Category Archives: World News

Colombian Amazon deforestation surges as armed groups tighten grip

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Country had previously turned the tide on deforestation but armed rebels have revoked ban

Deforestation in the Colombian Amazon is surging and could be at a historic peak as armed groups use the rainforest as a bargaining chip in peace negotiations with the government.

Preliminary data shows that deforestation in the region was 40% higher in the first three months of this year than in 2023 as armed groups tightened their control over the rainforest, said Susana Muhamad, the country’s environment minister.

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£52,000 golden teacup stolen from Tokyo department store

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Takashimaya to increase security after theft of 24-carat gold teaware from unlocked display box

A golden teacup worth more than 10m yen (£52,100) has been stolen from a department store in Tokyo after being showcased in an unlocked box.

The teacup, made of pure 24-carat gold, went missing from an outlet of the Takashimaya chain, where an array of gold items for sale were being displayed as part of an event.

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‘Right to freedom from torture’: UN experts urge the Gambia not to decriminalise FGM

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Repealing ban would mean return of ‘one of the most pernicious forms of violence committed against women and children’

A team of UN experts has urged Gambian lawmakers not to repeal a ban on female genital mutilation, saying such a move would set a dangerous global precedent.

In a letter dated 8 April and made public on Thursday, the experts, led by Reem Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, said allowing the unchecked return of “one of the most pernicious forms of violence committed against women and children” would violate their right to freedom from torture.

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Vietnamese property tycoon sentenced to death in $27bn fraud case

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Truong My Lan found guilty of embezzling from Saigon Commercial Bank in case that was part of wider crackdown

A prominent property tycoon has been sentenced to death for her role in Vietnam’s biggest-ever fraud case.

Truong My Lan, the chair of the developer Van Thinh Phat, was found guilty of embezzlement, bribery and violations of banking rules on Thursday, in a case that has shocked the country. A total of $12.5bn (£10bn) was embezzled, the equivalent of almost 3% of Vietnamese gross domestic product, but prosecutors said on Thursday the total damages caused by the scam now amounted to $27bn.

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Nine people including baby die after boat capsizes off Lampedusa

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Italian coastguard rescues 22 survivors trying to cross Mediterranean and searches for missing

Nine people, including a baby, have died after their boat capsized while trying to cross the Mediterranean in stormy weather, and another 15 people are feared missing, Italy’s coastguard has said.

The coastguard said on Thursday it had received a cooperation request from Maltese search and rescue officials after the boat capsized about 30 miles (50km) south-east of the island of Lampedusa on Wednesday.

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Turkey seizes its third largest haul of cocaine, says interior minister

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Groups monitoring organised crime warn that Turkey is becoming entry point for drugs reaching Europe

Turkish police have seized the third largest haul of cocaine in the country’s history, the interior minister, Ali Yerlikaya, has announced, as groups monitoring organised crime warned that Turkey was becoming an entry point for drugs reaching Europe.

In an operation across three provinces, 608kg of mostly liquid cocaine was confiscated, Yerlikaya posted on X on Thursday. Nearly 830kg of precursor chemicals used to process the drug were also seized.

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IDF colonel discusses ‘data science magic powder’ for locating terrorists

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Video of official from Unit 8200 in February 2023 raises questions about Israel’s denials of use of AI in Gaza

A video has surfaced of a senior official at Israel’s cyber intelligence agency, Unit 8200, talking last year about the use of machine learning “magic powder” to help identify Hamas targets in Gaza.

The footage raises questions about the accuracy of a recent statement about use of artificial intelligence (AI) by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), which said it “does not use an artificial intelligence system that identifies terrorist operatives or tries to predict whether a person is a terrorist”.

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‘Iconic’ Man Ray image sells for €120,000 at auction of 200 works

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Le Violon d’Ingres print produced under artist’s supervision was among friend’s collection auctioned in Paris

It is one of the most recognisable images of the surrealist movement: a black and white photograph by Man Ray of Kiki de Montparnasse with f-shaped sound holes painted on her back representing a violin.

Le Violon d’Ingres, which was produced in 1924 and signed by the US artist, set a record for the most expensive photograph when it sold for $12.4m (£9.8m) at auction in New York in 2022.

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US and Japan announce new military agreements aimed at countering China

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Tokyo and Washington have struck 70 pacts on defence cooperation during Japanese PM’s White House state visit

Joe Biden and Fumio Kishida, the Japanese prime minister, have announced a new era of military cooperation during the pomp and pageantry of a White House state visit aimed at countering China.

The US president said the two nations’ forces will cooperate on a joint command structure and, along with Australia, develop a new air missile defence network.

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Canada risks more ‘catastrophic’ wildfires with hot weather forecast

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Worst-ever fire season in 2023 saw 15m hectare burned, eight firefighters killed and 230,000 people evacuated

Canada risks another “catastrophic” wildfire season, the federal government has warned, forecasting higher-than-normal spring and summer temperatures across much of the country, boosted by El Niño weather conditions.

Last year, Canada endured its worst-ever fire season, with more than 6,600 blazes burning 15m hectares (37m acres), an area roughly seven times the annual average. Eight firefighters died and 230,000 people were evacuated from their homes.

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Lebanese man under US sanctions for allegedly funding Hamas found dead

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Body of Mohammad Surur reportedly discovered in town outside Beirut with several gunshot wounds to his legs

A Lebanese man under US sanctions for allegedly funnelling millions of dollars to Hamas has been found dead in a mountain town outside Beirut.

The body of Mohammad Surur was found on Tuesday in a villa in the mountain town of Beit Mery, with several gunshot wounds to his legs, according to security sources.

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Hamas leader repeats Gaza ceasefire call after sons and grandchildren killed

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Deadly Israeli airstrike prompts comments by Ismail Haniyeh, as two sides remain far apart on key issues

Three sons and at least two grandchildren of the Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, have been killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, the exiled political chief of the militant group has said from his base in the Qatari capital of Doha.

Haniyeh told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that his children Hazem, Amir and Mohammed and several of their children were visiting relatives for Eid at the Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza when their car was targeted in an Israeli airstrike. Sixty of his relatives had been killed in the six-month-old war, he said, including 14 who died after an Israeli airstrike hit the family home in Gaza City in October.

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British Muslims describe Eid festivities as ‘heavy’ due to Gaza conflict

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Thousands of Muslims in Rafah attend Eid prayers outside ruins of mosque

Millions of Muslims across the UK celebrated Eid on Wednesday after the first sighting of the new crescent moon, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

The Baitul Futuh mosque in London, one of the largest in Europe, welcomed more than 5,000 people to pray and celebrate the three-day festival, one of the most important holidays in the Islamic calendar.

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End of the Line? Saudi Arabia ‘forced to scale back’ plans for desert megacity

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Crown prince’s pet project was sold as a 105-mile-long city of the future, but finances may have led to a rethink

It was billed as a glass-walled city of the future, an ambitious centrepiece of the economic plan backed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to transition Saudi Arabia away from oil dependency.

Now, however, plans for the mirror-clad desert metropolis called the Line have been scaled down and the project, which was envisaged to stretch 105 miles (170km) is expected to reach just a mile and a half by 2030.

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‘History made’ as EU parliament passes major migration and asylum reforms – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here

Malin Björk from the Swedish Left Party said the vote will not resolve problems, and that the Left group will not be supporting it.

There is no real solidarity, and there will be more of what is not working, she said. There will be detention, dehumanisation, violence, humiliation, she added.

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EU passes asylum and migration pact after eight years of deadlock

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European parliament president says ‘history made’ with vote to pass changes, which have been criticised by NGOs

Sweeping changes to the EU’s migration laws have been passed in a knife-edge series of votes in the European parliament, with supporters of the new laws calling the move historic but NGOs saying they are a step back for human rights.

The vote on Wednesday, which is now expected to be rubber-stamped by the member states, ends eight years of deadlock over repeated efforts to tighten up border management and asylum processes in the 27-member bloc.

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French woman breaks world rope climbing record with Eiffel Tower climb

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Anouk Garnier climbed 110 metres to second floor in 18 minutes to raise money for cancer support

A French woman has broken the world rope climbing record after reaching the second floor of the Eiffel Tower on Wednesday.

Anouk Garnier, 34, climbed 110 metres in 18 minutes to set a new high and raise money for cancer prevention and support.

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German university rescinds Jewish American’s job offer over pro-Palestinian letter

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Nancy Fraser, professor of philosophy at the New School, condemned killings in Gaza carried out by the Israeli military

A leading Jewish American philosopher has been disinvited from taking up a prestigious professorship at the University of Cologne after signing a letter expressing solidarity with Palestinians and condemning the killings in Gaza carried out by Israeli forces.

Nancy Fraser, professor of philosophy and politics at the New School for Social Research in New York, said she had been cancelled by the university, which has withdrawn its invitation to the Albertus Magnus Professorship 2024, a visiting position, which she had been awarded in 2022. The letter was written in November 2023 following the 7 October attacks on Israel by Hamas, prompting Israel’s attack on Gaza.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Nordic and Baltic countries push for more support for Ukraine – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed, you can read more of our Ukraine war coverage here

We’ve got a bit more from Swedish foreign minister Tobias Billstrom on the Nordic and Baltic nations pushing for more support for Ukraine. He said:

We support an increased role for Nato in providing security related assistance to Ukraine and coordinating military support and equipment.

This offers an opportunity to facilitate Ukraine’s path towards membership in the European family.

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