Malaysian foreign ministry says 43 of its citizens were freed in Lima after being forced to take part in ‘Macau scam’
More than 40 people from Malaysia have been rescued by police in Peru after they fell victim to a human trafficking syndicate operating a telecommunication fraud.
The Malaysians were forced to participate in the so-called “Macau scam”, making calls to companies in Malaysia and Taiwan to demand money while posing as banks, police or justice officials.
Continue reading...Hamas says Israeli strikes have killed some captives and it will kill another if bombing without warning continues
Israel has declared a “complete siege” of Gaza, cutting off water, food and power supplies, as Hamas militants threatened to start killing Israeli civilian hostages if the bombing of civilian areas in the enclave continued without prior warning.
Palestinian militants abducted more than 100 people during a surprise multi-front attack in which they killed more than 700 – making Saturday the deadliest day in Israel’s history. Israeli media said on Monday the death toll had climbed to 900.
Continue reading...James Murphy, nicknamed ‘Stoneman Willie’ because of hard skin from experimental embalming, has been ‘gawked at long enough’
The mummified remains of a petty thief nicknamed Stoneman Willie have been laid to rest in Pennsylvania, concluding a fascinating and somewhat macabre episode stretching back 128 years.
Willie, whose real name was revealed to be James Murphy at his burial in Reading, 60 miles north-west of Philadelphia, on Saturday. He was embalmed shortly after his death in 1895 by a mortician experimenting with new preservation techniques.
Continue reading...Death toll up to 800, including French, Argentinian, Thai and Nepalese, with at least 10 UK citizens reportedly dead or missing
At least 11 US citizens were among those killed in the Hamas onslaught on Israel at the weekend, Joe Biden said on Monday, as the death toll in Israel rose above 800.
As it became clear that the dead included people from different backgrounds and originally from countries other than Israel, the BBC reported that at least 10 British citizens were dead or missing. France confirmed the deaths of two of its citizens, and there were reports that as many as nine French people were missing, dead or taken hostage. German citizens are also thought to have been killed or kidnapped.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed. For our latest reporting on Kennedy’s presidential candidacy, you can read our latest report:
Robert F Kennedy Jr is expected to announce his independent run for US president at 12.00 pm ET in Philadelphia.
The 69-year-old has spent several months running for the Democratic nomination for the country’s highest office. He is the only challenge to Biden, who has a majority of the support within Democratic party.
Continue reading...Earlier announcement by Olivér Várhelyi had prompted surprise from member states including Ireland and Spain
The EU has been plunged into a diplomatic row after an announcement that it was to suspend “all payments” to Palestinians as a result of Hamas’s attacks on Israel led to clashes with several member states including Ireland, Spain and the Netherlands.
After six hours scrambling for an explanation, the European Commission appeared to backpedal on an announcement made by the commissioner for neighbourhood and enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi, saying: “There will be no suspension of payments.” But it muddied the waters by saying there were “no payments foreseen”.
Continue reading...Independent candidate’s three sisters and brother post joint statement denouncing his run as ‘dangerous to our country’
Robert F Kennedy Jr’s run for the White House as an independent candidate is “perilous” for the US, his siblings said in a statement on Monday, immediately following their brother’s campaign launch in Philadelphia.
“The decision of our brother Bobby to run as a third party candidate against Joe Biden is dangerous to our country,” said sisters Rory Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend; and brother Joseph P Kennedy II in a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Continue reading...Investors predict more instability in Middle East, as some flights to Tel Aviv are suspended
Oil and gas prices rose on Monday and airline shares fell amid widespread flight cancellations as markets reacted to the surprise attack on Israel by the militant group Hamas.
Investors appeared to be pricing in the prospect of more instability in the Middle East, given the warning from the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, that his country was embarking on a “long and difficult war”. The death toll has passed 1,100 since fighting started on Saturday and is rising.
Continue reading...UK prime minister will chair Cobra meeting as death toll continues to rise after Hamas’s surprise attack
Rishi Sunak has pledged to provide diplomatic, intelligence or security support to Israel if requested after attacks by Hamas, as he chaired an emergency meeting of Cobra.
No 10 said the UK stood “poised” to help Israel militarily if it asked for assistance and is not ruling out evacuating some British citizens from affected areas, saying keeping them safe was the “utmost priority”.
Continue reading...Order comes after UN approved mission to send Kenya-led police officers to help Haiti combat rampant gang violence
A Kenyan court temporarily blocked the government from deploying hundreds of police personnel in Haiti in a UN-approved mission aimed at helping the Caribbean nation tackle rampant gang violence.
The court order issued on Monday is valid until 24 October and followed a petition jointly filed by one of the opposition political parties and two Kenyans who say the decision to deploy the police officers outside the east African country is illegal.
Continue reading...Goalies’ brains appear able to merge signals from different senses more quickly, say researchers
The former Premier League goalkeeper Brad Friedel once said that to be able to work well in the box, you have to be able to think outside the box.
Now scientific data supports the idea that goalies’ brains really do perceive the world differently – their brains appear able to merge signals from the different senses more quickly, possibly underpinning their unique abilities on the football pitch.
Continue reading...Celebrities reportedly fuelling glitter hysteria with one Big Brother ex-contestant buying 82 packets
German reality TV personalities and influencers are reportedly driving a surge in sales of glitter and everything made with it, from nails to makeup, before an EU ban on loose glitter that is aimed at tackling pollution from microplastics.
Many products containing glitter are to be banned from shops in the bloc from the end of this week, creating an unprecedented demand for them.
Continue reading...Alternative für Deutschland comes second in Hesse and third in Bavaria as support spreads from east of country
The far-right, anti-immigration Alternative für Deutschland has declared itself a “major all-German party” after winning its biggest ever vote share in a western German state.
The AfD, once seen as a party most relevant to post-communist eastern states, won 18.4% of the vote on Sunday in the powerhouse state of Hesse, around Frankfurt, and came second only to the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). In Bavaria it came third, behind the rightwing populist Freie Wähler (Free Voters) party.
Continue reading...People spend second night in ruined villages where desperate search for loved ones is continuing
Survivors of a series of powerful earthquakes that struck western Afghanistan on Saturday have spent a second night sleeping amid the rubble of demolished villages as they search for loved ones using shovels. The death toll is approaching 3,000, according to senior Taliban officials.
In the regional capital of Herat city people slept in public parks and streets, fearing further tremors. The United States Geological Survey reported quakes on Monday of magnitude 5.9, 4.9 and 4.7 in rural areas.
Continue reading...Ukrainian president’s visit to neighbouring Nato member country will be first visit since Russia invaded Ukraine
Russia has claimed to have thwarted five attacks by Ukrainian armed forces, according to a report from Tass. It writes that the media officer for Russia’s central group of troops, who are positioned in occupied Luhansk, claimed Russia had repelled the attacks near Lyman and Torske, killing 50 members of Ukrainian armed forces in the process. The claims have not been independently verified.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has appealed at the Nato parliamentary assembly for the international rule of law to unite and deal with terrorism, comparing the attack by what he called a “terrorist organisation” on Israel with the similar tactics used by Russia, which he said was a “terrorist state”.
Continue reading...Netanyahu says response will ‘change the Middle East’; Hamas warns of executing civilian captives if Israel continues bombing civilian houses in Gaza
The US special antisemitism envoy, Deborah Lipstadt, among the most renowned Holocaust scholars in the world, called the Hamas attacks “the most lethal assault against Jews since the Holocaust”.
Lipstadt said there was “no justification” for the “heinous, barbaric terrorism against Israeli civilians” and mass murder.
“No one has the right to tell Israel how to defend itself and prevent and deter future attacks. As [US president Joe Biden] stated, “The United States stands with Israel. We will not ever fail to have their back … Israel has the right to defend itself and its people. Full stop.”
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: Thousands of Israelis and Palestinians have been wounded and killed since Saturday morning, with Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning of a ‘long and difficult war’ after Hamas attack
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At about 6:30am local time on Saturday, Hamas, the Palestinian para-military group, launched an unprecedented, surprise attack by land, air and sea, firing thousands of rockets from Gaza and launching an incursion into southern Israel taking over several Israeli towns. The offensive, which Hamas have called “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood”, took place a day after the 50th anniversary of the 1973 Yom Kippur war and caught the Israeli government and military completely off guard. It has been described as an “intelligence failure for the ages”.
Germany | Germany’s opposition conservatives have held ground in the key states of Hesse and Bavaria in elections that highlighted discontent with Olaf Scholz’s centre-left government amid worries about economic slowdown and migration.
Labour | Rachel Reeves will announce today that a Labour government would create a powerful Covid corruption commissioner to help recoup billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money that has been lost to waste, fraud and flawed contracts during the pandemic.
Health | Mental healthcare in England has become “a national emergency”, with “overwhelmed” services unable to cope with a big post-Covid surge in people needing help, NHS bosses say.
Conservatives | Working-class people who were a key part of the coalition of voters that delivered the Conservatives’ 2019 general election win have been deserting the party in droves under Rishi Sunak’s leadership, polling by YouGov has found. Only 44% of working-class voters who voted for the Tories in 2019 say they will back the party next time.
Spain | Tens of thousands of people have joined conservative and far-right Spanish political leaders in Barcelona to protest against the Socialist party’s decision to consider an amnesty for those involved in the failed, unlawful and unilateral push for Catalan independence six years ago.
Continue reading...Jana Shostak was dropped by Donald Tusk’s opposition alliance over support for wider abortion rights
A feminist activist and electoral candidate who was dropped by Donald Tusk’s opposition alliance in Poland after she expressed support for abortion access after 12 weeks of pregnancy has said her trust in the veteran liberal conservative to fight for women’s rights is “limited”.
Jana Shostak, a 30-year-old performance artist, has a strong record of advocacy on behalf of Belarusian democracy, refugees and women’s rights. When she announced she was running for parliament in next month’s election – joining the coalition of the leading opposition party, Civic Platform (PO) – Poland’s progressives were excited.
Continue reading...IDF says fighting is ongoing in south, saying it ‘could be a 9/11 and a Pearl Harbour wrapped into one’ as Supernova festival-goers describe attack
About 260 bodies have been recovered from the site of a music festival in southern Israel that was attacked by Hamas militants, as Israel’s military said fighting was ongoing in the region and described the situation as “dire”.
Late on Sunday, Israeli rescue service Zaka said it had retrieved hundreds of bodies from the Supernova festival, near Kibbutz Re’im close to Gaza. Shocking images and video from the site showed festival-goers running for their lives across open fields as Hamas gunmen attacked them and took hostages.
Continue reading...Ukraine replaces commander of Territorial Defence Forces; Zelenskiy appeals for world to unite to deal with ‘terrorist’ organisations and states
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