Category Archives: World News

Food aid failing to reach Gaza residents despite ‘catastrophic’ hunger crisis

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People vent their frustration on social media as many given just beans and biscuits to eat, and donated food is found for sale in markets

A couple of biscuits and a can of beans is all that many Palestinians in Gaza say is being given to families to live on, if they receive aid at all, and that they are finding donated items for sale in the markets.

The risk of famine is increasing every day, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which said this week that Gaza’s entire population is suffering “catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity”, the highest proportion of a population with acute food insecurity the monitor has ever recorded.

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Israeli airstrike kills Gaza aid worker and 70 of his extended family, UN says

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Call to protect civilians and humanitarian staff after UNDP’s Issam al-Mughrabi, his wife, children and scores of relatives killed

An Israeli military airstrike killed more than 70 members of an extended family, including a veteran UN aid worker, as the UN secretary general warned that the scale of death and destruction inside Gaza is blocking delivery of desperately needed aid.

Issam al-Mughrabi, 56, was killed with his wife, five children and dozens of other relatives in a bombing near Gaza City, said the head of the UN development programme (UNDP) in a statement that also called for an urgent ceasefire.

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Flooding Hamas tunnels with seawater risks ‘ruining basic life in Gaza’, says expert

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Senior hydrologist warns Israeli plan would constitute one element of the crime of genocide

A potential plan by Israel to flood the Hamas tunnel network with seawater risks “ruining the basic conditions for life in Gaza”, one of the elements of the crime of genocide, a senior hydrologist has told the Guardian.

Environmental experts have warned the strategy – which Israel has yet to commit to – risks causing an ecological catastrophe that will leave Gaza with no drinkable water and devastate what little agriculture is possible in the 141 sq mile territory.

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Joe Biden’s reluctance to call for ceasefire may leave him at odds with his party

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Many young voters disapprove of how the US president is handling the conflict in Gaza, a new poll suggests

It was a messy compromise. On Friday, after a week of wrangling, the United Nations security council (UNSC) staggered across the finish line, approving a watered-down bid to boost aid to Gaza and calling for urgent steps “to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities”.

The US, a staunch ally of Israel, abstained to allow the 15-member council to adopt the resolution. Joe Biden’s allies will claim that it represents progress of sorts. But it will have little impact on the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe as Israel’s bombardment continues.

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Charlie Sheen allegedly attacked at home by a neighbour, US media report

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Electra Schrock arrested after alleged incident in Malibu, involving the actor, best known for sitcom Two and a Half Men

Actor Charlie Sheen has been allegedly attacked in his home by a neighbour who was later arrested by police, US media have reported.

Sheen, star of numerous movies and the hit television sitcom Two and a Half Men, was not seriously injured in the assault, allegedly carried out by 47-year-old Electra Schrock who had attacked him after knocking on the door of his home in the upmarket beachside neighbourhood of Malibu in California.

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UN security council backs resolution on large-scale aid to Gaza but not ceasefire

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US opposes making demand for suspension of hostilities, lack of which International Rescue Committee calls ‘unjustifiable’

The UN security council has voted for a resolution calling for large-scale delivery of aid to Gaza in an effort to contain the imminent threat of famine and deadly epidemics.

The resolution did not however demand a suspension of hostilities, which was opposed by the US, which also insisted on removing a clause giving the UN exclusive control of humanitarian deliveries.

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Mixed-race people become Brazil’s biggest population group

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Grouping that includes descendants of Indigenous Brazilians as well as of Africans now outnumbers white population

Mixed-race Brazilians are now the largest population group in the South American country, the latest census has revealed, as the number of people identifying as African-descended in Brazil continues to grow.

New data from the 2022 census released on Friday shows that 92.1 million Brazilians identify as mixed-race, equivalent to 45.3% of the population. This is up from 43.1% in 2010, when the last census was carried out.

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US and Somali forces kill al-Shabaab commander with $10m bounty on head

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Maalim Ayman was wanted over attack on airbase in Kenya in 2020 in which three Americans died

Somali troops and US forces have killed a senior commander of the al-Shabaab militant group who had a $10m bounty on his head over an attack that left three Americans dead.

“Maalim Ayman, a senior leader of al-Shabaab, was confirmed to have been killed in a joint operation by the Somali national army with assistance from US forces on December 17th,” Kenya’s information minister, Daud Aweis, said on X on Thursday.

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Iceland downgrades volcano threat level as activity appears to end

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Officials say no visible movement at site near Grindavík but it is possible lava may still be flowing underneath

Authorities in Iceland have downgraded the threat level from the volcano that erupted earlier this week, as officials said they could no longer observe volcanic activity at the site of the eruption.

The eruption on Monday opened a fissure in the ground about 2.5 miles (4km) long, spewing orange lava into the sky only 2 miles from the town of Grindavík.

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Russia warns US and Europe over reports Ukraine may get its seized assets

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Kremlin threatens ‘serious consequences’ if there is an unprecedented seizure of Russian assets held abroad

The Kremlin has threatened Europe and the US with “serious consequences”, including tit-for-tat financial seizures or even a break in diplomatic relations, if Russian assets held abroad are given to aid the Ukrainian budget and war effort.

A spokesperson for Vladimir Putin told reporters on Friday that if the Biden administration and European leaders planned to seize Russian central bank assets believed to be in excess of $300bn (£236bn) that were frozen after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, they should “realise that Russia will never leave those who do it alone”.

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Israel widens ground offensive in Gaza as UN aid resolution talks continue

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More evacuations ordered in west of strip, 11 weeks into war that has now killed nearly 1% of people in Gaza

Israel is expanding its ground offensive in Gaza, ordering new evacuations in the west of the strip, as UN security council negotiations over a resolution intended to increase the flow of humanitarian supplies stretched into another day.

Israel’s military told people to leave their homes in al-Bureij, an urban refugee camp. It also said extra ground troops would head to fight in southern Khan Younis. Both areas were originally declared safe for civilians fleeing from the north.

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Prague shooter killed himself after attack on university, police say – Europe live

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Police also confirm 15 people including the shooter have died, after the interior minister earlier revised the death toll down to 13

Vít Rakušan, the Czech interior minister, said this morning that 14 bodies have been identified, including 13 victims and the shooter.

There are no foreign nationals among the dead, he said.

Dear friends, please approach the tragedy that happened yesterday at [Charles University Faculty of Arts] with sensitivity and consideration.

Many people have lost loved ones and friends, the depth of their pain and sorrow is hard to imagine.

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Day of mourning declared after 14 killed in Prague university shooting

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Twenty-five others wounded in attack at Charles University as local media name suspect as David Kozák

The Czech Republic has declared Saturday a day of mourning after a 24-year-old student killed 14 people and wounded 25 others at his Prague university in what is believed to be the worst mass shooting in the country’shistory.

The death toll from Thursday’s shooting at Charles University in the city centre stood at 14, the interior minister, Vit Rakušan, said on Czech television on Friday. Authorities said three foreign nationals, two from the United Arab Emirates and one from the Netherlands, were among 25 wounded.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Netherlands to deliver F-16 jets to Ukraine; drones reportedly shot down near Moscow – as it happened

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Zelenskiy confirms exchange after call with Dutch PM; Russian defence ministry claims five Ukrainian downed south of the capital

Uzbekistan’s foreign ministry has summoned the Russian ambassador over a call by a Russian politician to annex the former Soviet republic, it said late on Thursday.

The Russian nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin, who is co-chair of the A Just Russia – For Truth party, said this week he believed Russia should annex Uzbekistan and other countries whose citizens travelled en masse to Russia for work.

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Woman killed by falling Christmas tree in Belgian market square

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Two people injured as 20-metre high tree collapses next to Christmas market

A woman was killed and two people injured by a large Christmas tree that fell over during stormy weather in the Belgian town of Oudenaarde, authorities said on Friday.

Security camera footage on Belgian news media showed a brightly lit 20-metre (66ft) high Christmas tree slowly leaning over, then collapsing next to a Christmas market in the town, east of Brussels, on Thursday as a merry-go-round turned in the historic market square.

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Nike to axe hundreds of jobs in bid to save $2bn amid sales slump

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US sportswear brand announces job cuts and simplification of product ranges in ‘streamlining’ of operations

Nike is to cut hundreds of jobs, simplify its product ranges and increase its use of automation as part of attempts to save $2bn (£1.6bn) in costs over the next three years amid poor sales.

The US sportswear brand said it was “taking steps to streamline the organisation” and would be spending up to $450m on the changes, mainly on payoffs for employees.

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Weather tracker: Nor’easter drenches US south-east coast

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Up to 127mm of rain falls on Florida and gusty winds and flash flooding hit parts of Georgia and South Carolina

Last weekend, a low-pressure system that had developed over the Gulf of Mexico tracked north-east across the Florida peninsula. Lashings of heavy rain and strong winds were brought to Florida during the early hours of Sunday morning, dumping up to 127mm (5in) of rain on the state in its passing.

The low-pressure system, termed a “nor’easter”, continued to track north-east, strengthening and bringing gusty winds and flash flooding to the coastal parts of the south-east US, including Georgia and South Carolina.

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Five new species of soft-furred hedgehogs discovered in south-east Asia

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There are now seven known species of soft-furred hedgehogs, which look like a cross between a mouse and a shrew

Scientists have identified five new species of soft-furred hedgehogs from south-east Asia.

Two of the species discovered are entirely new to science, while three have been elevated from subspecies level by researchers, who carried out DNA analysis as well as detailed physical observations of the mammals.

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Shock in Prague but shootings not unknown in Czech Republic

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Police say gunman owned multiple firearms, as allowed by among the most permissive gun laws in the EU

A fatal mass shooting in the cloistered environs of Prague might seem a bolt from the blue. In a city historically renowned for defenestrations but less for violent crime, safety and security are taken for granted much more than in most European capitals.

The reaction of Prague’s mayor, Bohuslav Svoboda, whose offices at Prague New Town Hall lie a short distance from the scene of the crime, conveyed many locals’ bewilderment as they struggled to digest the horror that had unfolded.

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