As Ukraine’s Kursk incursion forges on the stakes are rising for both sides

Kyiv’s push into Russia has psychological and political advantages, but it knows Putin cannot let it lie

Nine days into Ukraine’s incursion into Russia, and Kyiv is showing increasing confidence. Two soldiers, speaking off the record by a dusty roadside a few miles from the border, said they expected logistics functions to be brought forward “inside Russia” because supply lines were becoming stretched.

Though it is a fragmentary detail – being more specific would endanger life – it demonstrates that as Ukraine’s forces continue to advance into Kursk oblast, Kyiv is gradually becoming more committed to an incursion that may have begun brightly, but the eventual outcome of which remains profoundly uncertain.

Continue reading...

Pay deal for new Starbucks CEO worth up to $113m

Brian Niccol, who was poached from Chipotle, will get package worth four times that of his predecessor

The new chief executive of Starbucks is in line for a sign-on pay package worth up to $113m (£88m), in one of the largest such executive deals in corporate history and which is four times larger than that of his predecessor. .

The American coffee chain poached the boss of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Brian Niccol, naming him as its new chief executive this week in a surprise management shake-up, ousting Laxman Narasimhan from the job after just 17 months.

Continue reading...

Danish wind power giant Ørsted delays major US offshore project

News follows scrapping of two other Atlantic windfarms and axing of hundreds of jobs as costs surge

The Danish company developing the world’s largest offshore windfarm in the North Sea has been forced to delay a major project off the north-east coast of the US, months after cancelling two nearby developments and cutting hundreds of jobs.

Ørsted has pushed back the start of commercial operations at its 704 megawatt Revolution Wind project off the coast of Rhode Island and Connecticut by a year, to 2026.

Continue reading...

Meta struggles with moderation in Hebrew, according to ex-employee and internal documents

Meta has system for evaluating the effectiveness of its own moderation for Arabic language content but not Hebrew

Meta is struggling with moderating content related to the Israel-Palestine war, particularly in Hebrew, despite recent changes to internal policies, new documents have revealed.

Internal policy guidelines shared with the Guardian by a former Meta employee who worked on content moderation outline a multilayered process for moderating content related to the conflict. But the documents indicate Meta, which owns the platforms Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, does not have the same processes in place to gauge the accuracy of moderation of Hebrew content and Arabic content.

Continue reading...

Kim Dotcom to be extradited from New Zealand to US

Justice minister signs extradition order for Megaupload founder 12 years after FBI-ordered raid over filesharing site

Kim Dotcom, who is facing criminal charges relating to the defunct filesharing website Megaupload, is to be extradited to the US, the New Zealand justice minister says, which could end more than a decade of legal wrangling.

German-born Dotcom has New Zealand residency and has been fighting extradition to the US since 2012 after an FBI-ordered raid on his Auckland mansion. The high court in New Zealand first approved his extradition in 2017, with an appeal court reaffirming the finding the year after. In 2020, the country’s supreme court again affirmed the finding but opened the door for a fresh round of judicial review.

Continue reading...

Russian court jails US-Russian woman for 12 years over $50 charity donation

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...

Jamaica declares state of emergency after eight killed in weekend shootings

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...

Israeli forces in Gaza ‘use civilians as human shields’ against possible booby-traps

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...

Hamas unlikely to take part in new round of Gaza ceasefire talks

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...

Mpox outbreak in Africa is public health emergency, declares WHO

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...

Bahia’s police killings pile pressure on Lula’s Workers’ party in Brazil

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...

Germany investigates possible attack on water system at military base

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...

UCLA can’t allow protesters to block Jewish students from campus, judge rules

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...

At least 68 people killed in flooding as rains worsen Sudan’s plight

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...

Russia-Ukraine war: Ukraine planning evacuation corridors for civilians in Kursk, says deputy PM – as it happened

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...

Germany issues arrest warrant for diver over Nord Stream blasts, say reports

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...

Ukraine forces continuing to advance into Russian territory, says Zelenskiy

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...

‘Vulgar racism’: outrage after mural of Italian volleyball star is vandalised

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...

Japan PM Fumio Kishida announces he will step down in September

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...

Four-day-old twins killed in Gaza by Israeli airstrike as father registered births

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...