Category Archives: World News

Albanese to echo Whitlam as he prays for a good harvest in Xi talks

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The prime minister will visit the Temple of Heaven in Beijing on Monday morning before a significant meeting with China’s president, Xi Jinping

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Fifty years ago, Gough Whitlam visited the Temple of Heaven in Beijing as part of an historic visit to China to establish diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic.

Whitlam’s visit to the Beijing landmark produced an iconic image. In the photograph, the newly elected Australian prime minister is captured with his ear to the circular Echo Wall in the world heritage site. In the background, the Australian prime minister is watched by Stephen Fitzgerald, Australia’s first ambassador to China.

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Israel launches major strikes on Gaza as violence flares up on Lebanon boundary

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Huge explosions reported in Gaza Strip, and communities in northern Israel come under mortar and rocket fire from Hezbollah

Gaza was rocked by a series of huge explosions on Sunday evening and communications with the coastal strip were cut, as violence also escalated on Israel’s northern boundary with Lebanon.

The strikes on Gaza came as the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) indicated that Israeli troops were planning to enter Gaza City in force perhaps within the next 48 hours, according to reports in Israeli media.

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Most agree Gaza needs help – but there’s fierce disagreement on how to deliver it

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While there is broad consensus on the need for a break in hostilities, people are divided on its extent, its duration, and how to label it

Most of the world agrees that the intensity of Israel’s attack on Gaza, while aimed at Hamas, is causing unbearable suffering to its civilians, pummelled from the air and running out of food, water and medical supplies.

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, the top diplomat for Israel’s staunchest ally, delivered a personal message in Tel Aviv last week that more must be done to “protect Palestinian civilians” trapped after Israel laid siege to the territory.

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Bernie Sanders calls for end to Israeli strikes and killing of thousands

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In his strongest words in the 30-day war, Vermont senator demands end to killing of ‘innocent men, women and children’

Bernie Sanders has stepped up his calls for a humanitarian pause in Gaza, demanding an immediate stop to Israeli bombing and an end to the killing of thousands of “innocent men, women and children” in the enclave.

In some of his strongest words in the 30-day war, the independent US senator from Vermont decried the 7 October Hamas attack inside Israel. He labelled Hamas as an “awful terrorist organization” that had “slaughtered 1,400 people in cold blood”, reiterating his belief that Israel had the right to defend itself.

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‘Loss and damage’ deal struck to help countries worst hit by climate crisis

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Governments draw up blueprint for fund to be administered at first by World Bank after tense Abu Dhabi talks

Countries have agreed key measures to supply funds to the world’s most vulnerable people to repair the damage from climate breakdown.

Governments from richer and poorer countries drew up the blueprint for a new “loss and damage” fund after a tense two-day meeting under UN guidance in Abu Dhabi that ended late on Saturday night.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Zelenskiy asks for more US aid and invites Trump to Ukraine – as it happened

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Ukraine president says it would take 24 minutes to explain to former US president that he cannot manage the war

The war’s death toll continues to climb, with the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces saying on Sunday there had been 990 casualties among Russian forces in the past 24 hours, taking Moscow’s total casualties – of dead and injured – in the war to 305,090.

According to US estimates, Russia has seen around 120,000 deaths and 180,000 injured.

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Parents-in-law of Humza Yousaf back in Scotland after fleeing Gaza

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The El-Naklas left Gaza on Friday but other British citizens are struggling to get out

The parents-in-law of Scotland’s first minister, Humza Yousaf, have arrived safely in Scotland after fleeing the conflict in Gaza, while dozens of other British citizens struggle to leave.

Yousaf shared a family photo of his wife, Nadia, and her parents, Elizabeth and Maged El-Nakla, surrounded by their relatives.

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Palestinian Authority would face many challenges in a post-Hamas Gaza

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Unpopular and incompetent, the West Bank’s leaders have little to offer in a ‘day after’ scenario, despite Antony Blinken’s hopes

After the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections, won by the Hamas-backed Change and Reform party, the Palestinian Authority’s rule in Gaza was coming to an ignominious and chaotic end. Heavily armed families, some separated by their political affiliations with Hamas and Fatah, others by long-simmering rivalries, were involved in armed clashes.

In cities such as Khan Younis, barricades blocked districts that turned into impromptu strongholds. Corrupt, weak and incompetent, the PA in Gaza had allowed – even encouraged – the arming of the rival clans. Within months, the PA would be driven out by Hamas after a period of intra-Palestinian violence.

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Ordeal of ‘Britain’s loneliest sheep’ continues as activists accused of intimidating farm staff

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Police called to farm in Scotland after ‘scary’ visit by by animal rights protesters

Police have been called to a farm in Scotland where “Britain’s loneliest sheep” was due to be taken following her rescue from the foot of a cliff, after animal rights activists were accused of intimidating staff.

The volunteer group Animal Rising took part in a peaceful protest outside Dalscone Farm Fun over the expected arrival of Fiona, who was rescued by a group of farmers on Saturday after two years stuck at the foot of a cliff.

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Zelenskiy denies Ukrainian general’s claim war is at stalemate

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President says Ukraine must keep fighting, and aide says general’s comments ‘make aggressor’s job easier’

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has denied a suggestion from the Ukrainian military’s commander-in-chief that the war with Russia has reached a stalemate, and a senior spokesperson for his administration has rebuked the general in question and accused him of making “the aggressor’s job easier”.

Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi had offered his blunt assessment of the situation in an interview published last week. “Just like in the first world war, we have reached the level of technology that puts us into a stalemate,” he told the Economist, adding: “There will most likely be no deep and beautiful breakthrough.”

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‘Hostage situation’ that closed Hamburg airport ends with suspect arrested

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Eighteen-hour ordeal concludes with man detained and child uninjured, say police

A hostage situation at Hamburg airport has concluded with the suspect and his daughter exiting a car, police have said, ending an 18-hour ordeal that had closed northern Germany’s busiest airport.

The suspect was arrested without resistance and the child appeared not to be injured, the police said on the social media platform X.

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‘Funk is the reality we live’: Rio show celebrates sound of the favela

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Exhibition puts music previously shunned by elites as ‘stuff of outlaws’ in long tradition of black culture and resistance

Hebert Amorim was eight when he got his first taste of funk carioca (Rio funk): a pirate CD by Mr Catra, a favela MC famed for his ferociously explicit verses about gangs, guns and sex.

“My mum caught me listening to it and went mental,” said the 30-year-old visual artist from Senador Camará, a hardscrabble corner of west Rio de Janeiro where police fear to tread.

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Socialist party members in Spain back Catalan amnesty to secure PM new term

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Members of Pedro Sánchez’s party vote 87% in favour of proposal to form government backed by smaller parties

Members of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE) have backed plans to secure another term as prime minister for the party’s leader, Pedro Sánchez, in return for granting a hugely controversial amnesty to people involved in the illegal and unilateral bid for Catalan independence six years ago.

Spain has been in the hands of Sánchez’s caretaker government since July’s inconclusive snap general election, in which the PSOE was narrowly beaten by the conservative People’s party (PP). Although the PP won the most seats, it fell short of a parliamentary majority and has proved unable to form a government, even with the support of the far-right Vox party and other, smaller political groupings.

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Middle East war could spark global recession, say Wall Street experts

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Fear adds to Russia-Ukraine conflict risk and increases ‘probability of European and of US recession’

A global recession could be triggered by the conflict in the Middle East as the humanitarian crisis compounds the challenges facing an already precarious world economy, two of Wall Street’s biggest names warned this weekend.

Larry Fink, chief executive of the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, said a combination of the Hamas atrocities of 7 October, Israel’s resultant attack on Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year had pushed the world “almost to a whole new future”.

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Was crypto on trial with Sam Bankman-Fried?

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Binance and Coinbase are under investigation – but Bitcoin was trading at highest value in a year as FTX founder convicted of fraud

As the trial of the former crypto star and FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried began last month, headlines declared cryptocurrency was on trial too.

But when Bankman-Fried was found guilty on seven counts of wire fraud and money-laundering conspiracy Thursday evening, after less than five hours of jury deliberations, Bitcoin was trading at its highest price in a year.

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Philippines radio journalist shot dead during live broadcast

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Killer of Juan Jumalon, 57, pretended to be a listener to enter home studio in Misamis Occidental province

A radio anchor in the southern Philippines has been fatally shot in his studio in a brazen attack witnessed by people watching the programme live on Facebook.

The gunman gained entry to the home-based radio station of Juan Jumalon, a provincial news broadcaster known also as DJ Johnny Walker, by pretending to be a listener. He then shot him twice during a live morning broadcast in Calamba town in Misamis Occidental province, police said.

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Senior lawyers criticise handling of case of Sikh activist held in India

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Peers express fears that Jagtar Singh Johal will not receive ‘due process’ in India amid torture claims

Assurances by a UK minister that a British man imprisoned in India will receive a fair trial fly in the face of evidence that he has been tortured and arbitrarily detained, three lawyers who held senior public roles have warned.

To coincide with the sixth anniversary of Jagtar Singh Johal’s detention, Ken MacDonald KC, Elish Angiolini KC and Jim Wallace KC have written to the UK Foreign Office minister Lord Ahmad asking him to retract his recent comments saying that the British citizen would receive “due process” in India.

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Osaka’s baseball underdogs hope one more win will lift curse of KFC

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Many in the city have put the Hanshin Tigers’ lack of success down to an unusual Colonel Sanders-based superstition, but it may be about to end

The last time the Hanshin Tigers were proclaimed the best baseball team in Japan, their fans celebrated by hurling themselves into a canal and carrying out an “abduction” that many believe placed their team under a curse that has lasted almost four decades.

On Saturday, the sleeping giants of Japanese baseball were forced to wait another day for the chance to banish the jinx by winning their first Japan Series title since 1985, after a defeat to local rivals Orix Buffaloes ensured that the season’s finale would go to a seventh and decisive game.

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Albanese offers gentle rebuke over China’s ‘unnecessary barriers to trade’ at Shanghai expo

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Australian prime minister pushes the benefits of ‘rules-based trade’ after a period of unilateral sanctions imposed by China

Anthony Albanese has delivered an implicit rebuke to China for its strong-arm tactics during Beijing’s protracted trade war with Canberra, telling attenders at a trade expo in Shanghai “Australia and China have prospered thanks to the certainty and stability that is made possible by rules-based trade”.

But while politely criticising Beijing’s trade tactics, Australia’s prime minister did not rule out supporting China’s long-held ambition to join a critical regional pact – the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

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Gaza ‘siege conditions’ unacceptable, says Lammy as Labour toughens line on Israel

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Shadow foreign secretary toughens line on Israel-Palestine in light of ‘shocking number’ of dead civilians

Labour has warned that the “siege conditions” in place in Gaza are unacceptable and called for an immediate humanitarian pause to the fighting, in the party’s strongest intervention over Israel’s intensifying war against Hamas.

David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary who visited the region last week, said that the “number of dead Palestinian civilians and children is shocking” as he called on Israel to take further steps to stop a “humanitarian catastrophe”. He said that Israel “must uphold international law” and also warned of violence in the West Bank.

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