Category Archives: World News

Taiwan opposition parties deadlocked over presidential candidate

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Two parties, KMT and TPP, are trying to decide which should field candidate for president and which for vice-president

A potential joint ticket for Taiwan’s presidency by the two main opposition parties was in disarray after the smaller of the two said no consensus had been reached on how to use opinion polls to make that decision.

After weeks of sometimes acrimonious talks on joining up for the presidential election, the Kuomintang (KMT) and the much smaller Taiwan People’s party (TPP) agreed on Wednesday to look at an aggregate of opinion polls to decide which party’s candidate would run as president and which as vice-president.

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Ukrainian teenagers win peace prize for developing apps to help young refugees

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Sofia Tereshchenko, Anastasiia Feskova, and Anastasiia Demchenko awarded 2023 International Children’s Peace prize

Three Ukrainian teenagers who developed apps for children who have fled war have been awarded this year’s International Children’s Peace prize at a ceremony in London.

Sofia Tereshchenko, 18, Anastasiia Feskova, 17, and Anastasiia Demchenko, 17, were awarded the prize for developing a pair of apps for refugee children.

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IDF evidence so far falls well short of al-Shifa hospital being Hamas HQ

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Footage to date fails to prove Gaza complex was nerve centre for attacks on Israel, as military has claimed

• Israel-Hamas war – latest updates

Prior to their capture of Dar al-Shifa hospital, the Israel Defense Forces went to great lengths to depict the medical complex as a headquarters for Hamas, from where its attacks on Israel were planned.

The evidence produced so far falls well short of that. IDF videos have shown only modest collections of small arms, mostly assault rifles, recovered from the extensive medical complex.

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Man jailed for life after murdering Irish teacher Ashling Murphy

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Jozef Puska, 33, stabbed 23-year-old as she jogged along a canal last year in a case that shocked Ireland

A man has received a life sentence for stabbing to death a primary school teacher last year in a case that shocked Ireland.

Ashling Murphy, a 23-year-old teacher and musician, was murdered as she jogged along a canal near Tullamore, County Offaly, in January 2022.

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Foreign Office failing to help Liverpool teacher stuck in Gaza, says husband

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Feiz Chihaoui says he was told wife Islam Alashi, Palestinian national with a visa to remain in UK, not entitled to help to leave

The husband of a teacher from Liverpool who is stuck in Gaza has criticised the Foreign Office for failing to help his wife reach safety.

Islam Alashi, who teaches English as a second language, travelled to Gaza in September to visit family. She has been stuck there amid Israeli bombardment since the conflict with Hamas began on 7 October.

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African and Caribbean nations agree move to seek reparations for slavery

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African Union and Caricom members establish global reparations fund and call for formal apologies from European nations

A global movement to seek reparations for slavery has been forged during a summit in Ghana this week, with the African Union partnering with Caribbean countries to form a “united front” to persuade European nations to pay for “historical mass crimes”.

The partnership between the 55-member African Union and the Caribbean Community (Caricom) of 20 countries will aim to intensify pressure on former slave-owning nations to engage with the reparations movement.

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Russia files lawsuit to crack down on LGBTQ+ community

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Supreme court to consider justice ministry request to outlaw ‘international LGBT public movement’ as extremist

The Russian justice ministry on Friday said it had filed a lawsuit with the supreme court to outlaw what it called an “international LGBT public movement” as extremist, in the latest attacks against the country’s already suppressed LGBTQ+ community.

The ministry said in an online statement that authorities had determined “signs and manifestations of extremist nature” in “the activities of the LGBT movement” in Russia, including “incitement of social and religious discord”.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: thousands of people without power after Russian strikes on energy hubs, says Ukraine

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Ukrainian government says recent shelling in southern city of Kherson leaves more than 28,000 people without power

Environmental groups have installed radiation sensors across southern Ukraine to improve the quality of current readings and provide warnings in the event of a nuclear incident.

Greenpeace, which worked with Ukrainian group SaveDnipro to install the detectors, said they had been placed in the city of Zaporizhzhia, home to Europe’s largest nuclear plant, as well as in Yuzhnoukrainsk, Odesa, Tarutyne, Yuzhne, and Uman.

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Israeli forces ‘determined to advance’, says military – as it happened

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Daniel Hagari’s comments come amid mounting concerns about Israeli plans to expand military operations where people have sought refuge from fighting

The Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, has urged leaders of developing nations to unite in the face of growing challenges due to the Israel-Hamas war as he convened a virtual summit of more than 100 countries.

“This is the time when the countries of the global south should unite for the greater global good,” Modi said in a speech, referring to developing nations.

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UN warns of Gaza starvation as concerns rise about safety in the south

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Israeli military expansion seen as likely alongside acute shortages of of food and water

The UN has said Gaza’s civilians face the “immediate possibility” of starvation, amid mounting concerns about Israeli plans to expand military operations in parts of the south where people have sought refuge from fighting.

Fuel shortages on Friday halted aid shipments and blacked out communications across the strip. The UN said its trucks could not move and it could not coordinate deliveries. Palestinian network operators said they could no longer power the phone and internet systems.

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Asylum groups warn of ‘catastrophic situation’ in northern France

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People in Calais and Dunkirk may die due to lack of shelter and sanitation, NGOs tell government officials

Twelve organisations working with asylum seekers in northern France have warned French government officials of a “catastrophic situation” as large numbers of people try to survive in insanitary conditions while they wait for a change in the weather so they can try to cross the Channel to the UK.

The warning is contained in a letter to French government officials signed by NGOs including L’Auberge des Migrants, Calais Food Collective, Médecins du Monde Nord Littoral, Utopia 56 and Le Secours Catholique délégation du Pas de Calais.

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Ukrainian military reports ‘successful operations’ on Dnipro River’s east bank

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Military says troops have conducted a series of operations having established positions on left bank

Ukrainian troops have conducted a series of successful operations on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, the country’s military has said.

The claim on Friday comes after official acknowledgment from Russia and Ukraine earlier this week that Ukraine had established positions on the eastern side of the river, which marks the frontline for a stretch of territory in south-east Ukraine.

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Israel kills Hamas militants in Jenin raid as violence surges in West Bank

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Hamas says three fighters died, while Israeli military says it killed at least five, as tensions rise

Israeli security forces have mounted a major raid in the city of Jenin, destroying roads and killing between three and five Hamas militants in the latest instance of surging violence across the occupied West Bank.

Hamas said three of its fighters died in the overnight raid, which began late on Thursday night and lasted about eight hours. Israeli military officials said their forces had killed at least five.

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EU agrees to ban exports of waste plastic to poor countries

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Rules, still subject to formal approval, stop exports to non-OECD countries and limit them elsewhere

The EU has struck a deal to stop ships of waste plastic landing in ports of poor countries.

European lawmakers and member states agreed on Friday to ban exports of plastic rubbish to countries outside the OECD group of mostly rich countries from the middle of 2026. The deal comes as diplomats meet in Nairobi, Kenya, to hammer out a global treaty on plastic pollution.

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South Africa ‘can’t afford’ to pay for new anti-HIV drug, despite cut-price offer

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The jab, given every two months, has been offered on a non-profit basis, but it can’t compete with a cheap daily HIV-prevention pill

The South African health department says the reduced cost of a new anti-HIV injection is still three times more than it can afford to pay.

The UK-based drug company ViiV Healthcare has lowered the price from 729 rand per shot (£32) to between 540 and 570 rand (£23.66-£24.97).

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Local action to replace London march for Palestine this week, say organisers

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Groups behind ceasefire protests attended by hundreds of thousands say there will be events across UK

More than 100 pro-Palestine events demanding a ceasefire in Gaza are due to take place across the UK this weekend, but there will be no large-scale national march in London, according to organisers.

Organisers of the pro-Palestine marches that have drawn hundreds of thousands of people to London’s streets have planned smaller action in villages, towns and cities rather than holding a national march in the capital this Saturday, citing the challenges of coordinating weekly national protests and growing support across the country. The next large national march in central London would be held on 25 November, they said.

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Photographer shot dead in fifth journalist killing in Mexico in 2023

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Body of Ismael Villagómez found in a car as the Committee to Protect Journalists calls for the killing to be investigated

A photographer for a newspaper in the notoriously violent Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez was found shot dead in the driver’s seat of a car, prosecutors said, in the fifth killing of a journalist in the country so far in 2023.

The body of Ismael Villagómez was found just after midnight Thursday. The newspaper he worked for, the Heraldo de Juarez, said the news photographer was found dead in a car that he had registered to use for work for a ride-hailing app. In Mexico, many journalists take work outside the profession to pay the bills.

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Solar energy could power all health facilities in poorer countries and save lives, experts say

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Move would cost less than $5bn and cut toll of deaths from power outages and lack of supply, Cop28 delegates will hear

All healthcare facilities in poorer countries could be electrified using solar energy within five years for less than $5bn, putting an end to the risk of life from power outages, experts will argue at Cop28 this month.

“I would like the international community to commit to a deadline and funding to electrify all healthcare facilities,” said Salvatore Vinci, an adviser on sustainable energy at the World Health Organization and a member of its Cop28 delegation. “We have solutions now that were not available 10 years ago – there is no reason why babies should be dying today because there is not electricity to power their incubators.

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Fire in China coal company office kills 26

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At least 38 injured in the blaze at Yongju coal mine company in Lyuliang City, north China’s Shanxi province.

A fire that erupted in the office of a coal company in northern China has killed 26 people, state media said on Thursday, the latest in a series of deadly accidents in the coal industry.

At least 38 people were injured in the blaze, which broke out at the four-storey Yongju Coal Industry Joint Building in the country’s top coal-producing hub of Shanxi. Calls to the company by the Reuters news agency were not answered.

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Philippines military accuses China of bullying and vows to continue South China Sea missions

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Colonel Medel Aguilar says the Philippines will not stop resupply missions to a grounded warship that have developed into a potential flashpoint with Beijing

The Philippines has accused China of seeking to bully smaller countries into submission and vowed it will continue its missions to deliver supplies to a grounded derelict warship that serves as an outpost in the South China Sea.

The Philippines deliberately grounded BRP Sierra Madre at Second Thomas Shoal, a submerged reef in the Spratly Islands, in 1999 to guard against expansion by China, and the ship has become a growing flashpoint in the fiercely disputed water.

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