Foreign secretary also calls on Arab states to accept that Hamas leaders responsible for 7 October attack must leave the territory
David Cameron has urged Hamas to agree to a deal for a sustained 40-day ceasefire in Gaza and the release of potentially thousands of hostages and prisoners.
The foreign secretary also challenged Arab states to accept that the Hamas military leadership responsible for the attack on 7 October must leave Gaza.
Continue reading...US secretary of state says Hamas is the ‘only thing standing between people of Gaza and ceasefire’
The US secretary of state has said that “the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire” is Hamas, ahead of what are seen as last-chance talks to salvage a diplomatic solution before a threatened Israeli ground invasion in Rafah.
Speaking at a World Economic Forum meeting in Saudi Arabia on Monday, Antony Blinken said: “Hamas has before it a proposal that is extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel.
Continue reading...Premier asks government to reintroduce ban, ending Canada’s first large attempt to gauge effects of decriminalization
British Columbia has abruptly reversed course on its landmark experiment decriminalizing the possession of certain illicit drugs, citing mounting public frustration and “disorder” in the Canadian province.
Premier David Eby said on Friday that he had asked the federal government to reintroduce a ban on public drug use, formally ending the country’s first large attempt to gauge the effects of decriminalization.
Continue reading...Pictures released by US central command come after satellite photos showed US navy ship offshore with floating platform being built alongside it
The US military has released pictures it says show that a pier to help bring more aid into the besieged Gaza Strip is now under construction.
The images show what appears to be a large metal construction with workers in military uniform dotted along the floating platforms.
Continue reading...The Guardian and Le Monde among latest outlets blocked, following on from BBC and VOA last week
Authorities in Burkina Faso have suspended further foreign media over their reporting of an alleged massacre of hundreds of civilians by the Burkinabe army.
The decision was announced in a statement over the weekend, days after the military government suspended the BBC, Voice of America and the international watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW), halting broadcasts and blocking websites, after the latter’s scathing report on Thursday.
Continue reading...Houses washed away and road cut off as dam collapses amid heavy rains and floods across country
At least 45 people died when a makeshift dam burst its banks near a southern town in Kenya’s Rift valley in the early hours of Monday, police said, as torrential rains and floods hit the country.
The disaster raises the total death toll over the March-May wet season in Kenya to more than 100, as heavier-than-usual rainfall pounds east Africa, compounded by El Niño weather pattern.
Continue reading...Regime’s effort to exploit US campus crackdown damaged by treatment of Toomaj Salehi
An Iranian court’s decision to pass the death sentence against Toomaj Salehi, a popular Iranian rapper and regime opponent, has led to international protests and damaged Iran’s fledgling efforts to exploit crackdowns on unrest in US university campuses over Gaza as an abuse of human rights.
Crowds gathered in the US, Europe and Canada on Sunday to support Salehi, while dozens of political prisoners in Iran’s Ghezel Hesar prison issued a statement condemning the death sentence, calling it “the culmination of gross human rights violations in Iran”. Salehi has also won the support of major US rappers, as well as human rights groups.
Continue reading...Deal to use mapping data from web search giant Baidu is a big step towards launching driver assistance tech in world’s biggest car market
Elon Musk’s visit to China has reportedly reaped immediate rewards with a deal for Tesla to use mapping data provided by web search company Baidu, a big step in introducing driver assistance technology in the world’s largest car market.
Musk made an unannounced visit to China over the weekend. The billionaire posted a picture of his meeting with the Chinese premier, Li Qiang, on X, the social network he took over in 2022.
Continue reading...Government tells operators they must join cooperatives by Tuesday and gradually replace their vehicles with greener options
A three-day strike by drivers of jeepneys in the Philippines began on Monday as transport groups warned that thousands could be pushed off the roads by government modernisation plans.
The jeepney is the backbone of the Philippines’ transport system. The customised, privately-owned buses, which look like a cross between a Jeep and a van and are decorated in flamboyant colours, ply routes in neighbourhood streets and city centres, offering rides for as little as 13 pesos (23 US cents). They have featured in pop songs and films – Pope Francis even travelled through Manila in a jeepney-inspired popemobile.
Continue reading...Tim Loughton had sanctions imposed on him in 2021 by Beijing, which has close ties to east African country
A former government minister who has had sanctions imposed on him by China has said he was detained and deported by Djibouti as a “direct consequence” of the east African country’s close ties with Beijing.
Tim Loughton, the Conservative MP for East Worthing and Shoreham since 1997, said he was held for more than seven hours at the airport earlier this month, barred entry to Djibouti, and told he was being removed on the next available flight.
Continue reading...South Dakota governor says she ‘understands why some people are upset’ about story of shooting family puppy but points to state law
Kristi Noem, the South Dakota governor and Republican vice-presidential hopeful, on Sunday again defended killing a family dog and goat on her farm, two days after the Guardian revealed how she describes those actions in a forthcoming book.
“I can understand why some people are upset about a 20-year-old story of Cricket, one of the working dogs at our ranch, in my upcoming book – No Going Back,” Noem wrote on Twitter/X.
Continue reading...Ukrainian officials say situation ‘very difficult’ but ‘not catastrophic’ amid loss of two villages and fighting in Ocheretyne
Russia has consolidated recent battlefield gains in the east of Ukraine, and is attempting to break through Ukrainian defensive lines before a long-awaited package of US military assistance arrives at the frontline.
On Sunday Russian troops advanced near the city of Avdiivka. They seized two villages and expanded a narrow corridor around the rural settlement of Ocheretyne, which the Russians entered a week ago. Ukrainian security officials described the situation in the Donbas region where Russia is attacking on multiple fronts as “very difficult”. It was “not critical or catastrophic”, they added.
Continue reading...US secretary of state to discuss avoiding regional conflict amid fears about Israeli ground invasion of Rafah
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, will travel to Saudi Arabia to try to restart fraught ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel and discuss efforts to prevent spiralling regional conflict, while other senior US officials claimed Israel was willing to listen to their fears about a ground invasion of Gaza’s southernmost city.
A delegation from Hamas, expected in Cairo in parallel to Blinken’s visit, said they would provide a response to an Israeli proposal focused on an initial hostage release.
Continue reading...The De Beers owner is a longstanding jewel in the African' state’s economic crown – it would be a ‘big blow’ to see it sold off
The world’s largest mining company has a problem. Australia’s BHP has set out its intention to snap up the rival miner Anglo American in a multibillion-pound deal that would reshape the global industry. Its proposed £31bn takeover plan has already been rebuffed as a lowball offer that undervalues the company. But Anglo’s deep roots in South Africa could be a far more sensitive issue to address.
Africa’s most advanced economy was built on mining. For more than 150 years since the first discovery of diamonds, gold and coal, the industry has remained South Africa’s economic lifeblood. Today it is the world’s fifth largest producer of coal and diamonds and the 10th largest producer of gold.
Continue reading...Airport staff surprised by arrival of centenarian instead of infant after American Airlines booking system errors
A 101-year-old woman has been regularly mistaken for an infant because an airline’s booking system was unable to compute her date of birth.
The woman, named only as Patricia, was born in 1922, but the American Airlines system apparently does not recognise that year, defaulting instead to 2022, the BBC reported.
Continue reading...US state department says law could drive away foreign investment and David Cameron calls it ‘dangerous and worrying’
Human rights groups and diplomats have criticised a law passed by the Iraqi parliament over the weekend that would impose heavy prison sentences on gay and transgender people.
The US state department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, said in a statement that the law passed on Saturday “threatens those most at risk in Iraqi society” and “can be used to hamper free speech and expression”. He warned the legislation could drive away foreign investment.
Continue reading...Tesla boss reportedly meets Premier Li Qiang in visit aimed at sealing rollout of Autopilot software and transferring data overseas
The Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, arrived on an unannounced visit to Beijing on Sunday where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of full self-driving software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
Chinese state media reported that he held talks with the country’s premier, Li Qiang, during which Li told Musk that Tesla’s development in China could be seen as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation.
Continue reading...Girl of between 12 and 16 was making her first appearance at Evo Japan as contests previously finished past her bedtime
A girl scored a win at one of Japan’s top fighting video game contests, in a competitive puzzle game released before she was born.
The girl, known as “Money Idol-chan” after the game she competed in, has grown up playing competitive video games. Since 2022, her parents have run Anegasaki Shooting Star, a tiny arcade on the east side of Tokyo Bay. Her name has not been released and her age has been given only as between 12 and 16.
Continue reading...Star of Lupin says notions of justice, equality and fraternity have been shaken along with his optimism
The French actor Omar Sy, the star of the hit Netflix series Lupin, has said France must move away from the individualism that is fragmenting society and rebuild a sense of the collective if it is to hold back the far right.
In a series of media interviews to promote a new book about his life, Sy said the notions of justice, equality and fraternity had been shaken, and it was hard to be a black person in France.
Continue reading...PP leader accuses prime minister of navel-gazing, while Sánchez’s supporters rally in Madrid
Spanish opposition parties have stepped up their attacks on the socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, as he prepares to announce whether he will resign because of what he describes as a “harassment and bullying operation” being waged against him and his wife by his political and media enemies.
Sánchez shocked Spain on Wednesday night when he published a letter announcing that he would abandon his public duties for five days while he weighed up whether to step down, adding that he would reveal his decision on Monday.
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