Category Archives: World News

‘Social assassination’: defiant Rubiales refuses to resign over World Cup kiss

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  • Spanish FA chief vows to stay and says critics ‘trying to kill me’
  • 46-year-old faced fierce criticism for kissing Jennifer Hermoso

Luis Rubiales hit out at “false feminism” and a “social assassination” of his character as he vowed to stay on as head of Spain’s football federation (RFEF) amid fierce criticism and a Fifa investigation for kissing Spain’s Jennifer Hermoso on the lips during the Women’s World Cup final trophy presentation.

In a passionate speech at an extraordinary general assembly of Spain’s football federation, the 46-year-old reiterated that he would not be forced out of his role by what he felt was a witch-hunt. “I will not resign,” he repeated five times to widespread applause. “I will fight this to the end.”

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Overweight adults with high blood pressure a third more likely to die early, study finds

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Up to 31% of global population estimated to have metabolic syndrome due to three or more unhealthy traits

Millions of middle-aged adults who are overweight with even slightly raised blood pressure, cholesterol or glucose levels are about a third more likely to die early, research suggests.

They also face a 35% higher risk of heart attacks or strokes and will experience them two years earlier than their peers. The stark findings are being presented at the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology, the world’s largest heart conference. They represent more evidence of the immediate dangers posed by the global obesity crisis.

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Rape still a weapon of war in Tigray months after peace deal

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Medical records from across the region show sexual violence continues to be used ‘to intimidate and terrorise communities’

Eritrean and Ethiopian soldiers continue a widespread and systematic campaign of rape in Tigray despite the peace agreement signed in November last year, a new report reveals.

In the first report to document sexual violence – using hundreds of medical records from the start of the conflict in November 2020 through to June 2023 – healthcare professionals recount cases of gang-rape, sexual slavery and murder, including the killing of children.

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Pentagon says no indication Prigozhin plane brought down by surface-to-air missile after Putin confirms death – Russia-Ukraine war live

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Pentagon spokesman says press reports of missile ‘inaccurate’; Russian president says former head of Wagner made ‘serious mistakes in his life’

The UK schools minister, Nick Gibb, said the government was monitoring the situation carefully following reports that the leader of the Wagner mercenary group died in a plane crash.

Gibb told GB News: “We are obviously monitoring the position very carefully. We’re working with our allies to see how matters develop.”

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Serious Fraud Office drops 10-year corruption inquiry into Kazakh miner ENRC

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UK agency also shuts other high-profile cases including Rio Tinto investigation

The UK’s Serious Fraud Office has abandoned a criminal investigation into the Kazakh mining group ENRC, ending a decade-long corruption inquiry mired in controversy.

The SFO updated its website on Thursday with a notice that it had closed the case after concluding there was “insufficient admissible evidence” to prosecute the company.

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Putin says ‘talented businessman’ Yevgeny Prigozhin has died

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Speculation grows that Wagner chief’s plane was downed by bomb after it took off from Moscow

Vladimir Putin has confirmed the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, saying the Wagner chief had made some made “some serious mistakes” and met with a “difficult fate”, as speculation grew his plane was brought down by a bomb after it took off from Moscow.

US and western officials said it was likely that an intentional explosion had brought down the plane, which crashed into a field 185 miles (300km) north of of the Russian capital.

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After Prigozhin humiliated Putin, the question was how he survived so long

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The Wagner leader appeared down but not out in the months after his mutiny, but his fate may already have been sealed

The Kremlin meeting was like a scene from The Godfather. Shortly after their mutiny was quelled in June, 35 Wagner commanders were summoned for a sit-down with Vladimir Putin. Putin said he offered them the chance to continue fighting in Ukraine. But Yevgeny Prigozhin, their leader and financier, was defiant.

“A lot of them nodded their heads” at the offer, Putin claimed. “But Prigozhin … didn’t see [their reaction] and said: ‘No, the guys won’t agree with that decision.’”

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Asylum seekers in Greece ‘facing two great injustices of our time’

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Amnesty links wildfires and lack of legal migration routes to deaths of 19 people believed to be asylum seekers

Refugees and migrants in Greece are facing off against the “two great injustices of our times”, Amnesty International has said, as it linked wildfires and scant access to legal migration routes to the deaths of 19 people believed to be asylum seekers.

As wildfires continue to rage across swathes of Greece, authorities in the country said they were working to identify the charred remains of 18 people found this week in the dense forests that straddle the country’s north-eastern border with Turkey.

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What does the removal of Prigozhin and Surovikin mean for the war in Ukraine?

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Putin may have shored up unity, but watching his back for pro-Wagner traitors may be a distraction

Yevgeny Prigozhin apparently being killed on the same day that it emerged Gen Sergei Surovikin had been relieved of his command of Russia’s air force means the two most effective leaders in the first phase of the Ukraine war are now gone; their removal a victory of sorts for the old guard at the Kremlin.

The Wagner group, headed by Prigozhin, led the capture of Bakhmut, Russia’s only battlefield gain so far this year, and it was his ally Surovikin, in his short period of overall command in Ukraine, who began building the defensive fortifications that are seen as so important to the invader’s position today.

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What we know about Prigozhin’s ‘last flight’ – a visual guide

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The Embraer Legacy 600 jet, long linked to the Wagner group, rapidly lost altitude and contact 33 minutes into its flight

The aircraft on which Yevgeny Prigozhin was travelling had long been linked with the Wagner group. An Embraer Legacy 600 jet, the flight tracking service FlightRadar identified it as being in regular use in recent months, flying from both St Petersburg and Moscow.

According to some reports, the Wagner party on board had been attending a meeting with officials from Russia’s defence ministry.

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Could reported death of Wagner chief push African leaders closer to Kremlin?

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Smooth transition of mercenary group’s network and holdings in Africa may not be straightforward for Moscow

The reported death of the founder and leader of the Wagner group in a plane crash in Russia could have huge consequences for a motley crew of regimes and warlords across Africa, but also for hundreds of millions of ordinary people, the west and all the powers battling for influence on the continent.

Some analysts now suggest that the demise of Yevgeny Prigozhin may strengthen the Kremlin’s hand in Africa among powerful actors who have relied on Wagner’s loose network of shadowy companies and paramilitaries to bolster their own power – and impress others who may be thinking of doing the same.

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‘They won’t buy it’: fish traders anxious after Fukushima wastewater release

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The release of water from the Japanese nuclear plant has already caused the price of produce from surrounding coastal areas to drop

Awa-jinja is a place of pilgrimage for the more superstitious fishers of Shinchi-machi, a coastal town in Fukushima, who come here to lower their heads and ask the Shinto gods to look kindly on them as they prepare to steer their boats into the vast Pacific Ocean.

Today, though, the “safe waves” implicit in the shrine’s name are of little concern to the men and women coming to the end of the working day at the town’s fishing port.

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Civilians targeted in war-torn Khartoum as poor and elderly remain trapped

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Latest atrocities in Sudan war include the shelling of house of traditional healer, who died with her children and neighbours

People trapped in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, and its twin city of Omdurman say civilians are being deliberately targeted in shelling by the warring parties.

A woman who had been helping wounded soldiers was killed along with her three children and six neighbours when her home was shelled by Sudanese army forces earlier this week.

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India’s rover takes walk on the moon after frenzied celebrations

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Solar-powered vehicle will spend two weeks roaming lunar surface to help scientists understand geology of moon

India’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft has rolled its rover on to the moon’s surface after its successful landing at the lunar south pole.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced the rover had “ramped down from the lander and India took a walk on the moon”.

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Voting in Zimbabwe election extended by another day after ballot delays

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Polling described as ‘shambolic’, with electoral body accused of conspiring with ruling party to ‘disenfranchise’ opposition voters

Voting in Zimbabwe’s election has been extended by another day after huge delays in the delivery of ballot papers to some wards.

The country’s president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, issued a decree late on Wednesday to extend voting by another day in 40 wards across Harare, and the provinces of Mashonaland Central and Manicaland, as the government tried to salvage polling that had been described as “shambolic”.

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Brics to more than double with admission of six new countries

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Major expansion as economic bloc that includes Russia and China attempts to provide counterweight to the US and western allies

The Brics group of big emerging economies has announced the admission of six new members, in an attempt to reshape the global world order and provide a counterweight to the US and its allies.

From the beginning of next year, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Argentina, the UAE and Ethiopia will join the current five members – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – it was announced at a summit in Johannesburg on Thursday.

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UK ‘seeking to block ICJ ruling’ on Israeli occupation of Palestine

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Dismay over UK statement that opposes hearing altogether and is accused of ignoring significant facts

The UK has been accused of “seeking to block the international court of justice (ICJ) from addressing important international humanitarian law matters” in a submission to the world court on the legality of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.

A 43-page legal opinion, seen by the Guardian, was submitted by the UK last month as part of the ICJ’s fact-finding stage before an expected advisory opinion from the court on the legal consequences of the “occupation, settlement and annexation” of Palestinian land.

An advisory opinion would effectively settle Israel’s “bilateral dispute” without the state’s consent.

The court is not equipped to examine a “broad range of complex factual issues concerning the entire history of the parties’ dispute”.

An advisory opinion would conflict with existing agreements between the parties and negotiation frameworks endorsed by the UN.

The request is not appropriate as it asks the court to “assume unlawful conduct on the part of Israel”.

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Republican debate live: eight presidential hopefuls take stage as Trump is a no-show

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Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Mike Pence, Chris Christie, Doug Burgum, Tim Scott, Asa Hutchinson and Vivek Ramaswamy take stage in Milwaukee

Onstage at the Republican presidential debate tonight is the governor of North Dakota, Doug Burgum – who almost didn’t make it.

He has managed to make the event despite requiring crutches and wearing a boot after hurting his Achilles tendon while playing basketball.

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Yevgeny Prigozhin onboard plane in fatal crash, says Russia

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Officials say Wagner chief behind June mutiny was on jet that crashed in Tver region, killing all 10 onboard

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner paramilitary chief who launched an armed mutiny in June, has been reported dead. Russia said he was onboard a private jet that crashed in the Tver region near Moscow, killing all 10 onboard.

Rosaviatsia, the Russian aviation authority, said Prigozhin and senior Wagner commander Dmitry Utkin were among 10 people travelling on the Embraer business jet that crashed on Wednesday evening.

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Prigozhin’s death would leave lasting mark on Russian army and elite

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Since the Wagner group’s abortive coup, many have felt its leader could be living on borrowed time

Ever since the abortive coup, speculation had been that Yevgeny Prigozhin could be living on borrowed time.

When the head of the notorious Wagner group launched his historic uprising, inflicting the biggest crisis of Vladimir Putin’s 23-year reign, many were left wondering how the Russian leader would respond.

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