Category Archives: World News

Mitch McConnell did not have stroke or seizure, Capitol doctor says

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Brian Monahan suggests Republican leader in US Senate, 81, may be suffering effects of concussion sustained during fall in March

Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the US Senate, is not evidently suffering from “a seizure disorder”, a stroke or a “movement disorder such as Parkinson’s disease”, the congressional physician said on Tuesday.

The doctor’s remarks came a little less than a week after the 81-year-old senator suffered a second worrying freeze in front of reporters.

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British Challenger 2 tank destroyed in combat for first time, Ukraine footage shows

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Tank could be one of 14 UK gave to Ukraine that Kyiv was keeping in reserve for frontline breakthrough

A battlefield video circulating on social media overnight showed the destruction of a British Challenger 2 from a mine and Russian drone in Ukraine, which would be the first time one of the tanks has been destroyed in combat.

At the beginning of the clip, filmed from a car involved in the fighting, the Challenger 2 with its distinctive gun barrel is seen shrouded in thick, grey smoke after the battlefield incident.

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New York attorney general asks judge to sanction Trump over ‘frivolous’ arguments

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Letitia James says Trump family is rehashing failed legal arguments in $250m civil suit over company’s business affairs

The attorney general of New York state is seeking $20,000 in sanctions against Donald Trump, his adult sons, other defendants and their lawyers, for repeating “frivolous” arguments rejected in court in a $250m civil suit over family business practices.

In a filing on Tuesday, Andrew Amer, an assistant to Letitia James, the attorney general, noted repeated rejections of arguments deemed “borderline frivolous even the first time defendants made them”.

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Venice to trial €5 ticketing system for day visitors from 2024

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Authorities want to cut number of tourists as Unesco considers putting Italian city on heritage danger list

Venice will trial a ticketing system from spring next year, with day visitors charged €5 to enter the Italian city’s historic centre in an attempt to reduce tourist numbers.

The city’s council executive backed the move on Tuesday, just weeks after Unesco recommended Venice be added to its list of world heritage sites in danger, in part due to the impact of mass tourism.

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French schools send home dozens of girls wearing Muslim abayas

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Girls who refused to remove banned garment given letter saying ‘secularism is not a constraint, it is a liberty’, says minister

On the first day of the new academic year French schools sent home dozens of girls for refusing to remove their abayas, the education minister said on Tuesday.

Defying a ban on the Muslim garment, nearly 300 girls showed up on Monday morning wearing an abaya, Gabriel Attal told the BFM broadcaster. Most agreed to change, but 67 refused and were sent home, he said.

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Cuba uncovers ‘human trafficking ring’ recruiting for Russia’s war in Ukraine

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Havana says it is dismantling network seeking to recruit Cubans as mercenaries as Moscow attempts to boost its forces

Cuba has uncovered a human trafficking ring aimed at recruiting Cubans to fight as mercenaries for Russia in its war in Ukraine, its foreign ministry has said, as Moscow seeks to increase the size of its forces.

In a statement, the Cuban foreign ministry said the authorities were working to “neutralise and dismantle” the network, which it said was operating within the Caribbean island nation and in Russia.

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Nine hundred people killed or injured by Russian cluster bombs in Ukraine, says monitor; Zelenskiy visits Bakhmut – as it happened

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Russian use of widely banned weapons accelerates casualty figures, report says; Ukraine president discusses provision of artillery shells and missiles. This live blog is closed

The Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, described Ukraine’s counteroffensive on Tuesday as completely unsuccessful.

“Ukraine’s armed forces have not achieved their goals on any front,” the defence ministry quoted Shoigu as saying.

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Swedish criminal gangs using fake Spotify streams to launder money

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Investigation claims networks convert illicit cash to bitcoin to pay people who sell false streams on the platform

Criminal gangs behind a rise in bombings and shootings in Sweden in recent years are using fake Spotify streams to launder money, a Swedish newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Criminal networks have for several years been using money from drug deals, robberies, fraud and contract killings to pay for false Spotify streams of songs published by artists with ties to the gangs, an investigative report in Svenska Dagbladet claimed.

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Berlin clubbers and green protesters unite to fight motorway plans

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Proposed extension would threaten city’s cultural life, say protesters, as 20 nightclubs would be demolished

Berlin clubbers have united with environmental campaigners to fight plans to extend a city autobahn that threatens the future of about 20 nightclubs in the east of the city.

Thousands of techno fans and a broader clutch of protesters standing up for the city’s cultural life took to Berlin’s streets at the weekend in the latest in a string of demonstrations which have caused parts of the German capital to grind to a halt.

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Petrol prices expected to rise as oil cost climbs above $90 a barrel

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Motorists could be hardest hit after Russia and Saudi Arabia extend cuts to supplies

Motorists are braced for higher pump prices after the cost of oil climbed above $90 a barrel for the first time this year as Russia and Saudi Arabia extended cuts to supplies.

Oil jumped to its highest price since last November, after the two oil-rich nations said they would prolong a plan to withhold supplies from the global market until December.

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Ontario government in turmoil after minister quits over land swap scandal

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Premier says officials will review deals to sell protected lands after Steve Clark resigns amid Greenbelt land controversy

Ontario’s provincial government is in turmoil following the abrupt resignation of its housing minister amid accusations he breached ethics laws in a controversial land swap deal.

The Ontario premier, Doug Ford, defended his government’s conduct on Tuesday but said top officials would begin a review of deals to sell protected lands on the periphery of the greater Toronto area.

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Clashes with militants kill 53 Burkina Faso soldiers and volunteers, army says

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Operations still under way in bid to retake territory in northern Yatenga province

Seventeen soldiers and 36 volunteer fighters have been killed in heavy clashes with militants in northern Burkina Faso, the army has said. It is the worst attack in months in the west African country that has been fighting hardline militants for years.

Burkina Faso has been battling armed groups, some with links to al-Qaida and Islamic State, in its northern desert region since 2015.

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Global economic fears deepen as service sector dips in China and Europe

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Fresh signs of weakness in Chinese economy and weak UK and eurozone data spook investors

Fears about the health of the global economy have intensified following downbeat news about service sector activity in China, the eurozone and the UK.

Share prices fell in Asia and the pound dropped to a 12-week low against the US dollar after fresh signs of weakness in China triggered speculation that its post-lockdown recovery was running out of steam.

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Bharat G20 invitation fuels rumours India may change name

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World leaders attending summit in New Delhi at weekend asked to dinner with ‘president of Bharat’

India was buzzing with speculation over rumoured plans to scrap official use of the country’s English name, after a state-issued invitation to the G20 summit referred to it as Bharat.

The government of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, has been working to remove lingering symbols of British rule from India’s urban landscape, political institutions and history books, but this could be the biggest move yet.

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Ex-Pakistan PM warns of deepening crisis as fears of new election delay grow

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Shahid Khaqan Abbasi says parliament has lost its credibility as military continues to wield political power

A former Pakistani prime minister has said the country is in a “deepening political and economic crisis” as fears grow elections due to be held by November may be delayed further.

His comments came after a tumultuous period in which the prime minister, Imran Khan, was removed from office and arrested as an opposition coalition took power, the controversial 2018-23 parliament, which witnessed rights violations, a crackdown on political opponents and increasing curbs on dissent, was dissolved and the power and influence of the military grew.

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Germany matches DNA from skulls stolen from African colony to living relatives

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Remains pillaged in colonial era for ‘scientific’ experiments are DNA matched to Tanzanian descendants

Researchers in Berlin have identified living relatives of people whose remains were stolen from Tanzania and taken to Germany for “scientific” experiments during the colonial era.

Berlin’s Museum of Prehistory and Early History has been carrying out research since 2017 on about 1,100 skulls taken from what was then known as German East Africa.

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Brazil launches biggest ever operation against illegal cattle farms in Amazon

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Taskforce deployed to remove thousands of cows owned by land grabbers from indigenous territory

The Brazilian government has launched its biggest ever operation to remove thousands of cows owned by illegal land grabbers from indigenous territory in the Amazon rainforest.

Three helicopters, a dozen vehicles and a heavily armed corps of police and environment rangers are carrying out the cattle drive, which criminal gangs attempted to block by setting fires on the route, destroying bridges and intimidating drivers.

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Sudan war crime trial of former oil firm executives starts in Sweden

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Prosecutors say ex-chair and CEO were complicit in atrocities by Sudanese army and militias, which both deny

Two former executives of a Swedish oil company have gone on trial in Stockholm, accused of complicity in war crimes in Sudan between 1999 and 2003 – charges they both deny.

Ian Lundin, a Swede, and Alex Schneiter, a Swiss national, are accused of asking Sudan’s government to make its military responsible for security at the site of one of Lundin Oil’s exploration fields, which later led to aerial bombings, killing of civilians and burning of entire villages, according to the prosecution.

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China on the agenda: 2024 candidates fret over how to deal with Beijing

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Republicans showcase range of hawkish policies designed to counter perceived threat amid diplomatic push by Biden

The United States’ tangled and increasingly fraught relationship with China is emerging centre stage in the 2024 presidential campaign in a rare case of foreign policy capturing the limelight in the race for the White House.

Half a century since a Republican president, Richard Nixon, made a historic visit to communist China to carve out a lauded strategic opening in the election year of 1972, Republican candidates vying to succeed him in the Oval Office are showcasing a range of hawkish policies designed to counter the perceived threat from Beijing.

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Hong Kong’s top court rules in favour of legal recognition for same-sex couples

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Judges call for alternative framework to marriage in partial victory for city’s LGBTQ+ community

Hong Kong must provide an alternative to marriage in order to legally recognise the rights of same-sex couples, the city’s highest court has declared, opening the way for civil unions.

However, it rejected appeals against current laws that restrict marriage to heterosexual couples and refuse to recognise overseas same-sex marriages, despite majority support among the population.

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