Category Archives: World News

Athens offers more support as Zelenskiy takes high-speed tour of Europe

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Ukrainian president also meets leaders of Serbia and Croatia in bid to broaden support base

Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s high-speed tour of Europe’s smaller countries continued in Athens on Tuesday, where he obtained further military and diplomatic support after securing a long-awaited commitment on the provision of F-16s at the weekend.

The Ukrainian president met Serbia’s president and Croatia’s prime minister at a Balkans summit in the Greek capital, while a day earlier Greece’s prime minister had said his country would help train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 jets.

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Ukraine drone strike reportedly destroys Russian supersonic bomber

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TU-22M3 – used extensively in missile strikes on Ukraine – seen burning in images shared on social media

A drone appears to have destroyed a supersonic Russian bomber on an airfield hundreds of kilometres from Ukraine, British military intelligence has said, the latest in a string of successful assaults on prestige infrastructure and military hardware.

These attacks, far beyond the frontlines, are powerful propaganda for Ukraine, though Kyiv rarely claims them directly. Hits on key assets, which are meant to be heavily guarded by the latest technology, is highly damaging to morale in Russia, even if they do not change the balance of forces on the battlefield.

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Eighteen bodies found in wildfire zone in north-east Greece

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Officials working to identify people found in Alexandroupolis region as firefighters battle second wave of fires

The bodies of 18 people have been found in an area of north-east Greece where firefighters are battling a major wildfire, authorities have said, as a record-breaking late summer heatwave continues to sear swathes of continental Europe.

Hundreds of firefighters were struggling on Tuesday to contain dozens of outbreaks, including several that have burned out of control for days and forced widespread evacuations, in the second deadly wave of blazes in Greece in a month.

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Quarter of music industry workers have had no work in EU since Brexit

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Survey shows devastating impact of Brexit on music sector, says Independent Society of Musicians

Almost half of UK musicians and workers in the music industry have had less work in the EU since Brexit than before it, and more than a quarter have had no EU work at all, according to a survey.

The impact of Brexit on the music sector had been devastating, said the Independent Society of Musicians (ISM), which carried out the survey. Restrictions had impaired the viability of making a living as a musician, it said.

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African Union issues ambiguous view on possible Niger military intervention

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AU opposes countries outside Africa getting involved, but gives more nuanced position on any Ecowas military action

The African Union (AU) appears to have left room open for military intervention by a west African political bloc to restore democracy in Niger, as Algerian state radio said it had refused a French request to fly over its airspace for a military operation.

France’s joint defence staff, however, denied the country had made any request to Algeria to use its airspace for a military operation in Niger.

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Zimbabwe goes to polls amid deepening economic crisis

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Promises to get inflation and unemployment on track after decades of Mugabe rule have failed to materialise

An ever-worsening economic situation is hanging over Zimbabwean voters as they go to the polls in a repeat of the 2018 election pitting President Emmerson Mnangagwa against his charismatic and relatively youthful challenger, Nelson Chamisa.

Mnangagwa narrowly defeated Chamisa five years ago after the coup that deposed Robert Mugabe, and pledged to to tackle the economy “head on” in his first term. However, unemployment, inflation and falls in the value of the Zimdollar have persisted.

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Hospital detentions for new mothers challenged in Ugandan court

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Two cases to be heard this month could serve as legal precedent to outlaw the holding of patients against their will for unpaid bills

Two women who were prevented from leaving hospital over unpaid medical bills are to have their case against Ugandan authorities heard this month in a case that lawyers hope will end the practice.

Akello Esther Susan, 23, and NS (known by her initials) are jointly suing the government, two district councils and church dioceses over their treatment after giving birth in 2020 and 2021 respectively.

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Cambodia: son of long time ruler Hun Sen becomes PM in historic transfer of power

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Major powers will be watching to see if Hun Manet adopts his father’s authoritarian approach to governing

Cambodia’s newly elected parliament has endorsed military general Hun Manet as prime minister, completing a historic transfer of power in a fast-changing country led by his father for nearly four decades.

The western-educated Hun Manet, 45, had the backing of most of the National Assembly in proceedings screened live on television on Tuesday. He became eligible for the job after winning a seat in last month’s parliamentary elections, widely criticised as a sham.

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Thaksin Shinawatra jailed on return to Thailand as his party regains power

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Ex-PM begins eight-year jail term but appointment of Srettha Thavisin as leader could shorten his sentence

Thailand’s populist former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has arrived in Bangkok after more than 15 years in exile as his party returned to government in a controversial pact with its military rivals that keeps reformists out of power.

Thaksin – a hugely influential but also divisive politician – began an eight-year jail term on his return, though commentators have noted that his arrival in the country coincides with his party’s return to office and a backroom deal could allow him to escape a full sentence.

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Wagner making ‘Africa even more free’, says Prigozhin in first post-rebellion video

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Person who appears to be mercenary leader seen in desert area, saying his group is recruiting

The Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has posted his first video address since leading a short-lived rebellion in Russia, appearing in a clip – possibly shot in Africa – on Telegram channels affiliated with the Wagner group.

A person who appears to be the 62-year-old mercenary leader is seen in the video standing in a desert area in camouflage and with a rifle in his hands. In the distance, there are more armed men and a pickup truck.

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Doctors must show zero tolerance of sexual harassment, says UK medical council

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Updated guidance covers verbal and written comments, displaying or sharing images and physical contact

Doctors will be expected to demonstrate “zero tolerance” of sexual harassment, the General Medical Council has announced.

For the first time, new professional standards, published on Tuesday, introduce explicit rules on sexual harassment towards colleagues.

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Chicago woman arrested over alleged threats to kill Trump and son Barron

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Tracy Marie Fiorenza, 41, allegedly made first threat in email in May and allegedly sent another in June, officials say

A Chicago woman was arrested on Monday on charges of emailing threats to shoot Donald Trump and his youngest son Barron Trump, the US attorney’s office in the Illinois city said.

A formal complaint was filed against Tracy Marie Fiorenza, 41, earlier this month in the US district court for the southern district of Florida.

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Georgia sheriff pleads guilty to groping TV judge

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Kristopher Coody pleads guilty to sexual battery over groping of Glenda Hatchett last year and sentenced to year on probation

A Georgia sheriff pleaded guilty on Monday to groping TV judge Glenda Hatchett, who recalled being so stunned that she froze when the lawman grabbed and squeezed her breast at a hotel bar last year during a law enforcement conference.

Bleckley county sheriff Kristopher Coody pleaded guilty in Cobb county state court to a misdemeanor charge of sexual battery and was sentenced to a year on probation, news outlets reported. He also resigned from the office he had held since 2017.

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Ironman swimming race in Ireland in which two died did not have approval

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Ivan van Chittenden and Brendan Wall were competing in event that Triathlon Ireland did not sanction owing to bad weather

An Ironman swimming race in which two competitors died was not sanctioned by the governing body for triathlons in Ireland due to concerns about “adverse conditions”.

Triathlon Ireland said it had not sanctioned the Ironman Cork event in Youghal because of the weather.

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Brics group looks to expand at summit despite divisions among key members

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Experts say India concerned about expansion and any overt anti-west turn as leaders fly into South Africa

Leaders from developing countries representing almost half the world’s population including China and Russia are meeting in South Africa for a key summit aimed at reinforcing their alliance as a counterweight to the west.

The Brics grouping summit in Johannesburg is being hosted by the South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, and brings together the prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, as well the presidents of China, Xi Jinping, and Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

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Three found dead after Moscow guided sewer tour hit by heavy rain

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Several others missing after water levels in Russian capital’s sewers rose quickly after downpour

Three people were found dead and several others were missing after taking part in a guided tour of Moscow’s sewer system that was hit by heavy rain, state-run media said.

“The body of an unidentified woman has been found in the Moskva River, making her the third person to die after a tour of the underground sewers,” a source in the emergency services was quoted as saying by the TASS news agency.

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Homebuilder shares tumble as UK housing market weakens – business live

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A profit warning from housebuilder Crest Nicholson has compounded fears of a housing market slowdown, as Rightmove data reveals a further drop in asking prices

AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said that while weak house price data (as was “hardly a surprise”, Crest Nicholson’s profit warning has “laid bare the the scale of the impact of a housing slowdown on the housebuilding sector.”

Sales of new homes have plunged alarmingly and, while not all developers in the space are created equal, the news, allied to Rightmove’s latest reading on the property market, has had a knock-on effect on share prices in the rest of the sector this morning.

The £7,000 drop in the average asking price observed by Rightmove in the last month, allied to a big drop in transaction volumes, is the kind of statistic to make estate agents distinctly uneasy.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Russia ‘must be punished under international law,’ says Greek PM – as it happened

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Kyriakos Mitsotakis steps up criticism of Russia as he meets Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Athens

At least two people were injured on Monday when parts of a Ukrainian drone destroyed by Russian air defences fell on a house in the Moscow region, Reuters has cited the regional governor as saying.

As mentioned in an earlier post, nearly 50 plane flights in and out of the capital were disrupted after Russia said it jammed a Ukrainian drone in the Ruzsky district, west of the capital, and destroyed another one in the Istrinsky district nearby.

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Thai party of Thaksin Shinawatra strikes deal with ex-military rivals

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Arrangement angers many Pheu Thai supporters and could coincide with former PM’s return from exile

The party associated with Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has struck a deal with its former military rivals, a move that could coincide with his return after more than 15 years in exile.

The deal announced on Monday has angered many Pheu Thai supporters, as well as those of the reformist Move Forward party that won the most votes and seats in the May general election but whose leader was blocked from taking office.

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Ecuadorians vote to halt oil drilling in biodiverse Amazonian national park

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Referendum result protecting Yasuní reserve will benefit huge range of species as well as ‘uncontacted’ Indigenous peoples

Ecuadorians have voted in a historic referendum to halt the development of all new oilwells in the Yasuní national park in the Amazon, one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet.

Voters opted to safeguard the unique biosphere by a margin of nearly 20% with more than 90% of the ballot counted – with more than 58% in favour and 41% against, according to Ecuador’s National Electoral Comission. Voting took place in the first round of presidential elections on Sunday.

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