Category Archives: World News

Portugal to hold snap election – the second in two years – after PM quits

Posted on by

President announces 10 March date for parliamentary election after António Costa stepped down on Tuesday

Portugal will hold a snap parliamentary election – its second in as many years – on 10 March, the president has announced after Tuesday’s abrupt resignation of the Socialist prime minister amid a corruption investigation.

In an address late on Thursday, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said he would disband parliament, where the Socialist party has a majority of seats, only after the final vote on the 2024 budget bill, due on 29 November. The house approved the bill on first reading on 31 October.

Continue reading...

Israeli forces kill 18 Palestinians in daytime raid in West Bank

Posted on by

At least 20 others injured in Jenin city and refugee camp, as IDF says it is conducting counter-terrorism raids

Eighteen Palestinians have been killed and at least 20 others injured by the Israel Defence Forces during an hours-long daytime raid on Jenin city and its refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

In the latest escalation in violence on the West Bank, occurring against the background of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, the IDF said an airstrikehit an armed squad of men in the city.

Continue reading...

US says Israel to begin ‘humanitarian pauses’ to let people leave Gaza’s north

Posted on by

Thousands move south as Israeli forces inch closer to two big hospitals in north where many have sought refuge

Thousands of Palestinians continued to flee south from northern Gaza on Thursday as the White House announced that Israel would begin to implement four-hour “humanitarian pauses” in parts of the area to allow people to leave.

The US national security spokesperson, John Kirby, said the pauses would allow people to pass along two humanitarian corridors, which he described as “a significant first step”.

Continue reading...

Over half of UK nationals seeking to flee Gaza have left, Foreign Office says

Posted on by

Distressing cases of families being split up prompt criticism officials are not doing enough to keep them together

More than half of the British nationals seeking to escape Gaza for Egypt have managed to do so, but there are still distressing cases of families being split up, the Foreign Office has confirmed.

It said more than 150 British nationals and families had crossed into Egypt, and that the total number that came forward seeking help to escape was in the low hundreds, a figure that had not changed in recent days.

Continue reading...

Spanish PM Sánchez set to stay in power with controversial Catalan amnesty deal

Posted on by

Socialist party wins separatist support with offer that has provoked furious opposition, protests and questions from Brussels

Spain’s acting prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, is on the verge of securing another term in office after his socialist party won the support of Catalan separatists by offering a deeply controversial amnesty for those who took part in the illegal and failed push for regional independence six years ago.

The deal between the Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE) and the centre-right Junts (Together) comes after a week of tense negotiations and amid widespread concerns over the amnesty, which have led to street protests, dire warnings from conservative judges and questions from Brussels.

Continue reading...

Man found guilty of murdering Ashling Murphy in case that shocked Ireland

Posted on by

Jozef Puska faces mandatory life sentence over January 2022 killing of 23-year-old teacher

A man has been found guilty in Dublin of the murder of Ashling Murphy while she was out jogging in broad daylight, in a case that sent shockwaves across Ireland.

Murphy, 23, a teacher and musician, was killed on a canal towpath near Tullamore in County Offaly in the Irish midlands in January last year after being set upon and stabbed 11 times in the neck and left to die in a deep ditch.

Continue reading...

Carles Puigdemont: from self-exile to unlikely kingmaker of Spanish politics

Posted on by

Architect of Catalonia’s illegal referendum of 2017 has signed deal to support Spain’s socialists in return for amnesty

Despite the fast-moving, wildly unpredictable and frequently improbable turns Spanish politics has taken of late, very few pundits could have predicted the scenes that played out in Belgium on Thursday.

A little after 2pm, a 60-year-old Catalan politician and fugitive from Spanish justice addressed a packed conference at the Brussels press club. As reporters brimmed with questions that would go unanswered, Carles Puigdemont appeared to be relishing his moment.

Continue reading...

Bangladeshi woman killed after police open fire on protesting garment workers

Posted on by

Employees making clothes for fast-fashion brands have been demonstrating against a new minimum salary of £92 a month

A Bangladeshi woman was shot dead on Wednesday after police in Dhaka opened fire during a protest held by garment workers demanding a wage increase. Anjuara Khatun, a 26-year-old machine operator at Islam Garments in Gazipur, was on her way home after the factory closed suddenly as a large group of protesters gathered nearby.

Her husband told reporters he heard gunshots when police opened fire on about 400 workers and then saw people carrying his wife’s motionless body. “She was shot in the head and died in the car on the way to the hospital,” he said. “There was blood oozing out from a hole in her head.”

Continue reading...

Rightwing politician shot in Madrid after Spain’s Pedro Sánchez strikes controversial deal with Catalan separatists – as it happened

Posted on by

This live blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here

“Today we live in a democracy worse than yesterday,” the conservative People’s party deputy secretary Miguel Tellado wrote following news of an agreement between the socialists and Junts.

Spain’s socialist party and Catalan separatist party Junts have confirmed that they have reached a deal for Junts to support a Socialist-led government, Reuters reported.

Continue reading...

Spanish rightwing politician shot in face in Madrid

Posted on by

Alejo Vidal-Quadras, formerly of PP and Vox, reportedly in stable condition after attack by masked gunman

A Spanish rightwing politician and former vice-president of the European parliament is reported to be in a stable condition in hospital after being shot in the face by a masked gunman in a wealthy Madrid neighbourhood.

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 shot on a street in the Salamanca district of the Spanish capital at about 1.30pm local time on Thursday.

Continue reading...

Myanmar’s military commanders responsible for rape and torture – war crimes report

Posted on by

Security Force Monitor finds 64% of senior army officers led units allegedly committing killings, rapes, torture and disappearances

New research into alleged war crimes in Myanmar has concluded that the majority of senior commanders in the Myanmar military, many of whom hold powerful political positions in the country, were responsible for crimes including rape, torture, killings and forced disappearances carried out by units under their command between 2011 and 2023.

The research, by the Security Force Monitor (SFM), a project run by Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute, states that 64% – 51 of 79 – of all Myanmar’s senior military commanders are responsible for war crimes. It claims that the most serious perpetrator of human rights violations is Gen Mya Tun Oo, Myanmar’s deputy prime minister, former defence minister and a member of the ruling military council.

Continue reading...

Israel to start ‘pauses’ in fighting – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed

Two Israelis were shot overnight into Thursday and moderately wounded while driving in the northern West Bank, the Associated Press reports, citing Israeli media. A baby in the back seat of the car was unharmed, the reports said.

It was the second shooting attack on Israeli drivers in the West Bank in a week. On 2 November, an Israeli man was killed after his car was shot at, then crashed and overturned.

Continue reading...

China tells UK to stop using trade to improve Taiwan ties

Posted on by

UK and Taiwan sign trade agreement they hailed as a first in fostering bilateral trade between Taiwan and Europe

China’s government has accused the UK of using trade cooperation “as an excuse” to enhance its ties with Taiwan, after the announcement of a bilateral trade talks agreement.

On Wednesday Taiwan’s representative to the UK, Kelly Hsieh, and his British counterpart based in Taipei, John Dennis, signed an enhanced trade partnership (ETP). The agreement paves the way for future talks on green energy, digital trade and investment, among other trade-based issues. The UK is Taiwan’s third-biggest trading partner in Europe and 21st largest overall.

Continue reading...

Support for Israel and verbal sparring propel fiery third Republican debate

Posted on by

Candidates clash over Ukraine and immigration and grapple with abortion questions as Donald Trump holds rally nearby

The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and other foreign policy issues dominated Wednesday’s fiery third debate of Republican presidential hopefuls in Miami. Candidates pledged wholehearted support for Israel’s military response following last month’s Hamas attacks, and clashed over Ukraine, China and immigration.

The debate, minus Donald Trump, the runaway favorite for the party’s 2024 nomination who was hosting his own private rally elsewhere in the area, was a more bitter affair than its predecessors in Wisconsin and California. Lively verbal sparring sometimes regressed into insults, with Nikki Haley at one point calling one of her rivals “scum”.

Continue reading...

Tensions high as Germany prepares to mark Kristallnacht

Posted on by

Eighty-five years after the ‘brutal prelude’ to Nazi crimes, the emphasis falls on contemplating its influence on the present day

It has long been the most delicate day in the German calendar, 9 November. It brings a balancing act of remembrance for the state-sanctioned murderous devastation of the Nazi pogroms across the country in 1938, and, 51 years later, the overnight collapse of the most famous barrier in the world, the Berlin Wall.

Both had international repercussions which are still felt today. The former dominates the nation’s collective memory.

Continue reading...

Sámi call to protect reindeer in Sweden after 10,000 road deaths in five years

Posted on by

Indigenous people’s parliament says action required including lower speed limits and more fences

Sweden’s Sámi parliament is calling for more protection for reindeer after more than 10,000 were killed by motorists in the last five years, turning roadsides into “animal graveyards”.

According to police, between October 2018 and October 2023 there were more than 10,000 road accidents in northern Sweden involving at least one reindeer, meaning the number killed is likely to be far higher.

Continue reading...

Tens of thousands fleeing northern Gaza, says Israeli military, as WHO warns of disease risk

Posted on by

IDF says 50,000 people moved south on Wednesday, up from 15,000 a day earlier, claiming Hamas has lost control of the north; health organisation warns of ‘worrying trends’ in disease in Gaza

Tens of thousands of Palestinians fled northern Gaza on Wednesday, the Israel Defence Forces said, as the World Health Organization (WHO) warned of “worrying trends” in the risk of disease in the territory after weeks of Israeli airstrikes.

The accelerating exodus came as Israeli forces closed in on the centre of Gaza City, launching intense bombardments, and claimed that Hamas had lost control of the north of the territory.

Continue reading...

Calls to ‘finish’ Hamas and ‘you’re just scum’: key Republican debate takeaways

Posted on by

Candidates showed unequivocal support for Israel on a night when Nikki Haley shot back at Vivek Ramaswamy’s criticism

The third Republican debate was held in Miami on Wednesday, with frontrunner Donald Trump once again foregoing the debate for his own rally nearby.

The pool has dwindled since the last debate, and Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Tim Scott and Chris Christie seemed to be more serious and focused this time around as they answered questions on the Israel-Hamas war, immigration, abortion and the federal budget. Even so, the debate had moments where it devolved into a shouting match, with petty barbs and personal attacks.

Continue reading...

US forces targeted in broadest Iraq attacks since start of Israel-Hamas war

Posted on by

Armed drones attack two airbases and explosive device targets patrol in most widespread strikes in a single day

US forces were targeted in three attacks in Iraq on Thursday but suffered no casualties, security sources have said, in the most geographically widespread series of strikes on US assets in a single day since the Israel-Hamas conflict started.

Spokespeople for the US embassy in Baghdad and US-led international forces stationed in Iraq did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Continue reading...

Music executive LA Reid accused of sexual assault in lawsuit

Posted on by

Ex-executive Drew Dixon alleges Reid, known for growing stars such as Usher and Pink, assaulted her twice and derailed her career

LA Reid, the music executive known for helping develop superstars Mariah Carey, Pink, TLC and Usher, was sued on Wednesday by a former music executive who accused him of sexually assaulting her more than two decades ago.

Drew Dixon said Reid, 67, derailed her once promising music industry career after he became Arista Records’ chief executive because she rejected his advances, including two assaults that she said occurred in 2001.

Continue reading...