Category Archives: World News

Kenya gas explosion kills at least three and injures hundreds

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More than 280 taken to hospital after truck blast on gas storage site that had unsuccessfully applied for permit to operate

A lorry loaded with liquid petroleum gas cylinders exploded and set off a late-night inferno that burned homes and warehouses in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, killing at least three people and injuring more than 280. The death toll is expected to increase.

At least 24 people were critically injured, the Kenya Red Cross said, after a huge fireball erupted from the gas depot. Some gas cylinders were thrown hundreds of metres, sparking several separate fires.

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Mark Zuckerberg to receive $700m from Meta dividends

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Facebook’s parent company to pay out to shareholders as it reports $40bn revenues for final quarter

Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is expected to receive $700m (£549m) a year in dividends.

On Thursday, Meta announced it would pay its first-ever quarterly dividend to investors since Facebook floated on the stock market in 2012, after beating Wall Street expectations with $40bn in revenues for the final quarter last year.

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Still in ruins: the 2023 Turkish earthquake – then and now

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A 7.8-magnitude quake hit southern Turkey and northern Syria on 6 February 2023, killing more than 40,000 people and erasing entire cities. Then and now photographs show the scale of devastation and the enormity of the reconstruction

Over 65 nightmarish seconds of the pre-dawn hours of 6 February 2023, the ground swallowed swathes of entire cities across south-east Turkey resulting in more than 50,000 deaths.

Bridges collapsed, roads and airport tarmacs cracked and millions of lives across 11 Turkish provinces were upturned by the time the rest of the country woke up, stunned.

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Three girls die after FGM rituals in Sierra Leone

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Children’s parents and those who performed the procedure are in police custody, according to local reports

Police in Sierra Leone are investigating the deaths of three girls who underwent female genital mutilation (FGM).

Adamsay Sesay, 12; Salamatu Jalloh, 13; and Kadiatu Bangura, 17, died during initiation ceremonies in the country’s North West province last month, according to local reports.

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‘It’s unfathomable’: speed hump saboteurs join Italy’s pro-car vandals

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First cameras were torn down by someone calling themselves Fleximan – now traffic calming measures are being targeted

Renzo Bergamini, the mayor of Gualtieri, was on his way to buy the newspapers on Tuesday morning when he noticed something was amiss with one of the two speed humps positioned on the town’s ring road.

“I saw that the sections of the hump were slightly misaligned,” he said. “The bolts had been unscrewed.”

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A year on from the East Palestine toxic train derailment, what’s changed? – podcast

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A year ago on 3 February a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in a small village on the border of Ohio and Pennsylvania. A few days after the derailment, officials decided to vent and burn the chemicals it was carrying to prevent an explosion.

Those still living in East Palestine and the surrounding communities have been told the air they breathe is safe, but many aren’t confident in what they’re being told.

So what led to the derailment? What’s changed in terms of legislation to make sure this kind of accident doesn’t happen again? And how are residents coming together to advocate for their safety and that of fellow Americans in the future?

The Guardian’s fossil fuels and climate reporter, Dharna Noor, travelled to East Palestine to see for herself what’s changed in the 12 months since the disaster

Archive: ABC News, CBS News, NTSB, NBC News, SMART Union, WFMJ, WKYC, WTRF

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‘A race against time’: Taiwan strives to root out China’s spies

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As Beijing has increased its efforts to recruit Taiwanese people, the number of spying cases has risen

In November, a Taiwan court heard accusations that two serving soldiers had accepted bribes from Chinese agents to record a video declaring their loyalty to China and their intention to defect in the event of a war. The video reportedly made its way into Chinese propaganda materials.

Weeks later, a conviction over a similar accusation was upheld against a retired army colonel. The colonel was found guilty of having accepted monthly payments totalling more than half a million Taiwan dollars (£12,500) to delay his retirement for years and serve as a spy. Local media reports said the colonel also posed for a photo holding a handwritten note, pledging his loyalty to Beijing’s cause of annexing Taiwan to the Chinese state.

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UK could recognise a Palestinian state before a deal with Israel, says Cameron

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Foreign secretary suggests after a ceasefire, UK would not need to wait for end of what could be years of talks on a two-state solution

The UK could officially recognise a Palestinian state after a ceasefire in Gaza without waiting for the outcome of what could be years of talks between Israel and the Palestinians on a two-state solution, David Cameron has said.

Speaking during a visit Thursday to Lebanon intended to tamp down regional tensions, the British foreign secretary said no recognition could come while Hamas remained in Gaza, but that it could take place while Israeli negotiations with Palestinian leaders were continuing.

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Israeli ministers reportedly considering limiting aid entering Gaza

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Two ministers said to have suggested move as part of efforts to free hostages and weaken Hamas, which they claim hijacks supplies

Ministers in Israel’s war cabinet are reportedly considering limiting the amount of aid reaching Gaza, as rightwing protesters disrupt the entry of trucks carrying desperately needed humanitarian supplies to the besieged Palestinian territory.

Benny Gantz, a retired general who joined the emergency wartime government formed by the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, after 7 October, and Gadi Eisenkot, a former army chief of staff and war cabinet observer, suggested temporarily limiting aid to weaken Hamas, Israel’s Channel 12 reported late on Wednesday.

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Procter & Gamble staff held hostage in Turkish factory freed in police raid

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Gunman, who was detained unharmed, was protesting about war in Gaza and had trapped seven workers for nearly nine hours

Turkish police have released seven workers taken hostage by a pro-Palestinian gunman at a plant near Istanbul owned by US consumer goods company Procter & Gamble in protest at the war in Gaza.

Local officials said police staged a raid nearly nine hours into the standoff when the lone gunman took a bathroom break.

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State department identifies Israeli citizens targeted by US sanctions as Netanyahu rejects them as ‘unnecessary’ – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. For more on the US involvement in the Middle East crisis, you can read:

During the news conference, Austin said the US would have a “multi-tiered response” to the Jordan attacks that killed three US service personnel. He added that the US had the ability to respond a “number of times depending on what the situation is”.

Austin said the deadly attack was carried out by groups funded and trained by Iran, but said it remains unclear how much Tehran knew in advance.

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Senate to vote next week on bipartisan border bill, Schumer says

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Top Senate Democrat gives timetable for vote on border security bill tied to Ukraine aid as Trump urges lawmakers to reject deal

The US Senate will vote next week on a bipartisan bill that would strengthen security at the US-Mexico border and also provide more aid to Ukraine and Israel, the chamber’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, said on Thursday.

“We cannot simply shirk from our responsibilities just because the task is difficult,” Schumer said on the Senate floor, adding that the text of the package will be released by Sunday, with the initial vote taking place no later than Wednesday.

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Floating sauna rescues occupants of Tesla that plunged into Oslo fjord

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People on sauna boat pull car driver and passenger from freezing water before vehicle is lifted out

Two motorists whose car plunged into a freezing Oslo fjord escaped unharmed when a floating sauna came to their rescue, Norwegian police have said.

A video clip filmed by witnesses and obtained by Agence France-Presse on Thursday appears to shows the vehicle, a Tesla, partly submerged in the water, with its occupants sitting on the roof.

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Macron calls for farming reform as food producers hurl eggs at European parliament

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Demonstrations calling for help with taxes, costs and environmental rules overshadow EU leaders’ summit

Europe’s farming sector is facing a big crisis and must “profoundly” change its rules, Emmanuel Macron has said after a European Union leaders’ summit in Brussels was overshadowed by protesting farmers hurling eggs, dumping manure and lighting fires.

Speaking as hundreds of farmers from Belgium, the Netherlands and elsewhere blocked streets around the European parliament with tractors, the French president said there should be a joint EU mechanism to guarantee fair prices paid to farmers by food giants and supermarkets. He said regulations should be simplified, after weeks of farmer protests across Europe have blockaded motorways.

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Laurie Anderson ends German professorship after criticism of Palestine support

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Essen’s Folkwang University took issue with the American artist’s support of a ‘letter against apartheid’ by Palestinian artists

The artist, musician and film director Laurie Anderson has withdrawn from a guest professorship at a university in Germany after officials took issue with her support for a 2021 statement by Palestinian artists titled Letter Against Apartheid.

The decision, announced days before Anderson is due to receive a lifetime achievement award at this year’s Grammys, adds to the wave of cultural events that have been scrapped in Germany after artists expressed views deemed by officials to be anti-Israel.

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Murder charges upgraded for Canada man who allegedly sent ‘suicide kits’

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Kenneth Law now faces 14 counts in Ontario of first-degree murder and 14 counts of counselling and aiding suicide

Prosecutors in Canada have upgraded murder charges against the man who allegedly mailed “suicide kits” and is allegedly linked to more than 100 deaths in several countries.

Kenneth Law, who is due to appear in court on Thursday, now faces 14 counts in Ontario of first-degree murder and 14 counts of counselling and aiding suicide in the province. Canada’s criminal code punishes anyone who “counsels or abets” a person to die by suicide with a sentence of up to 14 years in prison. The victims range in age from 16 to 36.

In Canada, Crisis Services Canada can be contacted at any time on 1.833.456.4566, or via text on 45645 from 4pm-12am ET. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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Joe Biden issues executive order against Israeli settlers in West Bank

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Financial sanctions and visa bans imposed on four individuals as US frustration with Israel grows

Joe Biden has issued an executive order targeting Israeli settlers in the West Bank who have been attacking Palestinians, amid fast-growing frustration in Washington at Israel’s trajectory in the midst of its war in Gaza.

The order initially imposes financial sanctions and visa bans against four individuals, and US officials said they were evaluating whether to punish others involved in attacks that have intensified during the Israel-Hamas war.

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UK manufacturers hit by Red Sea disruption and rising shipping costs

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Supply chain difficulties have led to job losses and cuts in purchasing and stocks, S&P Global poll shows

Britain’s factories have been hit by disruption caused by Houthi rebel attacks in the Red Sea that led to shipping delays and contributed to rising costs, as the boss of Adidas warned about “exploding” global freight rates.

UK manufacturers have experienced growing supply chain difficulties, as the Red Sea crisis led to the rerouting of deliveries of raw materials, components and other goods away from the Suez Canal, a survey has shown.

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EU agrees €50bn package for Ukraine as Viktor Orbán bows to pressure

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Hungarian prime minister, who had vowed to block the funding, relented after series of 11th-hour meetings

A robust and united position among EU member states convinced Viktor Orbán to end his “blackmail” and support a €50bn (£43bn) funding package for Ukraine, European prime ministers have said.

The Hungarian prime minister, who had been vowing to block the funds since December, performed one of the fastest U-turns seen at a leaders’ summit after six weeks of brinkmanship.

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US orders reprisal strikes against Iranian-backed militia

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Strikes expected to take place in Syria and possibly Iraq, after three US soldiers were killed at a base in Jordan

The US has ordered a series of reprisal strikes to be launched over more than one day against an Iranian-backed militia, the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, has said.

Austin said all drones in the region attacking the US were of Iranian origin. The retaliatory strikes are expected to hit militia in Syria and possibly Iraq, though Austin did not specify the timing or precise location.

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