Category Archives: World News

China closing hundreds of mosques in northern regions, rights group says

Posted on by

HRW says other mosques altered, for example through removal of minarets, as part of sinicisation campaign

Chinese authorities have closed or altered hundreds of mosques in the northern regions of Ningxia and Gansu, homes to the highest Muslim populations in China after Xinjiang, as part of broader efforts to “sinicise” China’s religious minorities, according to a report.

Researchers at Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the Chinese government was significantly reducing the number of mosques in Ningxia autonomous region and Gansu province.

Continue reading...

Video captures California officer fatally shooting aspiring actor on freeway

Posted on by

Officials launch inquiry as victim identified as Jesse Dominguez, 34, who family says may have been in mental health crisis

A California highway patrol officer fatally shot a man on Sunday during a confrontation in the middle of a Los Angeles highway, state authorities said as they announced an investigation into the incident.

The Los Angeles county medical examiner’s office on Tuesday identified the man as Jesse Dominguez. The 34-year-old was walking along the westbound lanes of Interstate 105 in south Los Angeles county when the deadly encounter unfolded, the California highway patrol said.

Continue reading...

Israeli strikes on Lebanon kill eight including journalists and Hamas official

Posted on by

Broadcaster accuses Israel of targeting its journalists as death toll in Lebanon from rising hostilities surpasses 80

Two Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon have killed eight people, including two journalists working for a Lebanese TV channel and a senior Hamas official, according to Lebanese state media and official sources.

The deaths bring those killed in Lebanon since the beginning of hostilities along the border to more than 80 people, mostly fighters from the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

Continue reading...

Netanyahu meeting with ministers amid signs hostage deal to be approved

Posted on by

‘I hope there will be good news soon’, says Israeli PM of potential deal for release of some of those held by Hamas

Benjamin Netanyahu was meeting his most senior ministers on Tuesday evening amid strong indications his government was due to approve a deal for the release of some of the more than 240 mostly Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

“We are making progress. I don’t think it’s worth saying too much, not at even this moment, but I hope there will be good news soon,” the Israeli prime minister, told reservists during a visit to an army base on Tuesday afternoon, but did not provide further details.

Continue reading...

French MP says she feared a heart attack after drink was spiked with ecstasy

Posted on by

Sandrine Josso has accused senator Joël Guerriau of giving her a glass of champagne spiked with drug

A French member of parliament who was allegedly drugged by a senator has described “trembling and sweating” and fearing she was having a heart attack after drinking champagne spiked with ecstasy.

Sandrine Josso, 48, an MP for the centrist MoDem party, spoke out in two television interviews, saying she was “still in a state of shock” after the alleged incident last week.

Continue reading...

‘Breakthrough battery’ from Sweden may cut dependency on China

Posted on by

Northvolt says new lithium-free sodium-ion battery is cheaper, more sustainable and doesn’t rely on scarce raw materials

Europe’s energy and electric vehicle industries could reduce their dependency on scarce raw materials from China after the launch of a “breakthrough” sodium-ion battery, according to its Swedish developer.

Northvolt, Europe’s only large homegrown electric battery maker, has said it has made a lower cost, more sustainable battery designed to store electricity which does not use lithium, nickel, graphite and cobalt.

Continue reading...

‘Extremely venomous’ green mamba on the loose in Netherlands

Posted on by

Police in southern city of Tilburg tell residents to stay indoors after owner reported missing snake

An “extremely venomous” 2-metre green mamba snake is on the loose in the Netherlands, police have said, warning residents to stay indoors and under no circumstances attempt to ensnare the serpent.

Police in the southern city of Tilburg said they were alerted by the mamba’s owner on Monday evening that “he was missing a snake”.

Continue reading...

Three arrested over shooting of former rightwing politician in Madrid

Posted on by

British woman said to be among those held after Alejo Vidal-Quadras was shot in the face on a busy street

Spanish police investigating the attempted killing of a former rightwing politician who was shot in the face on a busy Madrid street almost two weeks ago have arrested three people including a British woman, according to official sources.

Alejo Vidal-Quadras, a former leader of the conservative People’s party (PP) in Catalonia who joined the far-right Vox party in 2014, was attacked in the affluent Salamanca district of the Spanish capital at about 1.30pm local time (1230 GMT) on Thursday 9 November.

Continue reading...

Girl, two, dies and eight missing after boat sinks off Lampedusa in Italy

Posted on by

Coastguard and fishing boat rescue dozens, including girl who later died, with search ongoing

A two-year-old girl has died and other eight people were reported missing after a boat carrying about 50 people across the central Mediterranean sank in waters off the coast of Lampedusa, Italian authorities said.

The Italian coastguard, aided by a local fishing boat, managed to rescue 42 people on Monday, including the baby girl, but she subsequently died onboard a rescue vessel en route to the island, the Italian foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, said on Tuesday.

Continue reading...

Rapists and kidnappers increasingly targeting migrants crossing Darién Gap

Posted on by

As record numbers make the perilous journey between Colombia and Panama, Médecins Sans Frontières is treating far more survivors of sexual violence, including children

Armed bandits are exploiting the record number of people crossing the Darién Gap – a 100km stretch of jungle connecting Colombia and Panama – to kidnap and rape desperate migrants, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

The organisation said it treated 397 survivors of sexual violence this year – many of them children – once they safely reached Panama. There have been reports of “group rapes in tents set up for that purpose in the mountainous rainforest and swampland”.

Continue reading...

Israeli cabinet approves deal with for pause in fighting – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed. Follow the latest news and updates from the Israel-Hamas war in our new live blog here.

Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has produced the deadliest month for journalists since statistics began more than three decades ago, and created a news blackout in the embattled territory, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said.

The reporters’ watchdog has recorded the deaths of 48 reporters since Hamas embarked on a murderous killing spree in Israel on 7 October, triggering a concerted Israeli bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza in response.

Continue reading...

More than 10,000 civilians killed in Ukraine in war, UN says; Berlin unveils £1.1bn military aid package – as it happened

Posted on by

UN says expects real toll to be significantly higher than official tally; Germany to send IRIS-T air defence unit, defence minister Boris Pistorius says. This live blog is closed

Russia cannot coexist with the current “regime” in Kyiv but Moscow can resist the might of Nato for as long as it needs to fully demilitarise Ukraine, a senior Russian diplomat said on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

“The current regime [in Kyiv] is absolutely toxic, we do not see any options for coexistence with it at the moment,” Russian ambassador-at-large Rodion Miroshnik told reporters in Moscow.

Continue reading...

Final day of campaigning for Dutch politicians as election nears – as it happened

Posted on by

The country’s six main party leaders confronted each other in Rotterdam on Monday night in a TV debate. This live blog is closed

The Dutch housing market is one of the top issues in this week’s election, writes Senay Boztas.

According to I&O research, 86% of Dutch people believe there is a housing “crisis”, and there are 390,000 more house seekers than there are homes.

Continue reading...

Orphaned mountain lion sisters find new home at California zoo

Posted on by

Willow and Maple, whose mother was hit by car on highway, were dehydrated and underweight when they were found in backyard

The two sisters are tiny – only five and a half pounds, and about two months old. They have giant eyes and mottled patches on their fur. Found in a backyard five days after their mother was hit on Highway 280 in northern California, the mountain lions headed to a new home at the Oakland zoo last week.

The sisters, now named Willow and Maple, were hungry and tired after not eating for five days. The cubs were visibly dehydrated, and underweight, and were checked for parasites and viruses by veterinarians, zoo officials said.

Continue reading...

Hamas leader says militant group ‘close’ to truce agreement with Israel

Posted on by

Deal could include limited ceasefire and exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners

Ismail Haniyeh, the most senior political leader of Hamas, has said a truce agreement with Israel may be close, raising hopes of both a pause in the Israeli offensive in Gaza and the release of at least some of the Israeli hostages the militant organisation is holding there.

“We are close to reaching a deal on a truce,” Haniyeh said, and the group had delivered its response to Qatari mediators.

Continue reading...

Christmas convoy to cheer up Filipino troops on disputed shoal ‘ill advised’

Posted on by

Security officials in Philippines warn against planned trip by dozens of boats, saying it risks stirring tensions with China

A planned Christmas convoy of dozens of boats aiming to bring the festive spirit to Filipino troops on a disputed shoal has been described as “ill advised” by the country’s security officials, who warned of heightened tensions with Beijing in the South China Sea.

The national security council in the Philippines has advised against the proposed trip, warning it is a time of “heightened tensions”.

Continue reading...

Tails I win: coin toss sends North Carolina candidate into mayor’s office

Posted on by

Robert Burns and Bob Yanacsek tie for 970 votes in race for Monroe mayor – and Burns wins it after Yanacsek incorrectly calls heads

In US politics, the slimmer the margins, the crazier things can get. And that reality has vaulted the winner of a coin flip into the mayor’s office of a North Carolina city.

The new mayor of Monroe, Robert Burns, and the runner-up, Bob Yanacsek, had signed up to run alongside three other candidates in a 7 November election that generated low voter turnout.

Continue reading...

In climate-vulnerable New Orleans, residents face battle to lower carbon emissions

Posted on by

Amid the heat and humidity, energy bills in New Orleans are surging – but the options for low-income residents are severely limited

Darlene Jones spends most of her time holed up in the bedroom to minimize the amount of electricity she uses to cool and light her home in downtown New Orleans.

Air seeps out from the doors and windows of the 1890 one-bedroom shotgun house – and through the bashed-up floorboards and ceiling that Jones cannot afford to repair. She has wrapped foam around the leaky air-conditioning pipes, and taped handwritten signs on the front door above the metal letterbox that read “Please close the slot”.

Continue reading...

First images show Indian workers trapped in collapsed tunnel

Posted on by

Some of the 41 men stuck for over a week seen standing in confined space as rescuers prepare to resume drilling

The first images have emerged of 41 men trapped for more than a week in a highway tunnel in the Indian Himalayas, showing them standing in the confined space and communicating with rescue workers.

The men have been stuck in the 3-mile (4.5km) tunnel in Uttarakhand state since it caved in on 12 November and are safe, authorities said, with access to light, oxygen, food, water and medicines.

Continue reading...

Woman’s death during Brazilian butt lift surgery prompts UK-Turkey meeting

Posted on by

Melissa Kerr from Norfolk died on day of buttock enlargement surgery at private hospital in Istanbul in 2019

UK officials are to meet with counterparts in Turkey after the death of a British woman during so-called Brazilian butt lift surgery at a private hospital in Istanbul.

Melissa Kerr, 31, from Gorleston in Norfolk, travelled to the private Medicana Haznedar hospital for the buttock enlargement surgery in 2019.

Continue reading...