Category Archives: World News

Hair, makeup and hopefully a sister back home: Palestinians await prisoner release

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With 42 women and children set to be released under the ceasefire deal, hopes for family reunions are running high in the West Bank

The daughters of the Awad family were busy dressing up at their home in Qalandiya, on the West Bank side of the notorious checkpoint, on Saturday evening. Hair was curled and eyeliner applied; all four chose outfits in black and white to match their Palestinian keffiyeh scarves. The celebration was to mark the unexpected release of their big sister, Noorhan, 24, from prison in Israel. She was jailed eight years ago; the youngest, 10-year-old Mayar, does not remember her.

Their community centre was decked out with Palestinian flags and posters of Noorhan and two other young people from the neighbourhood. “So much has changed since Noorhan was home last,” said her mother Sumaya. “We are so excited. I don’t want to hope too much.”

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Keir Starmer open to return of Parthenon marbles, reports say

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Labour leader gives strongest hint yet of support for loan deal with Greece if his party wins next election

The Greek government has been assured by Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour party, that in the event of electoral victory next year he will not block a prospective arrangement to return the Parthenon marbles to Athens.

Speaking through aides before talks in London with the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Starmer gave his strongest hint yet of his support for a loan deal that would see the antiquities return to the country where they were carved 2,500 years ago.

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Hamas says it will delay next hostage releases over Gaza aid dispute

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Second brokered release will not happen until Israel allows aid trucks to enter northern Gaza, says militant group

Hamas’s armed wing said they will delay Saturday’s brokered second release of hostages until Israel allows aid trucks to enter northern Gaza.

The announcement comes a day after the release of dozens of hostages held by militants, as well as Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, as part of a deal brokered by Qatar with the support of the US which has brought about a temporary pause in hostilities.

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Almost £300,000 raised for delivery driver who intervened in Dublin attack

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Brazilian Deliveroo worker Caio Benicio used motorbike helmet to hit assailant who was attacking children outside a school

Almost £300,000 has been raised for a delivery driver who intervened in an attack by a man suspected of attacking children outside a school in Dublin.

Caio Benicio was on his motorbike in Dublin city centre when he spotted the attack on Thursday. He said he used his helmet to hit the assailant “with all my power”.

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Critics of Napoleon epic have fallen for emperor’s fibs, says film’s military expert

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The ex-para who advised Ridley Scott on the new movie’s battle scenes claims historians who attacked it have fallen for Bonaparte’s own hype

Critics of the “damaging” and “inaccurate” portrayal of Napoleon Bonaparte in Ridley Scott’s new cinematic epic Napoleon are just victims of the French emperor’s enduring propaganda, according to the military adviser behind the film’s vast battle scenes.

Paul Biddiss claims that “Old Boney”, as he was known to the Duke of Wellington’s British troops, was promoted largely because he elaborated on his own successes. Bonaparte’s fibs impressed all France and intimidated his enemies – until, that is, he met his Waterloo in 1815.

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Israeli boy embraces family members in hospital corridor after hostage release

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Video shows Ohad Munder, nine, running into father’s arms as total of 24 people freed by Hamas in prisoner exchange

The moment a Rubik’s-cube-loving boy who spent his ninth birthday as a hostage in Gaza was freed from captivity on the first day of a four-day truce and prisoner exchange has been captured on video.

Footage released by the Schneider children’s medical centre showed Ohad Munder running through a hospital corridor into his father’s arms as the pair were reunited after almost 50 days without any contact.

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Hospital tests on Pope Francis rule out respiratory problems

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Pope cancelled Saturday activities due to ‘light flu’ a week before key climate address

Pope Francis has undergone hospital tests after he came down with the flu but the results ruled out any respiratory problems, the Vatican said.

Francis, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, underwent a Cat scan, the Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, said.

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Who are the first hostages released from Gaza?

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Hamas released 24 hostages on Friday, including 13 Israelis, one Filipino man and 10 Thai citizens

The group of hostages brought out of Gaza on the first day of the ceasefire with Israel included 13 Israelis, 10 Thai citizens and one Filipino man.

The Israeli hostages included four children with female relatives, who were all visiting family at Nir Oz kibbutz when Hamas attacked on 7 October, and five elderly women, four of them residents of Nir Oz and one from a nearby kibbutz.

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Madagascar’s Andry Rajoelina re-elected after boycotted presidential poll

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Ten of the dozen other candidates had refused to campaign and called on voters to shun the ballot

The president of Madagascar, Andry Rajoelina, has been re-elected in the first round of a ballot boycotted by nearly all opposition candidates, the national election commission said.

Rajoelina won 58.95% of the votes cast in the 16 November presidential election, according to figures presented by the poll body, although the result needs to be validated by the constitutional court.

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Indian rescue workers try new shaft after drilling stalls near trapped men

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Efforts to free 41 workers stuck in tunnel for almost two weeks hit another setback as earth-boring machine breaks down

Indian rescue workers have brought in a new digging machine to open a vertical shaft to free 41 men trapped inside a collapsed road tunnel, after efforts via another route hit a snag metres away from them.

In the latest setback in attempts to rescue the increasingly desperate workers, who have been trapped for almost two weeks, engineers driving a metal pipe through 57 metres (187ft) of rock and concrete ran into metal rods and construction vehicles buried in the earth.

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Pakistan: shopping mall fire in Karachi kills at least 11 people

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Deadly blaze that began on fourth floor of six-storey building in commercial capital leaves 35 injured

At least 11 people have been killed and 35 injured in a fire at a shopping mall in Pakistan’s commercial capital of Karachi, officials said.

More than 60 people were inside the mall when the fire broke out on the fourth floor of the six-storey building in the southern port city.

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‘Everybody is crying’: Thai relatives welcome release of hostages by Hamas

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Group of nine men and one woman being treated in hospital before returning to Thailand to reunite with families

The 10 Thai hostages released on Friday are now being supervised in an Israeli hospital, the Thai government has said, adding that a further 20 of its nationals are still being held hostage.

In a statement, Thailand’s ministry of foreign affairs said the 10, who were among 24 hostages freed on Friday hours after a ceasefire was implemented, were now being accompanied by embassy officials and were staying at Shamir medical centre, south-east of Tel Aviv.

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Sunak risks ripping up Good Friday agreement over Rwanda, senior Tories say

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Concerns echo White House remarks that blocking human rights laws could undermine Northern Ireland peace process

Rishi Sunak risks ripping up the Northern Ireland peace process if he blocks human rights laws so the UK can deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, senior Conservatives have said.

After similar concerns from the White House on Thursday, the MPs said widely reported plans from Downing Street to disregard parts of the Human Rights Act could undermine the Good Friday agreement and damage UK-US relations.

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‘I won’t believe it until I see it’: Palestinians gather to greet freed prisoners

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Families await possible reunion with detained women and children as Israel reportedly releases 39 in ceasefire deal

As the sun began to set on Friday, thousands of Palestinians gathered at an Israeli checkpoint north of Jerusalem, next to the notorious Ofer military prison, in the hopes that imprisoned loved ones would return home as part of a ceasefire deal in the seven-week-old war between Israel and Hamas.

Qatari officials said 39 Palestinian women and children held in Israeli jails were released on Friday night. That came in exchange for the safe return of 13 Israelis held in the Gaza Strip as hostages since Hamas attacked communities in the south of the country last month, sparking the deadliest round of fighting in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict to date.

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‘It’s not yet post-traumatic stress disorder … we’re still in it’: Israel, a nation at war

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Jonathan Freedland talks to survivors, displaced people and senior political and military figures about life in Israel before and after 7 October, and considers the longer-term ramifications

• Israel-Hamas war – latest updates

The war is paused, but it is not over.

There will be relief at the promised four days of quiet between Israel and Hamas, and there will be joy for the families waiting to be reunited with loved ones, thanks to Friday’s exchange of hostages held in Gaza for prisoners held in Israel.

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‘It brings hope’: in Tel Aviv plaza, cheers greet news of hostage release

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Hundreds waiting in ‘Hostages Square’ sing songs as the names of those being released filter out

In the heart of Tel Aviv, several hundred people waited in the plaza now called Hostages Square. As darkness fell the mood was melancholic but hopeful as people waited for a confirmation that 13 women and children held by Hamas had been freed as planned. Then came a cheer as news of their release was confirmed.

People sang Shabbat or old folklore songs as they waited outside the Museum of Art, where among the most poignant displays was an empty dinner table, surrounded by 240 empty seats, representing each of the missing hostages, not just the handful in the slow process of coming home.

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Canada oil and gas firms to drill 8% more wells next year as emissions target slips

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Producers take advantage of new shipping options, including government-owned Trans Mountain pipeline, to boost exports

Oil and gas producers say they will drill 8% more wells in Canada next year as they look to take advantage of new shipping options, including a controversial government-owned pipeline.

Amid forecasts that Canada is not on target to reach its emissions reductions goals, on Friday the Canadian Association of Energy Contractors (CAOEC) predicted nearly 500 more wells next year, to 6,229 projects.

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Biden hails arrest in Mexico of notorious Sinaloa cartel enforcer ‘El Nini’

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Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas provided protection for sons of Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán and allegedly fed rivals to pet Bengal tigers

The US president, Joe Biden, and his top justice department official have welcomed the arrest in Mexico of Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas, known as “El Nini”, allegedly the notorious head of security – and assassination – for the Chapitos wing of the Sinaloa cartel.

The security chief is accused of leaving a trail of murder and torture, including feeding rivals to pet Bengal tigers, and running a security operation known as Los Ninis, “a particularly violent group of security personnel for the Chapitos”, according to the US government, whose members “received military-style training in multiple areas of combat, including urban warfare, special weapons and tactics, and sniper proficiency”.

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‘It’s scary’: residents in Rotterdam reflect on Geert Wilders’ election win

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Wilders’ far-right party won the most seats in Dutch election, though many in this diverse city say they can understand why

In this tiny plaza, still plastered with posters urging voters to back the minority rights party Denk, the yawning divide between voters in Rotterdam’s diverse Feijenoord district was on full display.

On one side stood Nas Kosa, a Muslim who fears what might lie ahead after Geert Wilders’ far right, anti-Islam party surged to win more seats than any other party in Wednesday’s election.

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Thailand’s PM says 12 of its citizens held hostage by Hamas have been freed

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Srettha Thavisin confirms release of a dozen of at least 26 nationals being held after weeks of negotiations

A dozen of the 26 Thai nationals taken hostage by Hamas in the 7 October attacks in Israel have been released, Thailand’s prime minister has said.

Srettha Thavisin said on X he had received confirmation of their release, and that Thai embassy officials were going to pick them up.

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