Wagner arm likely led by son of Yevgeny Prigozhin, killed in plane crash after fighters marched on Moscow, says UK defence ministry. This blog is now closed
Parts of city of Donetsk have lost power following two projectile strikes in the northwestern part of the city.
Alexey Kulemzin, the Russian-appointed mayor of Donetsk, said on Telegram that there are partial power outages in the Voroshylovskyi, Kyivskyi, Kirovskyi, Kuibyshivskyi, and Leninskyi districts.
Continue reading...Former Ukip leader has reportedly been offered large sum to appear on ITV show, which begins this month
Nigel Farage has been seen at Brisbane airport in Australia, adding to speculation that he will be joining the lineup in this year’s I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!.
The former leader of Ukip and the Brexit party did not confirm when asked whether he was entering the jungle as part of the ITV show, but did tell a reporter that he “might be going in”.
Continue reading...Isabella Walsh has contacted embassies and consulates to repatriate 10 objects that her father wanted to be returned
An Irish woman has been inspired by the Guardian to return her late father’s collection of 19th-century African and Aboriginal objects to their countries of origin.
Isabella Walsh, 39, from Limerick, has contacted embassies and consulates in Dublin and London to repatriate 10 objects, including spears, harpoon heads and a shield, after she read about other cases in the newspaper.
Continue reading...Iranian president had travelled to Saudi Arabia to try to force a more interventionist approach to Israel-Hamas war
Gulf state leaders have fended off an Iranian-led attempt to call for arming the Palestinians and severing all diplomatic ties with Israel at an extraordinary summit in Riyadh, in a effort to retain control of the region’s diplomatic response to the Israeli assault on Gaza.
Tehran, however, insisted on Sunday that its influence remained through its allied “resistance factions” operating in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. In a further sign that it has no intention of jettisoning a military path, militants near the Israeli border with Lebanon fired anti-tank missiles towards Israel, hitting a number of civilians, according to the Israeli military.
Continue reading...Amid concern over the president’s poll ratings, Gavin Newsom appears to be running something of a shadow campaign
One of the strongest candidates for US president in 2024 may be one who’s not yet in the race. There’s growing evidence that Gavin Newsom, the charismatic and energetic Democratic governor of California, is running something of a shadow campaign to Joe Biden and ready to step up if, or when, the incumbent is out of the running.
Several developments in recent days suggest Newsom, who romped to re-election a year ago without really campaigning, is ready to bring forward what was already expected to be a strong run for the presidency in 2028.
Continue reading...Tens of thousands of people rally against government offer of clemency to those who made illegal push for independence in 2017
Tens of thousands of people have gathered across Spain to protest against the acting government’s plans to secure another term in office by offering an amnesty to those who took part in the illegal and failed push for Catalan independence six years ago.
The proposed amnesty law, which would apply to hundreds of people who participated in the unilateral effort to secede from Spain, has already led to a series of violent protests outside the Madrid headquarters of the governing Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE).
Continue reading...Delegates in Nairobi for talks in what experts say could be most important multilateral treaty since Paris accord
• The godfather of microplastics on how to stop them
Government delegations will gather in Nairobi, Kenya, to hammer out details of what could be the first global treaty to tackle the plastic pollution crisis.
A key focus for the discussions on Monday will be whether targets to restrict plastic production should be decided unilaterally or whether states should choose their own targets; this is, say environmentalists, the “centre of gravity” for the treaty’s ambition.
Continue reading...Rare move comes after years of criticism from Strickland, a strong supporter of former US president Donald Trump
Pope Francis has dismissed a bishop in Texas, Joseph Strickland, one of his fiercest critics among US Roman Catholic conservatives, the Vatican has said.
It is very rare for a bishop to be relieved of his duties outright. Usually bishops in trouble with the Vatican are asked to resign before submitting a resignation, which the pope accepts.
Continue reading...As Israeli missiles rain down on crowded apartment blocks, survivors are left numb as entire family groups are wiped out
The first call informing Fares Alghoul that a relative’s home had been hit by an Israeli airstrike arrived late on a Friday. The internet in Gaza was cut only moments later, forcing him to wait 12 hours to learn the names of the 18 dead. He would have to wait even longer for the confirmation that a further 18 family members stuck under the rubble had also been killed, bringing his family’s death toll to 36.
As a journalist, Alghoul has covered all Gaza’s previous wars but now lives in Canada, where he has had to watch from a distance as generations of his family are wiped out.
Continue reading...People of Grindavík, where eruption could happen within hours, permitted five minutes to collect pets and essentials
Some of the more than 3,000 residents evacuated from an Icelandic fishing town have been allowed to return briefly to their homes to collect pets and essential belongings, as experts warned that a volcano could erupt within days or even hours.
One resident from each household in one district of Grindavík was permitted to enter their home for five minutes on Sunday in what Iceland’s civil defence force called a “planned and controlled operation under the orders of the police”.
Continue reading...Luis Manuel Díaz has described how he spent 12 days trekking through mountains with almost no sleep
The father of Liverpool footballer Luis Díaz has spoken publicly of how he endured almost two weeks of arduous treks and sleepless nights while held captive by armed guerrillas on the Colombian-Venezuelan border.
Luis Manuel Díaz, 58, said: “It was a lot of horseback riding, really hard, a lot of mountains, a lot of rain, too many insects.” A weak Díaz, who was helped to and from a chair by his family, told journalists in his home town of Barrancas in Colombia: “I couldn’t sleep peacefully, it was very difficult, almost 12 days without sleep.”
Continue reading...Doctors accuse IDF of attacking people trying to flee al-Shifa, the hospital portrayed by Israel as the main command post for Hamas
Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza appeared to be reaching a key moment, with close-quarter battles raging around the most important hospital in the heart of its biggest city.
Residents said Israeli forces had been fighting Hamas gunmen all night and throughout the day in the neighbourhood in Gaza City where the al-Shifa hospital is located, considered a key strategic area.
Continue reading...The latest Opinium poll shows Keir Starmer’s personal rating has slumped but the Tories are also suffering from internal divisions
Labour is perceived by voters as far more divided in the wake of party splits over the conflict in Israel and Gaza, amid concerns that there may be further frontbench resignations on the issue this week.
Keir Starmer has also taken a hit, with the latest Opinium poll for the Observer showing a slump in the proportion of voters who regard him as a strong leader compared with a month ago.
Continue reading...Activists have secured a string of legal victories in Hong Kong but it is a very different story on the mainland
After months of pandemic-related delays, Asia’s first Gay Games was held in Hong Kong last week, with nearly 2,400 athletes competing. At the opening ceremony, Regina Ip, the convenor of Hong Kong’s executive council, said the competition represented the city’s commitment to “equal opportunity and non-discrimination”, and praised Hong Kong’s courts for the “numerous judgments” handed down in favour of the LGBTQ+ community in the past decade.
This was met with bemusement by activists and lawyers, who pointed out that Ip’s government has opposed each of those judgments, losing in nearly every single case. Since 2018, there have been at least seven cases relating to LGBTQ+ rights heard by Hong Kong’s courts, with many reaching the Court of Final Appeal, the city’s highest bench. “Why are they still wasting taxpayers’ money fighting these tooth-and-nail litigations when they’re recycling the same arguments and losing?” said Mark Daly, a human rights lawyer who has worked on a number of the cases.
Continue reading...Met assistant commissioner Matt Twist says nine officers were injured while preventing a violent crowd reaching the Cenotaph
Scores of people have gathered in Hyde Park for a “stewards’ meeting” before the march, the PA Media agency reports.
They are all wearing hi-vis jackets, while many have also donned keffiyehs, Palestinian scarves.
Armistice Day is a moment of solemn national reflection in remembrance of those who have given their lives in service of our country. It’s important that people can use our rail network to safely travel, free from intimidation.
That’s why I have granted consent for the British Transport Police to make orders under section 14A of the Public Order Act 1986 prohibiting planned protests at various London stations today, meaning anyone taking part will be subject to arrest.
Continue reading...Al-Shifa chief says Israeli troops firing at complex, which has no medical supplies, power or water for thousands trapped inside
Leaders from across the Middle East and surrounding region are meeting in Saudi Arabia for an emergency summit on Gaza, as the territory’s largest hospital remains encircled by Israeli forces, without power, and with strikes “on everything moving inside the complex”, according to staff trapped inside.
“We are totally cut off from the whole world, we are minutes away from imminent death,” Mohammad abu Salmiya, the head of Dar al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, told Al Jazeera.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed, you can read more of our Ukraine war coverage here
That’s all from today’s shorter-than-usual Ukraine live blog.
Here is a summary of the day’s main events so far:
Blasts were reported across Kyiv on Saturday morning, as the city came under Russian attack for the first time since September
A former Nato secretary general has put forward a proposal for Ukraine to join the military alliance but stripped of the territories occupied by Russia
The UK’s Ministry of Defence says Russia is ramping up its attempt to weaponise history
Trains carrying cargo in Russia’s Ryazan region were derailed Saturday morning due to “unauthorised interference”
Continue reading...Hottest US city, buffeted by extreme temperatures, sees 579 heat-related in 2023, with large proportion among unhoused people
Heat deaths surged by 50% in Phoenix in 2023 – the deadliest year on record after extreme temperatures pummeled America’s hottest city, official figures show.
At least 579 people lost their lives to heat this year, with senior citizens accounting for one in three deaths, according to the year’s final heat surveillance report by the medical examiner’s office in Maricopa county, where Phoenix is located. Another 56 suspected heat deaths are still under investigation.
Continue reading...Former secretary general says partial membership would warn Russia it cannot stop Ukraine joining the alliance
A former Nato secretary general has put forward a proposal for Ukraine to join the military alliance but stripped of the territories occupied by Russia.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen has long worked alongside Andriy Yermak, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, particularly ahead of the last Nato summit in Vilnius this year that ended with no invitation for Ukraine to join.
Continue reading...Israelis are politically divided, but there’s widespread agreement that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government needs to go
For years, the newspaper Israel Hayom has been known as the “Bibiton”. A Hebrew portmanteau, it means “the paper of Bibi”, the nickname for Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It was founded by the late billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson as the mouthpiece for Netanyahu.
Last week, the head of news at the paper, Uri Dagon, signalled a breaking of the ranks, calling on the prime minister to “lead us to victory and then go”, taking aim at the “nonstop political bickering while the war is raging”. In Israel’s fractured and fractious politics, it signalled the cohering of a rare agreement across party lines: the political era of Netanyahu was staggering to its bitter end.
Continue reading...