Category Archives: World News

Lula says Brazil will not be treated like ‘tinpot country’ after US designates gangs as terrorists

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Marco Rubio made announcement after meeting president’s far-right challenger Flávio Bolsonaro

Brazil will not be treated as a “tinpot country,” the country’s president, Luiz Inácio da Silva, said on Friday after the United States designated Brazil’s two largest criminal gangs, the First Capital Command (PCC) and the Red Command, as foreign terrorist organisations.

The announcement, made by Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, on Thursday, is being widely seen in Brazil as a setback for Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the president who had strongly opposed the designation – and a boost for Lula’s main challenger in October’s presidential election, the far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro.

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Anger at decision not to prosecute Canadian suicide kit supplier in UK

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Kenneth Law pleaded guilty in Canada to sending products internationally, knowing they would probably be used to end lives

Bereaved families whose loved ones were the victims of an online supplier of suicide kits say they feel insulted by a decision not to prosecute him in the UK.

Kenneth Law pleaded guilty in a court in Ontario, Canada, to 14 charges of aiding suicide and sending products internationally in the knowledge that they were likely to be used to end lives. He is due to be sentenced at a later date.

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Russian drone strike ‘most serious security incident’ in Romania since start of Ukraine war – Europe live

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Romanian president leads outrage after drone hits apartment block near border with Ukraine

The incident comes just days after the Czech president, Petr Pavel, has urged Nato to “show its teeth” in response to Russia’s repeated testing of the alliance’s resolve on its eastern flank, suggesting a range of options including switching off its internet, cutting off its banks from global financial systems and shooting down jets that violate allied airspace.

Speaking to the Guardian in Prague last week, Pavel called for “decisive enough, potentially even asymmetric” responses to counter Moscow’s provocative behaviour against the alliance or risk the Kremlin intensifying its actions.

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WHO puts Ebola outbreak death rate at ‘huge’ 30-50% as chief arrives in DRC

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Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus calls for ceasefire among armed groups to help avoid deaths from preventable disease

The death rate of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is between 30% and 50%, the World Health Organization has said, as its head arrived in the country to support efforts to contain the disease.

Anaïs Legand, from the WHO’s high threat pathogens team, said the revised death rate estimate is based on confirmed cases. “It’s huge. It means that up to five out of 10 people are likely to die,” Legand told reporters in Geneva.

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Donald Trump shares draft Iran peace agreement with Israel and other allies

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US president’s move comes as both sides try to prevent fresh ceasefire breaches scuppering a potential deal

Donald Trump has circulated a draft peace agreement for the war with Iran among allies including Israel as both sides try to prevent fresh breaches of the ceasefire escalating out of control and scuppering any deal.

In an attempt to speed up the negotiations, Pakistan’s foreign minister, Mohammad Ishaq Dar, will fly to Washington on Friday to meet his US counterpart, Marco Rubio.

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Global heating is making hajj ever more dangerous, report finds

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Rising heat in Saudi Arabia threatens millions of Muslim pilgrims – but cutting fossil fuels would keep it safer

Global heating has “fundamentally altered” the climate of Mecca and is exposing millions of hajj pilgrims to extreme and dangerous heat even in months outside summer, new analysis has found.

Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels means scorching temperatures of 40C (104F) are now regularly experienced in May, the study showed. In past decades, such peaks would only have occurred in summer. The researchers said that hajj, the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, would take place amid dangerous heat almost all year round by the end of the century without a rapid transition away from fossil fuels.

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Guatemala requests US military cooperation against drug trafficking

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Central American country says its president spoke with Pete Hegseth to confirm terms of cooperation

Guatemala has requested US military cooperation spanning access to equipment, training and experts to assist Guatemalan operations against drug trafficking, the country’s president, Bernardo Arévalo, said on Thursday.

The joint plans stopped short of US military operations on Guatemalan soil and fall within existing bilateral agreements, the government noted.

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Clashes between armed groups in Colombia kill at least 52

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Rival groups are vying for territorial control of strategic cocaine production and trafficking region

At least 52 guerrilla fighters have been killed in clashes between two rival armed groups vying for territorial control of a strategic cocaine production and trafficking region in south-east Colombia, a faction of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) involved in the fighting has said.

The clashes, the most violent in recent months, took place in the jungles of the department of Guaviare, near the village of Barranco Colorado.

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Carney calls for new US-Canada partnership to ‘help make America great again’

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Canada prime minister urges greater economic cooperation between the two countries in speech delivered in New York

Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney has called for a new relationship with the United States to “help make America great again”.

In a speech delivered in New York on Thursday, Carney said that there should be a “true partnership” that reimagines cooperation in specific sectors challenged by global competition.

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Burberry boss could earn up to £12.2m under new bonus scheme as company rolls back climate goals

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Company, which paid boss Joshua Schulman £4m in year to March, becomes latest to extend deadline to become carbon neutral

The boss of Burberry could earn up to £12.2m after the luxury British brand introduced a new bonus scheme, while its annual report also revealed the company has scaled back its climate ambitions.

Joshua Schulman, a former chief executive of the US fashion brand Coach who was hired in July 2024 to help revive Burberry, was paid £4m in the year to March, up from £2.5m for his first nine months in the job.

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‘Hidden datacentre tax’ costing Irish households millions, report says

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Datacentres used 22% of country’s electricity last year, pushing up household bills, study suggests

Energy demand by datacentres in Ireland has added hundreds of euros to household electricity bills in a pattern that could be replicated across Europe, according to a report.

Ireland’s growing number of datacentres last year used 22% of the country’s electricity, more than all urban homes combined, according to the Central Statistics Office. The equivalent figure in the US and UK is 6%.

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EU fines Temu for failing to stop sale of illegal and dangerous products

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European Commission finds shoppers on Chinese website very likely to find unsafe items and imposes €200m penalty

EU regulators have fined the Chinese shopping website Temu €200m (£173m) for failing to stop the sale of illegal and dangerous products.

The European Commission imposed the penalty after a 19-month investigation that found consumers were very likely to encounter illegal or unsafe products including baby toys and electronics on the firm’s website.

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Argentina’s ‘European’ self-image under renewed scrutiny after racist incidents in Brazil

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Case involving seven-year-old boy is latest flashpoint in debate over race relations in Latin America

‘Argentina needs to end its fantasy of being a European country’: Lucrecia Martel on the story of a killing

A woman celebrating her 32nd birthday on a train journey in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais was horrified when a fellow passenger alerted her that an unknown man had been secretly filming her seven-year-old son.

When confronted, the man – an Argentinian tourist – initially refused to show his phone. But after being pressed by other travellers, the man admitted he had sent the images to a WhatsApp contact.

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The race for oil: will Jamaica be the next country to drill and what does that mean for its green pledges?

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With early tests suggesting the presence of crude oil, the Caribbean island has begun to debate whether it could justify becoming a producer

Jamaica is closer than ever to drilling for oil. Tests on samples from the seabed off the Caribbean island’s south coast earlier this year identified hydrocarbons, which suggest the presence of crude oil below ground.

Jamaica imports all its fuel, which costs about $1.5-2bn (£1.1bn-1.5bn) annually, depending on global oil prices. It is a persistent drag on an economy that generated $4.3bn from tourism, its biggest earner, in 2024.

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Dormitory fire at Kenyan girls’ school kills at least 16 students

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Parents face anxious wait for updates after blaze tears through Utumishi girls academy in Gilgil, Nakuru county

A fire has ripped through a dormitory at a girls’ school in Kenya’s Rift valley, killing at least 16 students.

The fire broke out just after midnight at Utumishi girls academy in Gilgil, Nakuru county, about 76 miles north-west of Nairobi, police said.

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Blond Bangladeshi buffalo nicknamed ‘Donald Trump’ saved from Eid sacrifice

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Rare albino buffalo spared due to security concerns over unusual level of public interest in 700kg animal

A rare albino buffalo in Bangladesh nicknamed “Donald Trump” for its distinctive blond tuft has been spared from Eid al-Adha sacrifice after a last-minute government intervention, according to a home ministry official.

The nearly 700kg (1,543lb) animal had already been sold for ritual slaughter when authorities stepped in, citing security concerns after a surge of public interest before Thursday’s festival.

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‘I felt my humanity was bastardised’: Cynthia Erivo says reaction to Ariana Grande red carpet incident rooted in racism

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Wicked co-star said reactions to the incident, which included suggestions she was Grande’s ‘bodyguard’, reflect an insidious view of Black women

Wicked star Cynthia Erivo has said that reactions to the incident at the Singapore premiere of Wicked: For Good, in which she stepped in to fend off a red-carpet invader who grabbed co-star Ariana Grande, revealed “the insidious nature of how we view Black women” and put her off campaigning for Oscars.

In an interview with Variety, Erivo said that she and Grande were “terrified” when Johnson Wen jumped a barrier at Universal Studios Singapore and rushed towards them. “Nobody moved. Nobody moved. So I moved because my brain went, ‘Get him away! Get him out of here!’ … And what people couldn’t see is that he wouldn’t let go [of Grande]. He wouldn’t let go. So I just kept pushing at him to get him off.”

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Feeding the future of France: Rollout of €1 meals an attempt to help struggling students

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It’s a thumbs up from the country’s 3 million students, who can now buy cheap meals up to twice a day

Where in France can you get a nutritious and balanced three-course meal for €1?

If you are one of the country’s estimated 3 million students in higher education, the answer is: the university restaurant or cafe.

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Israel’s defence minister says large-scale Palestinian migration from Gaza will go ahead

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Human rights groups and lawyers say policy amounts to ethnic cleansing

Israel’s defence minister has said he is committed to the ethnic cleansing of Gaza through large-scale migration of Palestinians as part of Israel’s long-term plans for the territory.

Israel Katz said the government would implement a plan for large numbers of Palestinians to leave Gaza “at the right time and in the right manner”, in a statement on Wednesday marking the targeted killing of Mohammed Odeh, Hamas’s most recent military commander.

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‘This isn’t freedom’: anger, anxiety and tears as Iran’s internet flickers back

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After 88 days of near-total blackout, first reactions to the return of partial connectivity were not celebratory

After 88 days of near-total internet blackout in Iran, long-delayed messages, images and poems flooded phones and social media feeds at about 5pm on Tuesday, when still-limited connectivity flickered back to life.

The first reactions, however, were not celebratory. Many new posts were threaded with scepticism, anxiety and anger.

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