Category Archives: World News

Prominent China #MeToo journalist Sophia Huang Xueqin sentenced to five years in jail, supporters say

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Sophia Huang Xueqin, who reported on #MeToo movement and Hong Kong pro-democracy protests, sentenced along with labour activist Wang Jianbing

A Chinese court has sentenced the prominent #MeToo journalist Sophia Huang Xueqin to five years in jail and the labour activist Wang Jianbing to three and a half years, almost 1,000 days after they were detained on allegations of inciting state subversion, according to supporters.

On Friday, supporters of the pair said the court had found them guilty and given Huang the maximum sentence. The jail terms would take into account the time they had already spent in detention. A copy of the verdict said Huang was also deprived of political rights for four years and fined $100,000 RMB (£10,800). Wang faced three years of deprivation of political rights and was fined $50,000 RMB.

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Children near Amsterdam airport use inhalers more, study finds

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Results show increase in symptoms such as wheeziness in presence of high aviation-related ultrafine particles

As the public hearings for London Gatwick airport’s northern runway resume, researchers from the Netherlands have found greater inhaler use in children living near Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport.

Stand close to a large airport and, if the wind is in the wrong direction, each cubic centimetre of air that you breathe will contain tens of thousands of ultrafine particles (UFP).

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US and South Korea sound warning amid reports Putin is headed to North Korea

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Civilian aircraft have been cleared from Pyongyang’s airport and there are signs of preparations for a possible parade in Kim Il-sung Square

The US and South Korea have warned Vladimir Putin against forging closer military ties with North Korea, as speculation grows that the Russian leader will visit the secretive state in the coming days.

Putin is planning to meet the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, in a reciprocal visit following Kim’s weeklong trip to Russia last September, media reports said. During that trip, the two leaders are believed to have agreed that North Korea would receive Russian help with its space programme in return for providing Russia with armaments for the war in Ukraine, in violation of UN resolutions.

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Neil Jordan claims ex-taoiseach told him of money-for-endorsement agreement

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Irish director says Garret FitzGerald said he was expecting payment from Warner Bros for endorsing Michael Collins biopic – which son refutes

When the Irish film director and screenwriter Neil Jordan’s biopic of Michael Collins was released in 1996, it unleashed criticism from historians and politicians who contested its depiction of the rebel leader and Ireland’s war of independence.

Some disputed Liam Neeson’s portrayal of the doomed, charismatic guerrilla chief and his romance with a character played by Julia Roberts. Others cited inaccuracies in the film’s depiction of the 1919-21 conflict with Britain and ensuing Irish civil war.

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G7 summit live: Biden says lasting peace for Ukraine must be underwritten by Kyiv’s ability to defend itself

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Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskiy hold a joint press conference just over two hours behind schedule

Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni has just arrived at the venue.

This is the scene at the Borgo Egnazia resort as G7 leaders are scheduled to begin arriving.

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Rishi Sunak denies he is being snubbed after awkward start to G7 summit

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Giorgia Meloni appears to recoil from UK PM, who has no formal bilateral meetings with other G7 leaders on day one

Rishi Sunak has insisted he was not being snubbed by other leaders after his first day at the G7 summit ended without any bilateral meetings with his counterparts and he had an awkward encounter with Giorgia Meloni.

Meloni, the Italian prime minister who is one of Sunak’s closest international allies, appeared to recoil from him after they embraced on his arrival in Puglia for the G7 leaders’ summit on Thursday.

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Brazil seeks pro-Bolsonaro rioters who fled to Argentina

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Country asks Argentina to identify rioters’ whereabouts and status before deciding to request extraditions

Brazil has asked Argentina for information about dozens of supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro seeking refuge in the neighboring country to avoid legal consequences for rioting in Brasília last year as part of an alleged coup attempt.

Brazilian police officials said the request was a precursor to possible extradition requests.

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Visitors to Greece appear ill informed about heatwave risk, warn rescuers

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Call for better trail signage and backing for walking clubs as concerns grow over tourists encountering searing heat

With Greece gripped by unusually high temperatures, fears are growing that foreign visitors are not aware or being properly informed of the risks posed by overexertion in the searing heat.

Over the past week, three search and rescue operations have been started for tourists who have gone missing during treks on far-flung islands, including one for the popular TV presenter Michael Mosley, who was found dead on the island of Symi.

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Trump serenaded by Republicans on first visit to Capitol since January 6

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Lawmakers sing Happy Birthday to ex-president, 78 on Friday, who reportedly called convention host Milwaukee ‘horrible’

Donald Trump went to the US Capitol to rally congressional Republicans in his first visit since 6 January 2021, when his supporters descended on the building in an effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election result in Trump’s favour.

A packed room full of House Republicans sang Happy Birthday to Trump, who turns 78 on Friday.

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Israeli tanks advance in Rafah as fleeing Palestinians ‘face death and starvation’

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UN warns that more than a million people are being forced to flee to areas in which there is little food, water or shelter

Israeli tanks rolled into the western part of Rafah on Thursday as the city came under intense helicopter, drone and artillery fire in what residents described as one of the worst bombardments of the area so far.

The assault on Rafah has driven out more than a million Palestinians who had been sheltering there, forcing them into areas with little or no access to food, water or shelter. The UN has warned that more than a million people are expected to “face death and starvation by the middle of July”.

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Stellantis says it will ‘fight’ for electric car sales rather than hide behind tariffs

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The owner of Vauxhall, Jeep and Fiat says it opposes EU measures against Chinese EVs and wants to compete ‘as a global company’

The owner of the Jeep, Fiat and Vauxhall brands has said it will not take a defensive stance in the battle for electric car sales, amid signs of an escalating trade war in the market between Europe and China.

Stellantis’s chief executive, Carlos Tavares, has criticised the EU tariffs on imported Chinese cars announced on Wednesday and said the world’s fourth biggest carmaker preferred to “fight to stay competitive”.

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Harry Dunn’s family say US ‘obstructing’ inquest into his death

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Relatives of motorcyclist killed in 2019 are looking forward to ‘working with next government’ on public inquiry

The parents of Harry Dunn, a teenage motorcyclist killed in a road collision, have accused the US of “obstructing” their son’s inquest, as they said they were looking forward to working with the next Westminster government to establish a public inquiry.

No representative of the US embassy nor the driver responsible, Anne Sacoolas, attended the four-day inquest, which concluded on Thursday, prompting the Dunn family’s spokesperson, Radd Seiger, to say Washington’s position was that “lives of UK citizens like Harry ultimately do not matter”.

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US man dies after being electrocuted in jacuzzi in Mexico resort town

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Death of man and injuries suffered by a woman were due to ‘possible electric discharge’ when both were in the jacuzzi

An American man has died after being electrocuted in a jacuzzi at a resort in Mexico, local officials have confirmed.

The 43-year-old man, identified by police as Jorge N, died after being electrocuted in a jacuzzi he was sharing with a woman. The woman, identified by police as Lizeth N, was taken to the US for medical treatment for her life-threatening injuries.

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Europol smashes Balkan cartel shipping drugs from South America

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Eight tonnes of cocaine seized and 40 people arrested after four-year investigation led by Spain’s Guardia Civil

• How big is Europe’s cocaine problem – and what is the human cost?

Forty people have been arrested and eight tonnes of cocaine have been seized as a result of a four-year international police operation targeting a criminal network that trafficked large quantities of the drug from South America to Europe via west Africa and the Canary Islands.

The long-running investigation – which was led by Spain’s Guardia Civil force and coordinated by Europol’s operational taskforce – discovered that a Balkan cartel was using logistical hubs in west Africa and the Canaries to smuggle cocaine from Colombia, Brazil and Ecuador into EU countries.

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Jailed journalist Evan Gershkovich to soon stand trial, Russian prosecutor indicates

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Wall Street Journal reporter faces ‘false and baseless charge’ and ‘sham trial’, say paper’s publisher and editor in chief

Russian authorities have indicated that the jailed American reporter Evan Gershkovich will soon stand trial in Ekaterinburg more than a year after his arrest on espionage charges that he, his employer, and the White House have decried as politically motivated.

Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, has been held in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison since last March in the highest-profile arrest of an American journalist in Russia since the cold war.

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Maya twins myth may have influenced child sacrifices, study suggests

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​DNA testing on 64 skeletons shows related boys were probably chosen as offerings in ancient city of Chichén Itzá

Genetic analysis of the skeletons of 64 infant boys who are thought to have been sacrificed in the ancient Maya city of Chichén Itzá more than a thousand years ago may shed light on the symbolic role twins played in the myths and rituals of their civilisation.

In 1967, the remains of more than 100 children were found in a repurposed chultún, or underground cistern, near the sacred sinkhole at the ceremonial centre of the pre-Columbian city, which was one of the largest and most influential Maya settlements between AD600 and 1000.

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‘Everywhere is dangerous’: Russia’s attacks on Kharkiv’s homes, shops and resorts

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Since Kremlin staged fresh incursion on 10 May, strikes have increased threefold, destroying buildings and killing dozens

The apartment at 24 Liubovi Maloi avenue was an eerie ruin. Its roof and outer walls had disappeared. In one corner a row of suits hung in a wardrobe. There was a TV, a coffee cup, a maroon jacket on a peg. And a black and white photo album with old family snaps taken in communist times.

The flat’s inhabitants – Svitlana Vlasenko and her grown-up daughter Polina – were not coming back. The Russian missile that fell on their building on a Friday night killed them and six of their neighbours. Twenty-six people were injured, two of them children.

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Brazil’s devastating floods hit ‘Black population on the periphery’ hardest

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Porto Alegre’s poorest neighborhoods, often closest to rivers and with the worst infrastructure, bore brunt of crisis

It had been raining for nearly a week when the floodwaters first reached Marcelo Moreira Ferreira’s home in Porto Alegre, the capital of Brazil’s southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul.

His wife and their four children left to seek shelter with relatives, but Ferreira, 51, wanted to stay: his father had built the modest one-storey structure and he had lived there his entire life.

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Unrwa accuses Israel of frequently preventing aid deliveries to Gaza

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UN relief agency says authorities are hampering operations by failing to grant requests for access permits

The UN’s relief agency for Palestinians, the largest aid organisation operating in Gaza, has said Israeli authorities are frequently preventing it from delivering aid and hampering its operations in the territory.

“We are getting very few positive responses to our requests for aid delivery and permits to move around Gaza,” said Tamara Alrifai, the director of external relations for Unrwa.

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Conflicts drive number of forcibly displaced people to record high

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Sharp rise, equivalent to population of London, means nearly 120 million have been driven from their homes

The number of people forced out of their homes around the world last year was the equivalent of the population of London, according to the UN’s refugee agency.

The latest annual assessment from the United Nations high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) said a sharp rise in the number of people forcibly displaced during 2023 had brought the total to a record high of more than 117 million. Conflicts were largely to blame with many, such as those in Ukraine and Sudan, showing little sign of ending.

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