Category Archives: World News

US-backed Kurdish fighters killed in drone strike on US base in Syria

Posted on by

Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an Iranian-backed militia, claims attack after at least six fighters killed

At least six US-backed Kurdish fighters have been killed in a drone strike on a US base in eastern Syria claimed by Iranian-backed militia that was the target of US airstrikes on Friday.

The deaths are the latest indicator of how conflict is seeping across the Middle East since the beginning of the war in Gaza, with ever less predictable consequences for regional stability.

Continue reading...

Sunak ‘out of touch’ for betting £1,000 on Rwanda plan’s success, says Labour

Posted on by

PM also criticised for saying ‘the facts speak for themselves’ when asked if Keir Starmer was a terrorist sympathiser

Rishi Sunak has been called “out of touch” after taking a £1,000 bet with Piers Morgan on whether deportation flights to Rwanda will take off before the general election.

Morgan said to the prime minister on TalkTV: “I’ll bet you £1,000 to a refugee charity you don’t get anybody on those planes before the election. Will you take that bet?”

Continue reading...

French diplomat to review UNRWA after claims of staff role in Hamas attack

Posted on by

Catherine Colonna will lead inquiry after Israel’s accusation that at least 12 UN agency workers were involved in 7 October assault

A former French foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, is to lead an independent review of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees after accusations by Israel that at least 12 staff members were involved in the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October.

The review was ordered by Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), last month before the publication of the Israeli allegations and a subsequent mass exodus of donors led by the US and UK.

Continue reading...

Cern aims to build €20bn collider to unlock secrets of universe

Posted on by

Research lab submits plans for next-generation model at least three times size of Large Hadron Collider

Officials at Cern, home to the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, are pressing ahead with plans for a new machine that would be at least three times bigger than the existing particle accelerator.

The Large Hadron Collider, built inside a 27km circular tunnel beneath the Swiss-French countryside, smashes together protons and other subatomic particles at close to the speed of light to recreate the conditions that existed fractions of a second after the big bang.

Continue reading...

US pornography actor accused of posting propaganda for Iran

Posted on by

Whitney Wright, who is known for her criticism of Israel, posed at defunct American embassy in Tehran observing Islamic dress code

An American pornography actor has faced accusations of promoting propaganda for Iran’s government after boasting on social media about a trip to the Islamic republic.

Iranian authorities have denied being behind the visit by Whitney Wright, saying she was issued a visa like any other foreign citizen and they had not been aware of her “obscene” profession.

Continue reading...

Company worker in Hong Kong pays out £20m in deepfake video call scam

Posted on by

Police investigate after employee says she was tricked into sending money to fraudsters posing as senior officers at her firm

Hong Kong police have launched an investigation after an employee at an unnamed company claimed she was duped into paying HK$200m (£20m) of her firm’s money to fraudsters in a deepfake video conference call.

The Hong Kong police force said it had received a report from a worker that she had been tricked into transferring the money by someone “posing as senior officers of the company”.

Continue reading...

‘Like a war zone’: Chile wildfire death toll reaches 123 amid race to clear rubble

Posted on by

Death count for Chile’s worst natural disaster in years expected to climb as official two-day mourning period begins

Helicopters dumped tonnes of water on wildfires raging across central Chile, as emergency crews said they were still finding bodies three days after the blazes took hold.

The official death count from Chile’s worst natural disaster in years increased to 123 on Monday according to Marisol Prado, the director of Chile’s forensic medical service. That number was expected to climb as residents, firefighters and military raced to clear rubble.

Continue reading...

Lloyds and Santander accused of providing accounts for Iranian front companies

Posted on by

Both banks deny helping Tehran-controlled oil firm PCC to move money in breach of sanctions

Two of the UK’s largest lenders, Santander UK and Lloyds Banking Group, allegedly held bank accounts for front companies that helped Iranian entities evade US sanctions, according to reports.

The news has rattled investors, who sold off shares in the two banks on Monday morning, amid fears that the lenders could face penalties if they are found to have in any way assisted Iran’s state-controlled Petrochemical Commercial Company (PCC).

Continue reading...

Orbán boycotts parliament session called to ratify Swedish Nato bid

Posted on by

Hungary remains alone in holding up Stockholm’s accession despite PM’s promises not to be last to ratify

Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party has boycotted a session of parliament called by the opposition to ratify Sweden’s Nato membership, even as a group of western ambassadors arrived in the building to urge a vote.

For months, the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, repeatedly promised his counterparts within Nato that the country would not be last to sign off on Sweden’s membership.

Continue reading...

Middle East crisis: Drone strike in Syria reported to have killed six members of US-backed Kurdish-led group – as it happened

Posted on by

Six members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have reportedly been killed at a base which also houses US forces

Emma Graham-Harrison and Quique Kierszenbaum report for the Guardian:

Shaadi Muqtasen’s family live in the centre of old Hebron, one of the most heavily contested, heavily militarised places in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. For Palestinian residents there, life all but stopped when Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October.

Continue reading...

Comments on Weibo giraffe post bemoan state of Chinese economy

Posted on by

Social media users get around government crackdown on negativity via US embassy conservation update

A social media post about giraffe conservation has become the latest place for people in China who are unhappy about the economy to vent their frustration, as the Chinese government increasingly cracks down on negative commentary.

On 2 February, the US embassy in China posted an update on its Weibo account about tracking giraffes in Namibia using GPS technology. As of Monday afternoon local time, the post had received approximately 166,000 comments, many of them about China’s economic pains.

Continue reading...

Nayib Bukele re-elected as El Salvador president in landslide win

Posted on by

Voters reward Bukele for gang crackdown that has transformed security in central American country

El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, has won a thumping victory in elections after voters cast aside concerns about erosion of democracy to reward him for a fierce gang crackdown that transformed security in the central American country.

Provisional results on Monday morning showed Bukele winning 83% support with just over 70% of the ballots counted. Bukele declared himself the winner before official results were announced, claiming to have attained more than 85% of the vote.

Continue reading...

Senegal riot police fire teargas to break up protests over postponed election

Posted on by

Mobile internet access has also been restricted, as parliament begins debate on bill to extend Macky Sall’s presidency

Riot police fired teargas to break up crowds trying to gather outside Senegal’s national assembly on Monday to protest against the president’s abrupt postponement of elections over the weekend.

As protesters shouted slogans, parliament began debating a bill that would reschedule the 25 February vote for 25 August and extend Macky Sall’s mandate as president until his successor is installed.

Continue reading...

Army looms large as Nawaz Sharif eases towards fourth term in Pakistan

Posted on by

Military has put its faith in former PM for fourth time, leading many to believe election outcome is already decided

With days to go before Pakistan goes to the polls, the feverish buzz and boisterous rallies that usually mark the campaign season have been unusually muted.

“There is a sense among many people that the outcome is already predetermined,” said Samina Yasmeen, a fellow from the Australian Institute of International Affairs.

Continue reading...

UN to investigate claims of corruption in Iraq aid project

Posted on by

Guardian report found staff allegedly sought bribes in return for helping people win deals as part of $1.5bn construction programme

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) is dispatching a team to Iraq to assess allegations of corruption in its $1.5bn (£1.2bn) construction programme following a Guardian investigation.

According to an internal document obtained by the Guardian, the UNDP’s administrator, Achim Steiner, has “commissioned a management review and assessment of the allegations” after revelations its staff were allegedly taking kickbacks in return for helping business people obtain lucrative construction contracts.

Continue reading...

We must act on Ethiopia food crisis, says UK minister

Posted on by

Andrew Mitchell warns of ‘humanitarian catastrophe’ triggered by El Niño-driven drought and conflict

The risk of a humanitarian catastrophe in northern Ethiopia is growing, Andrew Mitchell, the UK’s Africa minister, said on his return from a two-day trip to the region.

“We have an opportunity to stop a looming humanitarian catastrophe in its tracks. But we must act and act now,” Mitchell said on Monday.

The country is suffering from the impacts of long-term El Niño-driven drought and brutal conflict, including the two-year war in the northern region of Tigray that ended in November 2022.

Continue reading...

‘Deeply alarming’: sevenfold increase in sexual attacks at Darién Gap, says Médecins Sans Frontières

Posted on by

More than half a million people made treacherous, weeklong trek in 2023, facing horrors including mass rapes by armed bandits

A sevenfold increase in sexual attacks against people crossing the Darién Gap is compounding the misery for people trekking one of the world’s most dangerous and underreported border crossings, said Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

Complete impunity for armed gangs in the lawless stretch of jungle that links South and Central America meant one person became a victim of sexual violence every three and a half hours in December, the overstretched medical organisation said.

Continue reading...

Australian academic Yang Hengjun given suspended death sentence by Chinese court

Posted on by

Australia’s foreign minister says government is ‘appalled’ by sentence, which could mean life in prison

The Australian academic Yang Hengjun has been given a suspended death sentence by a Chinese court, after five years in detention on espionage charges. His sentence came on the same day that the women’s rights activist Li Qiaochu was sentenced to three years and eight months by a court in Shandong for “inciting subversion of state power”.

Yang was arrested in 2019 at Guangzhou airport, accused of spying for an undisclosed foreign country. The 57-year-old pro-democracy blogger is an Australian citizen who was born in China. He was tried in a one-day, closed-door hearing in Beijing in May 2021, with a verdict not publicly disclosed.

Continue reading...

Philippines says it is ready to use force to quell secession attempts as Duterte row deepens

Posted on by

Former president has called for his home town, Mindanao, to split from the Philippines as his alliance with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr crumbles

The Philippine government is ready to use “authority and forces” against attempts to divide the nation, a security official has said, after former president Rodrigo Duterte threatened to separate some southern islands from the rest of the archipelago.

Duterte has called for the independence of his home town, Mindanao, from the Philippines as his alliance with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr disintegrated this week over disagreements around efforts to amend the constitution.

Continue reading...

At least 112 dead as authorities struggle to contain forest fires in Chile

Posted on by

People told to evacuate homes as quickly as possible and curfews declared in cities most heavily affected

Firefighters are wrestling with huge forest fires that broke out in central Chile on Friday. Officials have extended curfews in cities most heavily affected by the blazes and said the death toll has increased to 112 killed.

The fires have been burning with the highest intensity around the city of Viña del Mar, where a botanical garden founded in 1931 was destroyed by the flames. At least 1,600 people have been left without homes.

Continue reading...