Category Archives: World News

Parthenon marbles row raises fresh fears over fraught UK-EU relations

Posted on by

War of words between Athens and London escalates after Rishi Sunak’s snub to Greek prime minister

Rishi Sunak’s snub of his Greek counterpart over the Parthenon marbles raised fresh questions about Britain’s fraught relations with its European neighbours as a war of words between Athens and London escalated on Tuesday.

A meeting on Tuesday between Sunak and Kyriakos Mitsotakis was cancelled because the Greek prime minister reneged on assurances that he would not use a UK visit as a “public platform” to lobby for the return of the marbles to Athens, Downing Street said. The Greek side has denied any such assurances were given.

Continue reading...

Haiti’s gang wars having ‘cataclysmic’ impact on access to food staples

Posted on by

About 22,000 people have been displaced amid murders, looting, kidnappings and widespread sexual violence, new UN report says

Haiti’s brutal gang wars have spread from the capital to key farming heartlands, displacing tens of thousands of people and having a devastating impact on access to food staples, the United Nations has warned.

Violence has gradually escalated in the Bas-Artibonite region north of the capital, the source of staples such as rice, according to a new report released on Tuesday, which said about 22,000 had been displaced amid murders, looting, kidnappings and widespread sexual violence.

Continue reading...

Boy held by Hamas ‘forced to watch videos of 7 October attacks’, says aunt

Posted on by

Recently released Eitan Yahalomi, 12, suffered ‘horrors’ at the hands of militant Palestinian group, according to family member

A 12-year-old boy who was held hostage in Gaza for 52 days was forced in captivity to watch videos of the 7 October atrocities, his aunt has claimed.

Eitan Yahalomi, a French-Israeli national, was kidnapped from the Nir Oz kibbutz with his father, Ohad Yahalomi, who remains captive.

Continue reading...

Jimmy Carter, Biden and Clintons pay tribute at Rosalynn Carter memorial

Posted on by

Jimmy Carter, 99, left hospice care at home for service for his late wife, but Trump, Obama and Bush did not attend

A tribute service for Rosalynn Carter took place on Tuesday, as politicians and public figures gathered to celebrate the former first lady’s life following her death last Sunday.

Former president Jimmy Carter, 99, attended the tribute for his late wife of 77 years, traveling from his hospice care at home to the Glenn Memorial church in Atlanta. His attendance marks a rare public appearance for the former president, who has been in home hospice care for 10 months.

Continue reading...

US university presidents to testify before Congress over claims of antisemitic protests on campuses

Posted on by

Heads of Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts Institute of Technology will be questioned

The presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, three of the country’s most prestigious universities, are set to testify before a congressional committee next week on claims that antisemitic protests have taken place on their campuses, marking the latest window into ongoing tensions sparked by the Israel-Hamas war.

Next Tuesday, Harvard’s Claudine Gay, Penn’s Liz Magill and MIT’s Sally Kornbluth will stand before the House education and workforce committee, a body chaired by Virginia Foxx, a Republican from North Carolina.

“Over the past several weeks, we’ve seen countless examples of antisemitic demonstrations on college campuses. Meanwhile, college administrators have largely stood by, allowing horrific rhetoric to fester and grow,” said Foxx in a statement introducing the hearing, which is titled Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism.

Continue reading...

Tantric yoga guru Gregorian Bivolaru charged with human trafficking

Posted on by

French authorities arrest Misa leader in major raid over claims of organised kidnapping, rape and abuse

French authorities have arrested the leader of a multinational tantric yoga organisation on suspicion of indoctrinating women for sexual exploitation.

The Romanian guru was detained on Tuesday morning during a major police operation across the Paris region, according to a French judicial official, who was not authorised to speak publicly about an ongoing investigation.

Continue reading...

France to ban smoking on all beaches in effort to create ‘tobacco-free generation’

Posted on by

Public parks, forests and areas near schools will also become smoke-free as part of nationwide move

France is to ban smoking on all beaches, as well as in public parks, forests and near schools, after Emmanuel Macron promised to create “the first tobacco-free generation” by 2032.

“From now on, no-smoking areas will be the norm,” said the health minister, Aurélien Rousseau.

Continue reading...

Ukraine spy chief’s wife recovering after being poisoned

Posted on by

Poisoning of Kyrylo Budanov’s wife, Marianna Budanova, suggests Moscow has undercover assets in Ukraine

The wife of Ukraine’s top spy chief is recovering in hospital after being poisoned, a spokesperson for the country’s military intelligence agency said on Tuesday, after apparently eating food laced with “heavy metals”.

Marianna Budanova is the wife of Kyrylo Budanov, who heads Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency. It is unclear when the alleged poisoning happened. She complained of feeling unwell and was admitted to hospital for tests.

Continue reading...

‘Historic moment’: Panama activists celebrate ruling against copper mine

Posted on by

Campaigners take to streets after supreme court ruling that could shut down contentious copper mining project

Environmental activists in Panama have taken to the streets to celebrate a ruling by the country’s supreme court which could shut down a contentious copper mining project and bring an end to weeks of mass protests which have paralysed the country’s major roads and ports.

“Today Panama celebrates a historic moment that we have been waiting for for years. At first there were only a few of us but now we all understand that Panama’s gold is green,” said Serena Vamvas, who has been protesting the mine since 2021 with Foundation My Sea (Fundación Mi Mar).

Continue reading...

Israeli intelligence leak details extent of warnings over Hamas attack

Posted on by

Officer who reviewed intelligence considered risk of big attack ‘an imaginary scenario’, leak suggests

Israel’s military and intelligence officials were given a highly detailed warning that Hamas was actively training to take over kibbutzim on the Gaza border and overrun military posts with the aim of inflicting substantial fatalities, according to reports in the Israeli media.

The claim made by Israel’s Channel 12 on Monday evening was based on leaked emails from the Israeli military’s 8200 cyber-intelligence unit discussing the warnings.

Continue reading...

Israel says 30 Palestinians released after 12 hostages returned from Gaza – as it happened

Posted on by

Israel says Palestinians have been freed after nine women, a child and two foreign nationals were handed to the Red Cross

Another batch of 10 Israeli hostages are expected to be released by Hamas today, in line with the extension of the ceasefire. The Guardian has been keeping track of those released so far here:

A London surgeon has described witnessing a “massacre unfold” during 43 days spent under bombardment in Gaza, saying the destruction of the Palestinian health system was a military objective of the war.

Continue reading...

Robert De Niro says anti-Trump speech censored at Gotham awards ceremony

Posted on by

Actor said that his address had been edited to remove polemic against falsifying history

Robert De Niro said that his speech at the Gotham awards in New York was censored without his knowledge due to his anti-Trump comments.

De Niro came to the stage as part of the Gotham historical icon and creator tribute for the Martin Scorsese-directed Killers of the Flower Moon, and after reading out some remarks about the film, said that the first part of his speech had been removed from the prompter.

Continue reading...

Former drug trafficker offers up island in hope of reduced sentence

Posted on by

Mafia informant Raffaele Imperiale hands over globe-shaped artificial isle to show willingness to cooperate

A former drug trafficker turned mafia informant has handed over an artificial island he owns off the coast of Dubai to the Italian authorities in the hope of receiving a reduced sentence.

The announcement was made during the trial in Naples on Monday, which involved about 20 defendants, including Raffaele Imperiale, nicknamed “the Van Gogh boss”, a notorious international drug trafficker for the Camorra, the Neapolitan mafia.

Continue reading...

All 41 Indian labourers rescued from collapsed tunnel

Posted on by

Workers pulled up through escape pipe after 17 days stuck in Silkyara-Barkot tunnel in Himalayan mountains

All 41 Indian labourers have been rescued after a gruelling 17 days trapped in a collapsed tunnel in the Himalayan mountains.

The dramatic scenes of the first men emerging on stretchers from the entrance of the Silkyara-Barkot tunnel came after more than 400 hours, during which the rescue operation hit multiple obstacles, delays and false promises of imminent rescue.

Continue reading...

Georgia prosecutors oppose plea deals for Trump, Meadows and Giuliani

Posted on by

Exclusive: sources say Fulton county prosecutors unwilling to offer deals to key trio, preferring instead to force them to trial

Fulton county prosecutors do not intend to offer plea deals to Donald Trump and at least two high-level co-defendants charged in connection with their efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, according to two people familiar with the matter, preferring instead to force them to trial.

The individuals seen as ineligible include Trump, his former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

Continue reading...

‘Sometimes you feel you’re in Palestine’: culture and cause burn brightly in Chile

Posted on by

Chile has the largest Palestinian diaspora outside the Middle East – and it is lending its considerable weight to the call for justice

Above canvas awnings along the narrow streets in Patronato, a busy commercial district in Chile’s capital, Palestinian flags hang from lampposts and frame warehouse doors.

Bakeries sell baklava, pita and falafel; and shelves are stacked with products imported from the Middle East, their ingredients hastily covered over with Spanish approximations.

Continue reading...

Greek leader declines meeting with UK deputy PM after Rishi Sunak’s snub

Posted on by

Kyriakos Mitsotakis ‘deeply disappointed’ after Sunak talks cancelled amid Parthenon sculptures row

The Greek prime minister has declined a meeting with the UK deputy prime minster, Oliver Dowden, after it was offered in place of talks with Rishi Sunak, amid an escalating row over repatriation of the Parthenon sculptures.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Greece’s prime minister, said he was “deeply disappointed” by the abrupt cancellation of a meeting on Monday with Sunak in London, at which he had planned to raise the issue of the sculptures.

Continue reading...

More Israeli hostages and Palestinians freed as ceasefire extension agreed

Posted on by

Celebrations as Hamas releases 11 hostages from Gaza in exchange for 33 Palestinians in Israeli jails as truce extended by two days

Eleven more Israeli hostages have been freed from Gaza in return for dozens of Palestinians held in Israeli jails, as the two sides agreed to extend the existing ceasefire by two days.

Hamas released the hostages – nine children and two women – late on Monday, with all of them from the Nir Oz kibbutz, according to officials from the community. A further release in return for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails is scheduled to take place later on Tuesday.

Continue reading...

Chinese fashion giant Shein has filed paperwork to float on US stock market – reports

Posted on by

Company last month hoped for a valuation of $80-$90bn, according to reports, making it the largest initial public offering (IPO) in years

Fast fashion giant Shein has reportedly lodged confidential paperwork with US securities regulators, informing them of an intention to go public in the US.

The listing would likely be the largest initial public offering (IPO) in years.

Continue reading...

Princess Latifa abduction ordeal to be turned into TV drama

Posted on by

British writer Lindsay Shapero working with former friend of Latifa on four-part series called The Escape

If a screenwriter were to write a fictional drama about a 21st-century princess’s escape, recapture, imprisonment and release, it might be dismissed as too unbelievable. But the real-life story of Dubai’s Princess Latifa and her escape, recapture, imprisonment and release has inspired a new drama.

A four-part series titled The Escape will go into production next year. Its award-winning British writer, Lindsay Shapero, has been working closely with Tiina Jauhiainen, who as Latifa’s close friend helped her flee Dubai in 2018, only for both women to be forcibly returned and interrogated.

Continue reading...