Category Archives: World News

Weather tracker: Low Mississippi River levels take toll on farmers

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Economic loss from disruption on important travel route for grain exports estimated to be $20bn

Extreme drought and a warm autumn have left water levels on the Mississippi exceptionally low for the time of year. This is causing problems for farmers who rely on the river as a travel route for the crops: 60% of US grain exports use the waterway to reach the Gulf coasts.

The total economic loss is estimated to be about $20bn and, despite attempts to dredge the river, it remains worryingly low as the country enters an important month for grain transport.

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Cop28: president says summit ‘has already made history’ as negotiations enter final days – as it happened

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Sultan Al Jaber holds press conference at start of second week as summit focuses on children, education and food

Canada has been asked by the Cop28 president, Sultan Al Jaber, to help develop language on the potential phase down or phase out of fossil fuels, its environment minister told reporters on Friday morning.

Steven Guilbeault, a former activist who is environment minister for the fourth largest oil and gas producer in the world, announced that Canada would require its fossil fuel industry to cut its emissions between 35% to 38% below 2019 levels starting in 2030 on Thursday.

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Why are third party candidates a threat to Biden in 2024? – podcast

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This week, Joe Biden admitted that he probably would not be running for re-election if Donald Trump was not likely to be the Republican candidate. The thoughts of a rehashed presidential race in 2024 has many Americans dreading next year, and some are looking to third-party or independent candidates as potential alternatives.

So why hasn’t an outsider been more successful in the past? Is running independently of the Democrat and Republican parties a legitimate offer to voters, or nothing more than an election spoiler? And if the answer is the latter, why should the president be the one to worry?

This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to Nitish Pahwa of Slate about why Democrats are worried that Biden could suffer the same fate as Hilary Clinton in 2016

Archive: CNN, CSPAN, CBS News, AP News

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India unveils ‘flatpack’ field hospital with mini x-ray for use in disaster zones

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The portable unit, comprising mini cubes of medical equipment, enables surgeons to be operating within an hour, designers claim

India has designed and built a “flatpack” field hospital that can be flown to a disaster area by helicopter and assembled faster than an Ikea bookcase.

The hospital is contained in 72 small waterproof cubes, each weighing under 15kg and measuring 38cm x 38cm x 38cm (15 x 15 x 15in). They are packed with tents and specially designed medical equipment.

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‘Deeply worried’ father of Swedish EU diplomat calls for his release by Iran

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Exclusive: Matts Floderus says his son Johan has been through ‘levels of hell in his nearly 600 days in detention

The father of a 33-year-old Swedish citizen and EU diplomat held in captivity in Iran for the past 18 months has revealed the “levels of hell” his son has experienced, as his family and employers step up their fight for his release.

Johan Floderus, who on Friday will have been incarcerated for 600 days in Tehran’s Evin prison with no routine consular visits or phone calls, has been on hunger strike at least five times, his father said.

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Ukraine’s Hungarians in spotlight as Orbán threatens to block EU accession

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In Hungarian-majority villages in Zakarpattia region, many feel little connection to the war and side with Hungarian leader

In the village of Bodalovo, the clock in almost every home is set to Budapest time. The televisions are tuned to M1, Hungary’s main government-controlled news channel, which portrays the world as seen by the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán. The language spoken on the street, in the church and at the school is Hungarian.

Yet Bodalovo is in the far western corner of Ukraine. It is one of numerous villages in the Zakarpattia region populated almost entirely by ethnic Hungarians. And as Orbán threatens to veto plans to begin EU accession negotiations for Ukraine next week, Ukraine’s small Hungarian community is in the spotlight.

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Chinese weather balloon spotted near Taiwan a month ahead of presidential election

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Chinese military aircraft including 12 fighter jets also detected in Taiwan’s air defence zone in past 24 hours

Taiwan’s defence ministry has said that a Chinese balloon crossed the Taiwan Strait median line on Thursday, about a month before Taiwan’s presidential election.

The ministry of national defence (MND) earlier described it as a “surveillance balloon” but the defence minister, Chiu Kuo-cheng later told reporters at parliament: “our initial understanding is that it was a sounding balloon”.

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Suspect in Las Vegas university shooting named as college professor

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Anthony Polito, 67, who died at scene of shooting that left three dead and one critically wounded, had unsuccessfully sought job

The four people shot at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, campus on Thursday were all faculty members, the university has said.

Three people died and one person was critically wounded in the shooting. The suspect in the attack, which took place at approximately 11.45am, has been named as a college professor who had failed to win a job there, according to police officials.

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Rishi Sunak claims new Rwanda asylum bill will prevent legal challenges

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Prime minister holds emergency press conference to try to regain control over immigration debate as Tory rebellion grows

Rishi Sunak was forced into a desperate defence of his new Rwanda asylum law as he battled to hold together the fractured Conservative party amid speculation that he could face a challenge to his position.

The prime minister told an emergency Downing Street press conference that he would “finish the job” of getting his controversial deportation plan off the ground despite criticism from the Tory right and anxiety among centrist MPs.

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Erdoğan hails ‘new era’ of friendship with Greece on historic visit to Athens

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President of Turkey signs friendship accord, saying longtime foes could provide ‘an example to the world’

Greece and Turkey have sought to put years of tensions behind them with a friendship accord signed during a historic visit to Athens by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The two Nato members – longtime foes in the air and sea – agreed to reset ties, sealing a “declaration on good neighbourly relations” which, it is hoped, will pave the way to settling disputes that have defied resolution for decades, including over undersea energy resources and the divided island of Cyprus.

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US chocolate mogul charged over deaths of Canadian animator and partner in Dominica

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Jonathan Lehrer, 57, and alleged accomplice appear in court after bodies of Daniel Langlois and Dominique Marchand were found

An American chocolatier and his alleged accomplice have been charged in the Caribbean island of Dominica with the murder of a Canadian animation innovator and eco-resort owner and his partner days after their bodies were found in a burned-out car.

Jonathan Lehrer, 57, and Robert Snider appeared in magistrates court in Roseau, the capital, on Wednesday to face charges relating to the murders of Daniel Langlois and Dominique Marchand. They did not enter a plea.

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US to conduct flights within Guyana amid Venezuela territorial dispute

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US and Britain express support for Guyana over Maduro threat to seize a third of its territory while Brazil calls for peaceful solution

The United States has said it would conduct flight operations within Guyana that build on its routine engagement, as Britain and Brazil expressed concerns about growing border tensions between Guyana and Venezuela.

The long-running spat over the oil-rich Essequibo region, which is being heard by the international court of justice (ICJ), escalated over the weekend when voters in Venezuela rejected the ICJ’s jurisdiction and backed the creation of a new Venezuelan state.

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IDF instructions on Gaza refuge zones cruel ‘mirage’, say aid agencies

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Those who have fled to ‘humanitarian zone’ in south-west Gaza bemoan total lack of shelter and barely any food

Instructions from Israeli forces telling Gaza civilians where to seek refuge and humanitarian relief have given contradictory recommendations, while aid agencies and Palestinians who have heeded them describe the offer of safety as a cruel “mirage” amid an intensifying military campaign.

Those who have fled to a “humanitarian zone” declared by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) at al-Mawasi, a Bedouin settlement on sand dunes in the south-west corner of the Gaza Strip, have depicted a desperate scene with no shelter and barely any food. The IDF, meanwhile, has not ruled out bombing the area, claiming that rockets were fired from there, most recently on Wednesday.

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Tesla loses legal action in Sweden as dispute with Nordic unions escalates

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Court decides postal service does not have to deliver licence plates, for now, in latest twist in row over collective bargaining

Tesla has lost a legal action against Sweden’s postal service as a dispute with Nordic trade unions escalates.

A Swedish court said on Thursday that PostNord did not, for the time being, need to deliver licence plates to the electric carmaker that were being blocked by the postal service’s workers, in the latest twist in a battle over collective bargaining agreements.

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Nikki Haley says TikTok makes people ‘17% more antisemitic, more pro-Hamas’

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Republican presidential contender mocked for claim about Chinese-owned app during primary debate on Wednesday night

The former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley claimed during the Republican presidential primary debate on Wednesday that watching TikTok made people “17% more antisemitic, more pro-Hamas” every 30 minutes.

“We really do need to ban TikTok once and for all and let me tell you why,” Haley said. “For every 30 minutes that someone watches TikTok every day they become 17% more antisemitic, more pro-Hamas based on doing that.”

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Two arrested in France over alleged bedbug pest control scam

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Pair accused of charging elderly householders between €300 and €2,100 for services they did not need

French police have arrested two men on suspicion of fraud after they allegedly sold bedbug pest control services for large sums to elderly people who did not need them.

The two men, operating in eastern France, phoned their victims, usually women over 90, telling them there had been a bedbug infestation in their neighbourhood, authorities said.

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Plant fossils turn out to be turtles in ‘unusual misidentification’

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Re-examination finds what were taken to be veins of leaves are actually bone growth patterns

Two small, oval fossils thought to be prehistoric plants are actually the remains of baby marine turtles, researchers have revealed.

The fossils, found in rocks dating to between 132 and 113 million years ago, were discovered in Colombia in the middle of the 20th century by Padre Gustavo Huerta, a priest with a penchant for fossil plants.

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Israel pounds ‘250 Gaza targets in a day’ as UN chief warns order may break down

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Twenty people killed in airstrikes that hit two homes in Rafah, a town to which IDF told Palestinians to flee

Israel’s military has continued its heavy bombardment amid intense fighting in Gaza as its war with Hamas hit the two-month mark and the resulting humanitarian crisis threatened a breakdown of public order.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they had struck about 250 targets in Gaza over a 24-hour period, ending on Thursday morning.

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HIV vaccine trial in Africa halted after disappointing initial results

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African-led trial ended a year early as researchers conclude there is ‘little or no chance’ new combination vaccines cut HIV risk

The first trial in Africa of two combination vaccines to prevent HIV has been halted after researchers concluded it was not working.

The vaccines (part of the PrEPVacc study) were being tested on 1,500 people aged between 18 and 40 in Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa.

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