At least 130 people also injured, says president, with Kharkiv apartment block and Kyiv sports club among buildings hit
Russia has carried out a wave of attacks on Ukraine, killing 18 people and injuring more than 130, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said, with a sports club in central Kyiv one of several civilian buildings damaged.
Making his nightly video address on Tuesday, the Ukrainian president said more than 200 sites were struck, including 139 dwellings.
Continue reading...António Guterres says denial of Palestinian state will embolden extremists at highly charged security council debate
Israel’s “clear and repeated rejection of the two-state solution” is unacceptable, and could only prolong the conflict in Gaza, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, has said, at the launch of a highly charged security council debate focusing on aid shipments to Gaza.
Gutteres told the meeting in New York on Monday that the denial of a Palestinian state will only embolden extremists everywhere and indefinitely extend the conflict.
Continue reading...Police arrest 29-year-old after he tells tower block fire inquiry he was trying to dispose of body of man he had strangled
Police in South Africa have arrested a man who claimed responsibility for starting a fire that killed 76 people last year, after he said he ignited the blaze while trying to dispose of the body of a man he had strangled.
The shocking and unexpected confession came when the man was testifying at an inquiry into the causes of the fire in August at an apartment building in downtown Johannesburg, which was one of South Africa’s worst disasters.
Continue reading...Three people questioned on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter after collision in Pamiers, south of Toulouse
A woman and her teenage daughter have died in southern France after a car hit a roadblock where they were standing. The blockade had been set up by farmers taking part in growing anti-government protests.
The 35-year-old woman and her 14-year-old daughter were killed at 5.45am when a car went through a warning barrage and collided at speed with bales of straw piled up to stop traffic in Pamiers, Ariège, to the south of Toulouse.
Continue reading...Canadian court rules government was ‘unreasonable’ when it used sweeping powers to block truckers protesting against Covid rules
A Canadian court has ruled that Justin Trudeau’s government was not justified when it used sweeping powers to break up what the prime minister called “illegal and dangerous” protest blockades across the country two years ago.
A federal court found on Tuesday the government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act in response to the so-called freedom convoy protests “was not justified in relation to the relevant factual and legal constraints that were required to be taken into consideration”.
Continue reading...Survivors taken to hospital after aircraft carrying group of heli-skiers went down in rugged backcountry on Monday afternoon
Three people have been killed and four others left in critical condition after a helicopter carrying a group of skiers crashed in the Canadian province of British Columbia.
The downed aircraft was one of three helicopters carrying heli-skiers into the rugged backcountry, when it went down around at about 4.15pm PT on Monday, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement.
Continue reading...Polls open in state’s primary in what may be last chance Republicans have to stop ex-president from securing nomination
New Hampshire held its primary on Tuesday, seen by many as the last chance for Republicans to stop Donald Trump seizing their presidential nomination for a third time, as Nikki Haley chased an upset.
Would New Hampshire voters stand by Trump, the winner in Iowa last week, or would they put Haley in striking distance or even hand her a win?
Continue reading...This blog is now closed. You can read our latest reporting here:
We are a ways out from the 5 November election itself, but after today’s primary in New Hampshire the election events start coming thick and fast until we reach Super Tuesday on 5 March. If you need it, here is a handy timeline of how the process unfolds throughout the year.
Former US secretary of labor Robert Reich has written for the Guardian today, and is scathing about what he says is the way that the media are making a big deal of Trump’s performance in the campaign so far:
Continue reading...UN agency calls for ‘urgent vaccination efforts’ in region to prevent further spread of disease
The World Health Organization has issued an urgent warning over measles after an “alarming” 30-fold rise in cases across Europe.
The UN agency reported an enormous increase in numbers affected by the disease, which it said had “accelerated in recent months”. More than 30,000 cases were reported between January and October last year, compared with 941 cases in the whole of 2022 – a more than 30-fold rise.
Continue reading...Arrest at president’s residence of Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik, of Law and Justice party, had sparked bitter political row
Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, said he had pardoned two jailed politicians from the opposition populist Law and Justice (PiS) party, which lost its majority in October elections, and called for their immediate release.
The former interior minister Mariusz Kamiński and his ex-deputy, Maciej Wąsik, were imprisoned this month after being detained in the presidential palace. Their arrests sparked large protests by PiS supporters and both began hunger strikes claiming to be “political prisoners”.
An earlier headline said the two pardoned men were former politicians. They are, in fact, current politicians and the headline has been corrected.
Continue reading...Digital ‘warfare’ included manipulating voices and images of celebrities such as Margot Robbie and Nicolas Cage
Disinformation attacks in 2023 targeted European democracy but also media outlets and LGBTQ+ organisations, and involved the malicious manipulation of the images and voices of celebrities such as Margot Robbie and Nicolas Cage, an EU report has concluded.
The research, the EU’s second annual disinformation report, lifts the lid on digital weaponry deployed to undermine Ukraine, but also to spread fake news during elections in Poland and Spain.
Continue reading...Vote leaves Hungary as only country still to ratify application made in response to Russian invasion of Ukraine
The Turkish parliament has given its long-awaited approval to Sweden’s membership of Nato, bringing the Nordic country significantly closer to joining the western military alliance after months in limbo.
Three months after Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish president, submitted a bill on approving membership to parliament, MPs voted in favour of ratifying it late on Tuesday night.
Continue reading...UK, US and others use universal periodic review to speak out over Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong
The UK, the US and several other countries criticised China’s human rights record on Tuesday as the country was subjected to rare scrutiny of its policies at the United Nations.
The UK called on China to “cease the persecution and arbitrary detention of Uyghurs and Tibetans and allow genuine freedom of religion or belief and cultural expression without fear of surveillance, torture, forced labour or sexual violence”, while the US said China should “release all arbitrarily detained individuals” and cease the operation of “forcible assimilation policies including boarding schools in Tibet and Xinjiang”.
Continue reading...Court rules in favour of pulling funding for Die Heimat because it sets out to undermine Germany democracy
A court decision to cut state funding to a minor far-right political party in Germany has sparked calls for similar rules to be applied to the much more significant rightwing populist AfD, which is at the centre of a storm over immigration policy.
The constitutional court ruled in favour of stopping public funding to the party Die Heimat (the homeland), successor to the National Democratic Party, NPD from 2023.
Continue reading...Traces of DNA found on lumps of tree resin suggest trout and hazelnuts were popular 10,000 years ago
DNA from a type of “chewing gum” used by teenagers in Sweden 10,000 years ago is shedding new light on the stone age diet and oral health, according to research.
The wads of gum are made from pieces of birch bark pitch, a tar-like black resin, and carry clearly visible teethmarks.
Continue reading...Deaths come as talks of ceasefire increase and pressure rises on Netanyahu over leadership and handling of war effort
Twenty-four Israeli soldiers were killed in Gaza on Monday, by far the biggest single-day Israeli death toll in the three-month war against Hamas, as talks about a ceasefire intensified and Palestinian casualties continued to climb.
The deaths came amid fierce fighting around the southern city of Khan Younis, with dozens of Palestinians killed and wounded. The Israeli casualties are likely to increase domestic pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu over his leadership and handling of the war effort.
Continue reading...Deal to free hostages could give boost to unpopular PM but concessions could cost him key allies’ support
As Israeli military casualties mount in Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu finds himself on the horns of a dilemma. The Israeli prime minister’s popularity has plummeted and polls suggest that in an immediate election his rightwing Likud party would lose half its seats to a resurgent centrist opposition.
Voters have not forgotten the glaring failures that allowed Hamas to attack southern Israel from Gaza on 7 October, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 240. But the lack of tangible results from the Israeli offensive in Gaza that was supposed to bring “total victory” over Hamas is now important too.
Continue reading...Houthi leaders reiterate commitment to targeting Israel-linked ships in Red Sea after attacks they say targeted Yemeni capital
Houthi leaders have vowed defiance in the face of a new wave of attacks they say targeted five governorates, including the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, and surrounding areas.
A Houthi army spokesperson, Brig Gen Yahya Saree, said the allied attacks would not go unpunished or unanswered. Houthi leaders also repeated that their threats to ships in the Red Sea were solely directed at stopping commercial ships trading with Israel due to its bombardment of Gaza. They insisted other ships had free passage. Some ships navigating the Red Sea have put out identifiers saying they are “not Israeli connected”.
Continue reading...Self-proclaimed pastor arrested over deaths of more than 200 people, most of whom had died of hunger
A Kenyan court has charged a cult leader and dozens of suspected accomplices with manslaughter over the deaths of more than 200 people.
Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and 94 other suspects, including his wife, pleaded not guilty to 238 counts of manslaughter, according to court documents seen by AFP.
Continue reading...PM rejects calls from MPs for Commons vote over military action as pressure grows to clarify long-term strategy on Red Sea crisis
Rishi Sunak has warned there could be further bombing of Yemen if Houthi attacks on shipping continue, as he came under mounting pressure from MPs to clarify Britain’s long-term strategy for tackling the deepening crisis.
The prime minister told parliament that a second round of RAF airstrikes, conducted on Monday night with the US, were taken in self-defence and rejected calls for MPs to be allowed a vote on whether to endorse the military action.
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