politics | Rachel Reeves has pledged to “fix the foundations” of the British economy, revealing an immediate plan to boost growth by unblocking infrastructure and private investment in her first speech as chancellor. In an address to business leaders, she will say that economic growth for all parts of the country is “a national mission”.

Conservatives | A number of opposition MPs have suggested that the former home secretary Suella Braverman is losing support as a potential party leader, as some who lost votes across southern England privately urged colleagues to resist a lurch to the right.

US | Joe Biden has insisted he is the person to reunite America in a second term in the White House, even as the number of high-profile Democrats calling him to stand aside has grown. Congressmen Jerry Nadler of New York and Jamie Raskin of Maryland were reportedly among a clutch of lawmakers who have joined calls for Biden to leave the race.

Israel-Gaza | In the initial chaos of the Hamas attack on 7 October, Israel’s armed forces employed what is known as the Hannibal protocol, a directive to use force to prevent the kidnapping of soldiers even at the expense of hostages’ lives, according to a report in Haaretz.

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Heatstroke alerts issued across Japan as heatwave leads to four deaths

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Average number of heatstroke-related deaths each year has increased six fold since 1995

Japan’s meteorological agency has issued a heatstroke alert for 26 of the country’s 47 prefectures, urging people not to go outside unless absolutely necessary, to use their air conditioners during the day and at night, and to drink plenty of water.

Authorities in Japan issued the extreme heat warnings after the temperature reached 40C for the first time this year on Sunday, as the country swelters in the grip of another heatwave.

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Starmer heads for first Nato summit stressing continued Ukraine support

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Labour has emphasised its commitment to national security and also its historical connection with Nato

Keir Starmer flies out this week to a turbulent Washington DC for a Nato summit aiming to emphasise the UK’s commitment to Ukraine at a time when the forthcoming US election puts the medium-term American position in question.

It is the new prime minister’s first international visit, four days after the election, and Starmer can expect to be feted by fellow leaders who are facing either, in the case of Joe Biden, an uncertain future or, in the case of France’s Emmanuel Macron or Germany’s Olaf Scholz, unpopularity at home.

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‘I panic when my phone rings’: the plight of Palestinians in Jordan

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In kingdom where half of people have Palestinian roots, rulers try to balance US ties with calls for action on Gaza war

Ahmed Saeed Abu Fares leans back in his cheap plastic chair and smiles. He has just got a call through to his older sister in Gaza. Though he is only 90 miles away in Jordan, this is an achievement. The conversation is brief, but long enough for Abu Fares to hear that she is safe. So too are her children. For the first time in weeks, the 63-year-old scrap dealer relaxes.

“We just couldn’t get through to check on them. When their house was bombed and two of my nieces were killed, it was two weeks before I found out. So I’ve been panicking when my phone rings. Every time, it is terror or fear,” Abu Fares says. “I feel much better now. She says they are all tired but OK.”

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Alice Munro knew my stepfather sexually abused me as a child, says Nobel laureate’s daughter

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Andrea Robin Skinner says her stepfather sexually assaulted her when she was nine, but her mother said she ‘loved him too much’ to leave him

The daughter of Nobel prize winner Alice Munro, Andrea Robin Skinner, has alleged that her stepfather sexually abused her as a child, and that her mother stayed with him even after he admitted to the abuse.

Skinner revealed the allegations in an essay and a news article in Canada’s Toronto Star on the weekend, writing about how her stepfather, Gerald Fremlin, began sexually assaulting her in 1976 when she was nine years old and he was in his 50s.

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Pistols Napoleon planned to use to kill himself sold in France for €1.7m

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Napoleon said to have tried to use the guns after defeat of French campaign, but grand squire removed the gunpowder, so French ruler tried poison instead

Two pistols that Napoleon Bonaparte once intended to use to kill himself were sold in France on Sunday for €1.69m (US$1.8m), the auction house said, with the government banning their export so that they stay in the country as national treasures.

The identity of the buyer at the auction in Fontainebleau south of Paris of the finely adorned objects was not made public but the final sale price, with fees, was above the estimates of €1.2-1.5m.

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IDF used protocol that may have risked civilian lives in Hamas attack – report

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Haaretz shows Hannibal directive employed at three sites to prevent kidnapping of soldiers during 7 October assault

In the initial chaos of the Hamas attack on 7 October, Israel’s armed forces employed what is known as the Hannibal protocol, a directive to use force to prevent the kidnapping of soldiers even at the expense of hostages’ lives, according to a report.

The Israel daily Haaretz reported on Sunday, nine months to the day after the assault in which about 1,200 people were killed and another 250 abducted to the Gaza Strip, that the operational procedure was used at three army facilities attacked by Hamas, potentially endangering civilians as well.

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Leftwing coalition wins most parliamentary seats in France – as it happened

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This blog has now closed but you can read our full report on the French election results here

Hello from Paris.

I spent time this afternoon outside a polling station in the city’s 16th district.

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