Category Archives: World News

‘We are showing the world what people do’: grim relics of Hamas attack go on display in New York

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Tents, debris and personal items from the Nova festival, where 364 people died on 7 October, form shocking exhibit on Wall Street

While New York was preoccupied with student protests over the US’s ­support of Israel’s war in Gaza last week, another aspect of how the city with the largest Jewish population outside Israel is coming to terms with bloodshed in the Middle East was being prepared.

On Wall Street, a gruelling ­exhibition has opened detailing the horrific attack on the Nova music festival by Hamas terrorists on 7 October, in which 364 people were murdered, many wounded and 44 taken hostage.

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Anger at party funding scandal in Japan threatens to bring down PM Kishida

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Despite talk of a Nobel peace prize, Japan’s leader is facing a backlash among voters as key byelection approaches

In the past fortnight Fumio Kishida has been mentioned as a possible recipient of the Nobel peace prize and praised for a speech to congress in which he urged the US not to retreat into isolation.

But since his return to Tokyo after a successful summit with Joe Biden, Japan’s prime minister has been buffeted by domestic political headwinds that this weekend could spell the beginning of the end of his administration.

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Spain’s PM Sánchez could quit after far-right attacks on wife and bid to ‘politically kill’ him

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Socialist prime minister poised to decide on his future, but some say it’s ploy to survive

On Monday, Pedro Sánchez, the great and unpredictable survivor of Spanish politics, and a leader who has seen off more than his fair share of rivals, critics and adversaries, will reveal whether or not he intends to carry on as prime minister.

The announcement will come five days after the socialist prime minister shocked Spain by posting a four-page cri de coeur on social media in which he said that the continuing “harassment and bullying operation” being waged against him and his wife by his political and media opponents had led him to cancel his public duties for the rest of the week while he reflected on his future.

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Portuguese government rejects president’s suggestion of slavery reparations

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President advocated ‘paying the costs’ of colonial-era crimes but government says focus is on deepening international cooperation

The Portuguese government has dismissed suggestions from the country’s president that it should “pay the costs” for slavery and other colonial-era crimes, saying it has no plans for reparations and will instead focus on deepening international cooperation “based on the reconciliation of brotherly peoples”.

Campaigners have long appealed to Portugal to address its legacy as the European country with the longest historical involvement in the slave trade. Between the 15th and 19th centuries, nearly 6 million Africans were kidnapped and forcibly transported across the Atlantic on Portuguese vessels.

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Sunak: rise in asylum seekers in Ireland proves Rwanda plan ‘having impact’

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UK PM points to Irish deputy PM’s claim that threat of being deported led people to cross border from Northern Ireland

An increase in asylum seekers heading to to Ireland proves that the Conservative party’s Rwanda plan is working, Rishi Sunak has claimed.

In an interview with Sky News’ Trevor Phillips that will air on Sunday morning, the prime minister said the “deterrent is already having an impact because people are worried about coming here”.

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UK weighing sending troops into Gaza to distribute aid

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Risk-filled mission to escort aid from US-built floating pier into combat zone under consideration in defence ministry

Britain’s defence ministry is considering sending troops into Gaza to escort trucks of aid being driven off a giant floating pier built by the US military, a UK defence source has said.

The pier is due to be completed next month in the eastern Mediterranean, and then it will be pushed towards the Gaza shore. But the US president, Joe Biden, has pledged that American forces managing the project will not set foot on land there.

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Iraq makes same-sex relations punishable by up to 15 years in jail

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Amendments to anti-prostitution law also enable courts to sentence trans people to three years in prison

Iraq’s parliament has passed a bill making same-sex relations punishable by up to 15 years in prison, in a move condemned as an “attack on human rights”.

Transgender people will also be sentenced to three years in jail under the amendments to a 1988 anti-prostitution law, which were adopted during a session attended by 170 out of 329 lawmakers on Saturday.

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Hamas ‘reviewing Israel’s latest Gaza ceasefire proposal’

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Islamist group release new video apparently showing two hostages as UN warns famine thresholds will be breached within six weeks

Hamas has said it is studying the latest Israeli counterproposal regarding a potential ceasefire in Gaza, a day after media reports said a delegation from Egypt had arrived in Israel in an attempt to jumpstart stalled negotiations.

The signs of renewed truce talks come as the UN warned that “famine thresholds in Gaza will be breached within the next six weeks” unless massive food assistance arrives.

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Chinese jets fly sorties over Taiwan strait in show of force as US delegation departs

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End of secretary of state Antony Blinken’s three-day visit marks upsurge in military activity after period of relative calm

Taiwan has reported that a dozen Chinese warplanes flew sorties close to the island on Saturday, in a sudden surge of military activity just hours after the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, left Beijing following talks with President Xi Jinping and top Chinese officials.

Before Blinken’s three-day visit to China, US officials had pointed to a period of relative calm in the Taiwan strait over the past few months, after years of aggressive Chinese military manoeuvres and threats, as a factor in improving US-Chinese relations since Joe Biden held a summit meeting with Xi in November.

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South Africa marks 30 years since apartheid amid growing discontent

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Polls predict ANC likely to lose parliamentary majority, due to high unemployment and wealth inequality

South Africa marked 30 years since the end of apartheid and the birth of its democracy with a ceremony in the capital that included a 21-gun salute and the waving of the country’s multicoloured flag.

Any sense of celebration on the momentous anniversary was however set against a growing discontent with the current government.

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Kenya flood death toll rises as more torrential rain forecast

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Total deaths reach 76 and more than 130,000 displaced as weeks of flooding also affects east African neighbours

Seventy-six people in Kenya have died because of flooding triggered by torrential downpours since March, the government has said, warning residents “to brace for even heavier rainfall”.

Kenya and its east African neighbours have been battered by stronger than usual rain in recent weeks, compounded by the El Niño weather system.

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‘Everyone knows something’s going to happen’: fears of a new war on Israel’s border with Lebanon

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As hostilities ramp up, Israelis evacuated from the country’s north say Hezbollah must be pushed back to protect communities from its rockets

For the Israeli communities evacuated from the country’s far north in the aftermath of 7 October, there is no longer any doubt about whether full-scale war with Hezbollah in Lebanon is going to happen. For most people, the only question is when.

Nissan Zeevi, 40, has spent the past six months working as a first responder in Kfar Giladi, a kibbutz that grows apples and avocados. His wife and two young boys are living near the Sea of Galilee and are yet to come home; it’s just him, bulldog Joy, and his M16 rifle, keeping an eye on the Lebanese villages and Hezbollah outposts clearly visible from the garden, just a few kilometres away.

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A room of her own: Mona Lisa could be moved, says Louvre

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New room would give thousands of daily visitors better experience, says museum president

The Mona Lisa, the world’s most famous portrait, could get a room of its own in the Louvre, the museum’s president said.

Such a move would give visitors, many of whom visit the Louvre for the famous painting alone, a better experience, Laurence des Cars told the broadcaster France Inter.

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The prince, the plotters and the would-be putsch: Germany to try far-right coup gang

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Ex-soldier, conspiracy theorist, astrologer and anti-vaxxer among the first of 27 people on trial for trying to violently topple the German government – led by Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss

One of the largest legal proceedings in German history is due to start on Monday with the first of three trials of a group of far-right conspiracists who planned to violently overthrow the country’s parliament.

So sprawling is the network, so extensive their plans, that for a mixture of logistical and security reasons, the 27 people due in the dock have been split into three separate groups.

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Middle East crisis: Hamas ‘reviewing new Israeli ceasefire proposal’ – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed, you can read more of our coverage of the Middle East crisis here

Three people have been killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday, including two members of Hezbollah, AFP reports, citing statements from the militant group and official media.

Hezbollah released statements mourning the deaths of two fighters from the villages of Kafr Kila and Khiam, saying they had been “martyred on the road to Jerusalem”.

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Four Vietnamese nationals arrested in London over people smuggling

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Joint UK-French investigation alleges group advertised small-boat crossings of Channel on social media

Four Vietnamese nationals have been arrested in London after an investigation into alleged people smugglers advertising small-boat crossings of the Channel on Facebook.

The joint UK-French investigation alleges the group shared posts aimed at the Vietnamese community and charged migrants thousands of pounds to make the crossing.

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Briton in critical care after ‘unusual’ shark attack on Tobago

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Man, 64, being treated for injuries to arm, leg and stomach after attack in shallow waters

A British man is in intensive care after an “unusual” shark attack on the Caribbean island of Tobago.

The 64-year-old man was receiving critical care after the bull shark attack left him with injuries to his left arm, left leg and stomach, Tobago’s Division of Tourism, Culture, Antiquities and Transportation said.

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Iraqi TikTok star Om Fahad shot dead outside Baghdad home

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Officials say unidentified man killed influencer who had previously been imprisoned over dancing videos

A man on a motorbike has shot dead a social media influencer known as Om Fahad outside her Baghdad home, Iraqi security officials have said.

The unidentified attacker shot Om Fahad in her car in the Zayouna district on Friday, a security official said, requesting anonymity because he was not cleared to speak to the media.

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Polish border ‘pushbacks’ back in spotlight after pregnant woman’s ordeal

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Activists say little has changed in treatment of migrants and refugees under Donald Tusk’s new government

The case of a woman from Eritrea who was forced to give birth alone in the forested border area between Poland and Belarus has raised questions about the new Polish government’s response to the continuing humanitarian crisis at the border between the two countries.

The previous, rightwing government of the Law and Justice party (PiS) used the migration issue to score political points and was accused of encouraging rights abuses by guards along the border, with reports of frequent violent “pushbacks” of people to Belarus.

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Conservatives condemn Kristi Noem for ‘twisted’ admission of killing dog

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Revelation in new book that possible Trump running mate killed ‘untrainable’ hunting dog prompts widespread revulsion

Conservative pundits have condemned the South Dakota governor and possible Trump running mate Kristi Noem, amid widespread horror over her admission in a new book that she killed both an “untrainable” dog and an unruly goat during a single day in hunting season.

Alyssa Farah Griffin, a Trump White House staffer turned critic, said: “I’m a dog lover and I am honestly horrified by the Kristi Noem excerpt. I wish I hadn’t even read it. A 14-month-old dog is still a puppy and can be trained. A large part of bad behaviour in dogs is not having proper training from humans.

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