Category Archives: World News

Russian attack on Kharkiv continues as Moscow says it has taken five villages

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Ukraine says it is pushing back against assaults and battling for control of territory

Fierce fighting has continued for a second day on the fringes ofthe Kharkiv region in north-east Ukraine. Moscow said it had captured five villages, while Kyiv said it was pushing back against the attacks and battling for control of the territory.

Russia launched the armoured incursion early on Friday, in an attack that may presage a broader push into the Kharkiv region, or aim to draw away overstretched Ukrainian forces in the east where Moscow’s offensive is focused.

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Far-right EU election gains could boost nationalist parties on home turf

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Polls indicate a surge for the right across the continent in next month’s ballots but the centrists are still likely to hold sway in parliament

Far-right gains in next month’s European elections will be hard, if not impossible, to parlay into more power in parliament, experts say, but they could boost nationalist parties in EU capitals – with potentially greater consequences.

Polling suggests far-right and hardline conservative parties could finish first in nine EU states, including Austria, France and the Netherlands, in the polls between 6 and 9 June, and second or third in another nine, including Germany, Spain, Portugal and Sweden.

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Chinese woman jailed for reporting on Covid in Wuhan to be freed after four years

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Citizen journalist Zhang Zhan’s search for the truth during the early days of the pandemic was seen as a threat by the authorities

A Chinese citizen journalist who has been in prison for four years after reporting on the early days of the Covid-19 epidemic in Wuhan is due to be released on Monday.

Zhang Zhan, a former lawyer, travelled to Wuhan in February 2020 to document the Chinese government’s response to what became the start of a global pandemic. She shared her reports on X (then known as Twitter), YouTube and WeChat. She was one of the few independent Chinese reporters on the ground as Wuhan and the rest of China went into lockdown.

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Mystery of where Mona Lisa was painted has been solved, geologist claims

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Ann Pizzorusso says she has tracked down the background landscape of the world’s most famous painting

The landscape behind Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa has sparked endless debate, with some art historians suggesting the view was imaginary and idealised, and others claiming various links to specific Italian locations.

Now a geologist and Renaissance art historian believes she has finally solved the mystery in one of the world’s most famous paintings. Ann Pizzorusso has combined her two fields of expertise to suggest that Leonardo painted several recognisable features of Lecco, on the shores of Lake Como in the Lombardy region of northern Italy.

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Israel-Gaza war live: IDF orders evacuation of central Rafah as it prepares to expand offensive – as it happened

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Israeli military drops leaflets ordering hundreds of thousands of people to leave the city. This blog is now closed.

In case you missed it yesterday, the UN general assembly voted overwhelmingly to back the Palestinian bid for full UN membership.

Israeli tanks have reached the Salahuddin Road which crosses Rafah, dividing its centre from the eastern neighbourhoods evacuated before Israel’s seizure of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt last week, witnesses in Rafah told the Guardian.

Our neighbours and friends have been looking for a place for a while in case something happened but since the leaflets were dropped this morning, they are afraid and anxious.

They have already begun to dismantle their tents and prepare their belongings for transportation.

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Israel orders central Rafah residents to evacuate as major offensive looms

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Hundreds of thousands more people face displacement as military instructions suggest likely attack on centre of city

The Israeli military has told residents of central Rafah to evacuate, signalling a major expansion of its military operations in the city and threatening the displacement of hundreds of thousands more people.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) seized the Rafah border crossing with Egypt last week in what it said was a “precise, targeted operation” after ordering the evacuation of eastern neighbourhoods. More than 150,000 people have already fled the southern city in Gaza.

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World Bank and IMF can press Ghana to rethink ‘punitive’ LGBTQ law, charities say

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Charities and campaign groups are calling on bodies to say they may stop funding country if legislation comes into effect

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are coming under pressure to use their financial might to persuade Ghana to reconsider a proposed law that could lead to anyone who identifies as LGBTQ+ being jailed for three years.

Charities and campaign groups are calling on the global development bodies to tell Ghana they may stop funding the country if the proposed legislation – which will be challenged in the country’s supreme court next week – comes into effect.

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Cannes film festival faces strike disruption over seasonal workers’ rights

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Group will protest against government’s treatment of freelance workers at festivals across France

The Cannes film festival is facing strike action as it opens next week and could see protests by projectionists, floor managers and press agents who are demanding changes to the French government’s treatment of seasonal film festival staff.

The festival on France’s Côte d’Azur has faced major strike action only once before, during the student protests and workers’ strikes that began in May 1968.

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Rudy Giuliani suspended by New York radio station over 2020 election lies

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WABC owner says Trump ally received warnings not to discuss ‘election fallacies’ and that refusal to do so ‘left me no option’

The former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani’s troubles deepened on Friday when he was suspended by WABC radio, for trying to use his show to discuss the lie that the 2020 presidential election was lost by Donald Trump because of electoral fraud.

John Catsimatidis, a New York billionaire, Republican donor and owner of WABC, told the New York Times: “We’re not going to talk about fallacies of the November 2020 election. We warned him once. We warned him twice. And I get a text from him last night, and I get a text from him this morning that he refuses not to talk about it.

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Eurovision struggles to keep politics out as Israel controversy hits Malmö

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Competing rallies are on the streets, Netherlands’ entrant is under investigation and others complain music is being overshadowed

The official motto of the 68th edition of Eurovision is “united by music”, but as the continent’s beglittered and sequined masses descended on the Swedish city of Malmö for Saturday’s grand final, music’s ability to heal and bridge divides was looking in serious doubt.

In the run-up to the song contest’s main event, the Netherlands’ performer Joost Klein missed his slot in two dress rehearsals after being put under investigation by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) due to an unexplained “incident”.

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At least 50 dead after flash flooding in northern Afghanistan

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Death toll may rise as search continues for victims under mud and rubble and as more rain approaches

At least 50 people, mainly women and children, have been killed in flash flooding in the northern Afghanistan province of Baghlan.

The number was confirmed by Hedayatullah Hamdard, the head of the provincial natural disaster management department, who said it could increase in the coming days.

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Brother and lawyer of Peru president held as corruption inquiry widens

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Dina Boluarte, caught up in ‘Rolexgate scandal’, denies accepting watches in exchange for favours amid police raids on key allies

Police in Peru have detained the brother and the lawyer of the country’s embattled president, Dina Boluarte, as part of a widening corruption inquiry, weeks after a similar raid on the Peruvian leader’s home.

Boluarte’s brother Nicanor and her lawyer Mateo Castañeda were placed under preliminary detention on Friday, accused of influence trafficking and belonging to a criminal organisation. Six other people were also detained.

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UN general assembly votes to back Palestinian bid for membership

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Assembly votes 143 to nine, with 25 abstentions, signalling Israel’s growing isolation on the world stage

The UN general assembly has voted overwhelmingly to back the Palestinian bid for full UN membership, in a move that signalled Israel’s growing global isolation amid alarm over the war in Gaza and the extent of the humanitarian crisis in the territory.

The assembly voted by 143 to nine, with 25 abstentions, for a resolution that called on the UN security council to bestow full membership to the state of Palestine, while enhancing its current mission with a range of new rights and privileges, in addition to what it is allowed in its current observer status.

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Shein ‘steps up plan for London IPO’ amid US listing hurdles

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Sources say Singapore-based online fashion retailer founded in China prefers a float in New York but faces tougher scrutiny than expected

The fast-fashion company Shein is stepping up preparations for a London listing after its attempt to float in New York faced regulatory hurdles and pushback from US lawmakers, sources have told Reuters.

The online clothing retailer plans to update China’s securities regulator on the change of the initial public offering (IPO) venue and file with the London Stock Exchange (LSE) as soon as this month, said one source.

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Number of Palestinians fleeing Rafah rises above 150,000 amid Israeli strikes

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People who have already been repeatedly displaced by war describe their plight as they seek safety elsewhere in Gaza

Under a blazing summer sun, tens of thousands of Palestinians fled Israeli bombardment and clashes with Hamas militants in Rafah on Friday, choking roads with donkey carts, bicycles, pickup trucks and wheelchairs.

More than 150,000 people have now left Gaza’s southernmost city since receiving warnings on Monday from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of an imminent military operation, with most moving after airstrikes and fighting intensified later in the week.

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Catalan election gives voters chance to leave ‘lost decade’, says Salvador Illa

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Socialist frontrunner says region ready to unite, rather than focus on divisive politics that has plunged country into crisis

Catalonia’s imminent election offers voters a chance to leave behind a “lost decade” of unstable and divisive rule by pro-independence parties and instead choose a government that will focus on unity and improving “neglected” public services in the wealthy north-eastern Spanish region, according to the socialist frontrunner.

Salvador Illa, a former central government health minister who leads the Catalan branch of Spain’s ruling socialist party, said the region was ready for change almost seven years after the failed, unilateral bid to secede plunged the country into political crisis.

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Court upholds Steve Bannon’s conviction for defying Jan 6 committee subpoena – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. For the latest on Bannon’s case, you can read our full report:

Joe Biden and Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaigns are a study in contrasts.

While Biden spends his Friday fundraising on the west coast, making campaign stops in California and Washington, Trump sits through another day of his New York trial over Trump’s alleged falsification of business records in connection with hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

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Bus plunges into river in central St Petersburg killing at least three

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Russian officials say nine people were recovered from Moika after vehicle veered off bridge

A bus veered off a bridge in St Petersburg, Russia, killing at least three people and leaving six others injured on Friday, officials have said.

The emergencies ministry said rescuers removed nine people from the water, three of whom died. It said four others were in critical condition, and two more were in a serious condition.

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‘Queen of the Con’ found in Maine ordered to be extradited to Northern Ireland

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Police had arrested Marianne ‘Mair’ Smyth at a rental home after a podcast on her crimes prompted a listener to reveal her location

A US-born woman who disguised herself as an heiress to a $30m fortune while scamming nearly $100,000 from a television producer – who later sent her to prison and documented her misdeeds on a hit podcast – has been ordered extradited to Northern Ireland on a separate set of fraud charges.

Marianne “Mair” Smyth’s extradition to the UK was authorized by John Nivision, a US federal magistrate judge, on Thursday, more than two months after she was arrested at a short-term rental home in Bingham, Maine, court records show.

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