Eight arrested for ‘brutal’ attack on capybara in Brazil

In incident filmed by security cameras in Rio de Janeiro, group of attackers beat animal with sticks and iron bars

Police in Rio de Janeiro have arrested eight people for brutally beating a capybara – the world’s largest rodent.

Resembling a giant guinea pig, the light brown capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) is often seen roaming the Brazilian city, particularly near streams and lagoons.

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‘We consider every mile we drive’: how fuel shortages are affecting readers worldwide

From a shop owner in India to a community worker in New South Wales, rising fuel prices are forcing people to ration oil usage

Alagesan, 35, needs liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to run his roadside drink and snack shop in Coimbatore, India, but with the fuel shortage since the US-Israel attacks on Iran, he worries his business could fold.

“I am far away from the Middle East, but my life is affected,” he said. “The gas cylinder is not available because of the war. I don’t know what to do.”

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Maryland park closed after string of explosive devices found

Officials say bomb squad called to Fort Washington Park, which has been closed by National Park Service

Authorities found several explosive devices across a Maryland park over the weekend, prompting the park’s closure.

In a statement on Monday, the Prince George’s county fire department said that its bomb squad responded to Fort Washington Park after “several explosive devices were located”, prompting the US Park Police to close the approximately 341-acre site.

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Surprise US talks with Iran’s fractured leadership offer uncertain path out of conflict

Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf at first dismissed talks took place, insisting Trump’s claim was ‘fake news’ designed to soothe markets

The backchannel talks between Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, were not a secret in the sense that the Egyptian Foreign Ministry had tweeted that conversations were under way on Sunday, 24 hours before Donald Trump’s late Monday deadline to start blowing up Iran’s energy infrastructure.

But such is the chaos surrounding the process that the discussions – thought to be well short of negotiations – may have lasted longer than Sunday, with more than one mediator, as is often the case, jostling for the title of peacemaker in chief.

Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, for instance, spoke with Trump on Sunday, while Pakistani prime minister, Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, held talks with Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, on Monday. It is possible Pakistan could become the venue for further talks that this time would include JD Vance, the vice-president, a private sceptic about the war. Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister, was right to warn not to bank on an early end to the conflict.

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‘A miracle’: Canadian flight attendant ejected from plane survives New York crash

Solange Tremblay was ejected over 100 metres from the plane after collision at LaGuardia airport, her daughter says

A flight attendant on the Air Canada Jazz flight that collided with a fire truck at New York’s LaGuardia airport on Sunday survived in what her daughter called a “complete miracle”, when she was ejected more than 100 metres from the plane while still strapped to her seat.

The CRJ-900 jet, operated by Jazz Aviation, collided with a fire truck as it landed, killing both the pilot and co-pilot. Nine people were sent to the hospital with injuries, including Solange Tremblay, a flight attendant.

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Israel launches new strikes on Tehran as Trump pauses Iran energy attacks

Israeli military says it will continue operations in line with Israeli government directives until told otherwise

The Israeli military said it had launched a new wave of strikes on Tehran, after Donald Trump signalled a pause in US attacks against energy infrastructure after what he said were productive talks with Iran.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said it would continue operations in line with Israeli government directives until told otherwise.

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Italian voters reject Giorgia Meloni’s plan to overhaul judiciary

Referendum result could tarnish PM’s reputation and make winning next year’s general election more challenging

Italian voters have rejected an overhaul of the country’s judiciary pushed by the prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, an outcome that is expected to tarnish her reputation and make winning next year’s general election more challenging.

In a two-day referendum, almost 54% of voters said no to the plans to reorganise the judiciary, compared with about 46% for the yes camp.

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Is Iran really able to strike London, and is the UK prepared for an attack?

After Tehran targeted the UK-US base on Diego Garcia, Israel’s military said European capitals were also at risk

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed at the weekend that Iran had weapons able to travel about 4,000km (2,500 miles), posing an immediate threat to European cities including London.

The comments came after it emerged Iran had targeted the joint UK–US military base on Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands.

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Europe’s ‘staggering’ clean power gains undermined by failure to phase out fuel-burning machines

The EU’s reluctance to replace petrol cars and gas boilers keep it hooked on foreign fuels, say industry groups

Europe has made “staggering progress” in producing clean power but neglected efforts to phase out fuel-burning machines, the head of an industry group said as the global oil crisis deepens.

Adrian Hiel, director of the Electrification Alliance, said the EU has “radically transformed” its power supply and must now focus on getting “more electricity into the stuff we use every day”.

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Middle East crisis live: Starmer calls emergency meeting on UK economy; IEA open to releasing more oil stocks

British PM to chair Monday meeting including chancellor and Bank of England head on fallout from Iran war; International Energy Agency chief says it will release more stockpiled oil ‘if necessary’

British prime minister Keir Starmer is set to chair an emergency meeting on the economic fallout from the war in Iran on Monday, with chancellor of the exchequer Rachel Reeves and Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey also attending, the UK government has said.

Financial markets face another turbulent week after Iran said it would strike its Gulf neighbours’ energy and water systems if Donald Trump followed through on his threat to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if it doesn’t fully open up the crucial strait of Hormuz.

Topics expected to be covered are the economic impact of the crisis on families and businesses, energy security and the resilience of industry and supply chains alongside the international response.

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Air Canada plane collides with ground vehicle at New York’s LaGuardia airport, halting all flights

The regulator has issued a ground stop for all planes and New York’s emergency management authority warned people to expect cancellations and delays

New York’s LaGuardia airport was closed to flights early on Monday after an Air Canada flight and Port Authority vehicle collided.

The New York police department confirmed the collision but could not immediately offer further information. A spokesperson for the New York City Fire Department said firefighters responded to reports of a plane that crashed into a vehicle on the runway at 11:38pm.

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Socialist Emmanuel Grégoire elected Paris mayor, as National Rally fails to take key cities

City hall veteran beats rightwinger Rachida Dati in French capital, while far-right RN fails to win Marseille and Toulon in French local elections

The Socialist Emmanuel Grégoire has been elected mayor of Paris, beating the former rightwing minister Rachida Dati, with Marine Le Pen’s far-right, anti-immigration National Rally (RN) failing to take key cities targeted in Sunday’s second round of local elections.

Grégoire took a victory bike ride with future councillors in Paris on Sunday night to show that the French capital would continue its pro-cycling and environmental policies.

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New Zealand PM’s ratings dip as fragile economy fails to impress before November election, poll shows

National leader Christopher Luxon drops in preferred PM stakes with rise in people saying country heading in wrong direction

The personal ratings of New Zealand’s prime minister, Christopher Luxon, have dipped, polling shows, as his government’s handling of the economy fails to impress voters ahead of the November election.

The RNZ-Reid Research poll, released on Monday, also found a growing number of people felt that New Zealand was heading in the wrong direction.

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Trump lauds Viktor Orbán as Europe’s far-right leaders gather in Budapest

US president’s backing comes as Hungary’s PM faces toughest election campaign of 16 years in office

Donald Trump has endorsed Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, who faces his toughest electoral challenge next month since taking power 16 years ago, as Europe’s far-right leaders gather for a “grand assembly” in Budapest.

In a video message, the US president told the national-conservative Cpac Hungary conference in the capital on Saturday that Orbàn, who has been trailing in the polls behind a centre-right rival for more than a year, was a “fantastic guy”.

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Israeli settlers carry out series of West Bank attacks as security forces stand by

Witnesses describe coordinated raids in which homes and vehicles were set on fire and several Palestinians injured

Israeli settlers have carried out a series of attacks across the occupied West Bank, setting homes and vehicles on fire and wounding several Palestinians in what witnesses described as coordinated raids on communities.

The violence, reported across at least half a dozen locations overnight from Saturday into Sunday, comes amid a wider surge in tensions in the territory. The official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, cited local sources as saying settlers had entered al-Fandaqumiya and the nearby town of Seilat al-Dahr, south of Jenin, late on Saturday.

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Slovenia goes to polls in election marked by claims of anti-Romany rhetoric

Centre-left Robert Golob and rightwing populist Janez Janša are frontrunners in contest after polarised campaign

Campaigners in Slovenia warned of a surge in anti-Romany rhetoric as the country headed to the polls on Sunday, leaving many bracing for the outcome of a vote that has become, in part, a referendum on how the country treats its most marginalised.

In Sunday’s vote, the prime minister, Robert Golob, of the centre-left Freedom Movement party, faced off against the rightwing populist and Donald Trump ally Janez Janša.

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Mayoral races in balance as voting opens in last round of French local elections

Electoral alliances expected to play vital role in number of contests including Paris and Marseille

Voting is under way in France in the second round of local elections – seen as a bellwether for next year’s presidential race – with cities including Paris and Marseille in the balance and both the radical left and far right hoping for gains.

Most of France’s 35,000-odd communes elected their councils in the first round last Sunday, but in municipalities where the contest is tighter, including most large urban areas, the second round will be decisive, with electoral alliances playing a key role.

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‘The stakes are enormous’: how a prolonged Iran war could shock the global economy

Donald Trump’s ‘little excursion’ is likely to have long-term effects, from oil prices to inflation to growth, say experts

In the days after the US and Israel first bombed Iran, financial markets bet the economic fallout from Donald Trump’s “little excursion” in the Middle East would be short-lived.

“There are risks from higher oil prices longer term. But this is a tail risk,” one US-based fund manger said after the airstrike killing Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “History has shown time and time again that geopolitical flare-ups like this tend to be short-lived. This one should prove to be no exception.’’

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Iran social media strategy pivots to information war amid US-Israel attack

Cyber experts say influence operations in ‘asymmetric’ campaign to intensify moral pressure on US and Israel

Iran has radically overhauled its social media strategy in an all-out information war launched by the country’s Islamic rulers in response to US and Israeli military attacks.

Cyber experts say Iranian foreign influence operations have gone into overdrive as part of an “asymmetric” campaign designed to complement its military retaliation and intensify moral pressure on the US and Israel into curtailing their war efforts.

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Meloni v the judges: high stakes for Italian PM in vote on judiciary overhaul

National referendum is being seen as a de facto confidence vote on the government – and the polls are neck and neck

In the run-up to a referendum in Italy on a government quest to overhaul the judiciary, a campaign flyer circulated online quoting Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister, taking aim at judges and feminists. “Judges block the deportations of rapists. Where are the feminists? Vote yes – there will not be another opportunity,” it read.

The flyer, posted on the Facebook page of Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, a party with neofascist roots, was subsequently removed. But its tone has defined a campaign dominated by inflammatory rhetoric rather than meaningful debate.

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