Category Archives: World News

Russia working to undermine trust in elections globally, US intelligence says

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Moscow using spy network, state-run media and social media to shake confidence in democracy, report sent to 100 countries claims

Russia is using its spy network, state-run media and social media to undermine public trust in elections around the world, according to a US intelligence report that has been shared with about 100 countries.

“Russia is focused on carrying out operations to degrade public confidence in election integrity,” said the report released on Friday, citing findings from the US intelligence community.

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Belgium’s justice minister resigns after Brussels terror attack

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Vincent Van Quickenborne stands down after it emerged Islamic extremist had been denied asylum and was sought for extradition

Belgium’s justice minister has resigned after it emerged that the Islamic extremist who shot dead two Swedes in Brussels this week had been denied asylum and was sought for extradition by Tunisia.

Justice minister Vincent Van Quickenborne said late on Friday that he and other officials had been searching for details to understand how Abdesalem Lassoued had disappeared off the map two years ago after being denied asylum.

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US mother and daughter released from Hamas captivity after Qatar brokers deal

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Hostages Judith Raanan and daughter Natalie, 17, taken via Egypt to Israeli army base to be reunited with family

A mother and daughter from Chicago who were seized during the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October and held hostage in Gaza have been released after Qatar brokered negotiations with the militant group.

Natalie Raanan, 17, and her mother, Judith, 59, were transferred through the Rafah crossing into Egypt, where they were met by Israeli security forces, the office of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a statement late on Friday.

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‘Day of rage’ erupts across West Bank after Israeli forces attack refugee camp

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Palestinian Islamic Jihad supporters marched through Nur Shams chanting ‘revenge’ and protested against violence on children

Tensions flared in the West Bank on Friday as angry and sometimes armed confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli forces took place across the occupied territory after a deadly raid by Israeli troops.

The Palestinian health ministry said 13 people including five children were killed on Thursday in the Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarem. Israeli media said Israeli troops used a drone before engaging in a prolonged gun battle with armed groups in the camp that left civilians and several militants dead.

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Gaza crossing still closed despite pressure from UN and US leaders

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Rafah crossing still closed to aid as Hamas releases two hostages while Israeli airstrikes on territory continue

The humanitarian lifeline into Gaza remained closed on Friday despite a personal visit by the UN secretary general, António Guterres, and an agreement to open it brokered by Joe Biden, as Israel continued to pummel the enclave with airstrikes.

The failure to lift the total Israeli blockade further endangered Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people, with the UN forced in many cases to reduce the water ration to one litre a person a day for all uses, compared with the minimum international standard of 15 litres.

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Chinese ship is focus of investigation into damaged pipeline, Finland says

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Police focusing on Newnew Polar Bear cargo ship that was in the area when gas pipeline was damaged

Finnish police have said a Chinese ship whose movement coincided with the time and place of the suspected sabotage of a pipeline between Finland and Estonia that was damaged this month is now the focus of their investigation.

After a leak led to the shutdown of the Balticconnector pipeline on 8 October, Finnish authorities have been investigating the damage they say was caused by “external” activity.

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Arabs in Israel face reprisals over online solidarity with Gaza

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Citizens who post on social media in support of Palestinians under bombardment threatened with arrest or sacking

Israeli Arabs or Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem have been targeted with arrest, sacking and dismissal over social media posts expressing solidarity with the people of Gaza.

Israeli Arabs, many of whom identify as Palestinian citizens of Israel, have expressed solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza amid Israel’s aerial bombing campaign that has so far killed more than 4,000 people in the impoverished territory, the majority civilians, according to the health ministry in the Strip.

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Actor reporting on asylum seekers finds brother among arrivals in Canary Islands

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Thimbo Samb, based in Madrid, was reunited with his older brother who had made boat journey from Senegal

A Madrid-based actor who had travelled to the Canary Islands to report on the arrival of a near-record number of asylum seekers was reunited with his brother after finding out that he was among the thousands who have made the treacherous trip from Senegal to Spain in recent weeks.

Thimbo Samb and his team had arrived in the archipelago hoping to tell the story of the more than 23,000 asylum seekers who have turned up on its shores so far this year. But the Senegal-born actor’s trip took a different turn after he learned that his older brother was among the many who had recently set off on the risky route.

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Sunak reiterates support for two-state solution in meeting with Abbas

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PM met Palestinian Authority leader in Egypt as part of tour of the region to try to prevent the conflict escalating

Rishi Sunak has held talks in Cairo with the leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, where the two men condemned Hamas and the prime minister reiterated the UK’s support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“The leaders agreed on the need for all parties to take steps to protect civilians, and civilian infrastructure, and minimise the loss of innocent lives,” a spokesperson for Sunak said.

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Storm Babet: third person dies after flooding; 30 people evacuated in Derbyshire – as it happened

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Man dies after getting caught in flood water in Shropshire; Brampton area of Chesterfield evacuated

Here are some of the latest images from Brechin, where flood water reached window-sill height this morning and emergency services are rescuing people stuck in their homes.

Aberdeenshire council has confirmed that supplies of sandbags have been “depleted” and will not be replenished.

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Jim Jordan says he’s ‘going back to work’ after losing secret ballot for House speaker candidacy – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. For latest reporting on Jim Jordan and the House speaker race, you can read our latest report:

The number of Republicans who show up for today’s vote will also be a factor in determining whether Jordan wins or loses.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that the GOP congressman Derrick Van Orden will not be in attendance, as he’s on a trip to Israel:

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Russia-Ukraine war: UN probe finds new evidence of Russian war crimes; Zelenskiy ‘grateful’ to Biden for support – as it happened

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Russian forces have committed ‘indiscriminate attacks’ and war crimes in Ukraine, says UN committee of inquiry

Russian forces launched 12 missiles, 60 airstrikes and 53 shellings yesterday, and engaged Ukrainian troops in 90 combat engagements, the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said in its morning briefing.

Russian forces also deployed the wing rocket Iskander-K at a civilian object in Mykolaiv and launched Iranian kamikaze Shahed drones across southern Ukraine, most of which were destroyed by anti-aircraft defence.

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Biden ‘didn’t hear the full question’ on whether Israel should delay Gaza ground assault, White House says – as it happened

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White House says US president was only commenting on whether he wanted to see more hostages released. This blog is now closed

Biden says, “We’re pursuing every avenue to bring hostages home”. He says there is no higher priority.

“We’re facing an inflection point in history,” Biden says as he opens his speech. What we do today will determine outcomes for decades to come, he says.

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Republicans continue effort to erode US child labor rules despite teen deaths

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Violations have soared but legislative effort to strengthen protection for young workers have received little support

Child labor violations have been soaring in the US, but efforts to render solutions through legislation have received little support, and Republicans at the state level continue pushing bills that would roll back current child labor protections.

In most recent fiscal year, the US Department of Labor wage and hour division reported 835 cases of child labor violations affecting 3,876 minors, and 688 minors employed in violation of hazardous occupation, a 283% increase since 2015. Civil penalties against employers totaled just under $4.3m.

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Dutch throne on display for first time as monarchy tries to win back public

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Seat used during state opening of parliament takes centre stage in exhibition about royal power

The Dutch throne has been moved for the first time from the 13th-century Ridderzaal in The Hague to be displayed in an exhibition, as the Netherlands’ monarchy seeks to further open up to the public amid growing republican sentiment.

The wooden chair, upholstered in red velvet, takes centre stage in the Power of the Throne exhibition at Paleis Het Loo, a summer retreat for the House of Orange-Nassau that continued to be used deep into the 20th century.

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Italian PM Giorgia Meloni splits from partner after his sexist comments

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TV journalist Andrea Giambruno was recorded making suggestive comments towards a female colleague

Italy’s far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has split from her partner, Andrea Giambruno, a television journalist who has made several embarrassing, sexist comments.

“My relationship with Andrea Giambruno, which lasted almost 10 years, ends here,” Meloni wrote on social media, two days after two off-air recordings emerged of Giambruno, a presenter on Mediaset’s news talkshow Diario Del Giorno, making foul remarks and suggestive comments towards a female colleague.

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‘I was helpless’: Nepali survivors of Hamas attack in Israel haunted by trauma

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Ten Nepali students died at kibbutz, leaving families for whom they were breadwinners bereft

Dhanbahadur Chaudhari now dreams of rivers of blood. Although he returned home to Nepal this week, flashes of the scenes he left behind in Israel won’t leave him alone, and for days he has barely been able to sleep.

Chaudhari, 25, was among almost 50 students from Nepal who were staying on a kibbutz in Alumim, the border area between Israel and Gaza, when it came under attack from Hamas militants on 7 October. Since the current conflict broke out that day, at least 4,200 people have died in Israel and Palestine.

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Niger’s military rulers say ousted president tried to escape custody

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Escape attempt failed and ‘main actors’ have been arrested, says regime spokesperson on state TV

Niger’s military rulers say they have foiled an attempt by Mohamed Bazoum, the former president they ousted in a coup in July, to escape custody.

“At around three in the morning, the ousted president Mohamed Bazoum and his family, his two cooks and two security elements, tried to escape from his place of detention,” the regime’s spokesperson, Amadou Abdramane, said on state television.

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Israel security officials signal readiness for ground offensive into Gaza

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Senior official vows assault will ‘eliminate Hamas from the roots … everything should go away’

Israel security officials have signalled their readiness to embark on a ground offensive into Gaza that they say will be far more comprehensive and ferocious than any previous conflict with Hamas.

Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, visited troops on the Gaza border on Thursday, telling them: “You see Gaza now from a distance, you will soon see it from inside. The command will come.”

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European leaders seethe over Putin-Orbán meeting

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Czech president calls on western capitals not to fall for Russian leader’s tactic to break European unity

European leaders must not “fall” for the tactics of Vladimir Putin, the Czech president, Petr Pavel, has said, two days after Hungary’s prime minister shook hands with Russia’s leader.

Viktor Orbán, in a rare move for the leader of a country that belongs to the EU and Nato, met Putin in Beijing on Tuesday for what the Hungarian leader’s office described as a discussion on energy cooperation and peace.

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