Category Archives: World News

IMF clings to a hopeful agenda as crisis follows crisis

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At the fund’s annual meeting this week in Morocco, ambitions for climate and debt relief may be overwhelmed by events – again

Last week’s turmoil in the global bond markets will be playing on the minds of finance ministers and central bank governors when they gather in Marrakech this week for the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

After the triple shocks of the Covid pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the surge in inflation, the mood may be less febrile than it was a year ago, but few if any of those travelling to Morocco – which suffered a devastating earthquake last month – would dare say that the crisis era is over. Most will be wondering what might go wrong next.

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Hundreds of bodies recovered from Israel music festival – as it happened

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This blog is now closed. Follow our latest updates from the Gaza conflict here

The Israeli air force has released footage of an airstrike in the Gaza Strip.

There are two key questions in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’s surprise assault on Israel: what was the attack designed to achieve, and why now?

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Netanyahu warns of ‘long and difficult war’ after surprise Hamas attack on Israel

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Israel warns Gaza residents to ‘get out now’ and says it will stop supplying electricity, fuel and goods, vowing unprecedented retaliation

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel is embarking on a “long and difficult war” after a surprise attack by Palestinian militants led to hundreds of deaths, the seizure of dozens of Israeli hostages, and sparked fears of a regional escalation.

Gunbattles continued well after nightfall, and militants held hostages in standoffs in two towns. Militants occupied a police station in a third town, Sderot, where Israeli forces struggled until Sunday morning to finally reclaim the building.

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‘Israel declares war’: What the papers say about the surprise Hamas attack and its aftermath

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Images from Israel and Gaza fill the front pages of newspapers around the world after Palestinian militants launch unexpected and sweeping attack

The most serious escalation between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in 50 years has dominated global headlines.

At least 250 Israelis have died in Hamas attacks, Israeli officials have said. Meanwhile, at least 230 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israeli retaliation.

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Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 592 of the invasion

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Volodymyr Zelenskiy says Israel has ‘unquestionable’ right to defence, draws parallels with the war in Ukraine

Four people including a nine-year-old girl have been injured in a rocket strike on Konstantinivka on Sunday morning, according to the acting governor of Donetsk.

A 27-year-old woman and her nine-month-old baby are among those wounded in a Russian attack on the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, according to its governor, Oleksandr Prokudin. The woman and the infant were hospitalised with moderate wounds, he said, adding that a 33-year-old Red Cross medic was also wounded. Several houses and gas pipelines were damaged in the attack.

UN and local investigators are searching for answers in the village of Hroza in Kharkiv following one of the deadliest air strikes of the war. The strike on Thursday turned the sole cafe and store in the village to rubble and killed nearly 52 people gathered for a dead soldier’s wake, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other top officials in Kyiv. Only six people in the cafe survived.

Ukraine’s armed forces report that about 580 Russian troops have been killed during fighting over the last day. Posting its latest overnight summary of casualties, the Ukrainian military claims Russia has suffered 282,280 losses since the start of the war on 24 February last year.The figures have not been independently verified and are still being updated.

Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, says that current violence between Hamas and Israel is useful for Russia in diverting the world’s attention and works in their favour. Duda argued in an interview with private broadcaster Polsat News on Sunday that conflict in the Middle East distracts international scrutiny away from Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine and may result in new migration pressures on Europe.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has spoken about the situation in Israel, drawing parallels with the war in Ukraine by stating that “Israel’s right to self-defence is unquestionable”. He said his government had set up an operational headquarters to aid any Ukrainians in Israel. Officials have estimated that about 15,000 Ukrainian refugees have fled to Israel. While having sent tons of humanitarian aid, Netanyahu has consistently refused to supply weapons to Kyiv.

A United Russia party official in the Russian-held town of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson oblast was killed in a car explosion on Saturday, the Russian-installed regional governor said. Vladimir Malov, executive secretary of the town branch of Russia’s governing United Russia party, died in hospital, Vladimir Saldo said in a post on his Telegram channel. Kyiv has not claimed responsibility.

Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former leader, has called for a civil war in the US, as he said a civil war would be the only thing that could stop “America’s manic passion for sparking conflicts everywhere on the planet”.

Train traffic between North Korea and Russia has dramatically increased after the recent summit between leaders Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin, indicating a “likely” transfer of arms, according to a new report by Washington-based analysts. High-resolution satellite imagery reveals at least 70 freight cars at North Korea’s border Tumangang rail facility, the Beyond Parallel group said on Friday, a number described as “unprecedented”.

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Hamas and Israel at war: what we know on day two

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Hundreds are dead after a surprise attack by Hamas, prompting Israel to declare a state of war and launch retaliatory strikes

Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories are reeling after the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas launched the biggest attack on the Jewish state in 50 years. Hundreds are dead after a surprise attack on the morning of a Jewish holiday and Israel has declared a state of war.

Here is what we know so far:

Israeli forces continued to battle Hamas fighters on the streets of southern Israel on Sunday and launched strikes that levelled buildings in Gaza, more than 24 hours after the Palestinian militant group launched a surprise and unprecedented incursion into Israel – the deadliest in decades.

At least 600 Israelis were killed, including 44 soldiers, and more than 2,000 wounded, Israeli media reported.

At least 370 Palestinians were killed, including 20 children, and 2,200 wounded as a result of airstrikes in Gaza since Saturday, the Palestinian authority said. Seven people were also killed by Israeli army fire in the West Bank.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country was at war and would exact a heavy price from its enemies. Hamas leaders said they were prepared for further escalation.

Israel military officials said “hundreds of terrorists” had been killed and dozens captured as the fighting continued on Sunday.

Israeli military said a “substantial” number of civilians and soldiers had been taken to Gaza and were being held hostage.

In northern Israel, a brief exchange of strikes between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group raised fears of a broader conflict.

In neighbouring Egypt, a policeman shot dead two Israeli tourists and an Egyptian at a tourist site in Alexandria.

The UN security council is due to meet on Sunday after the secretary general, António Guterres, urged “all diplomatic efforts to avoid a wider conflagration”.

Israel will stop supplying electricity, fuel and goods to Gaza, according to a statement from Netanyahu’s office on Saturday night.

The US president, Joe Biden, issued a staunch condemnation of the attacks by Hamas against Israel, saying in an address on Saturday: “The United States stands with Israel”. He issued a statement earlier calling the attacks “horrific” and an “appalling assault”.

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White House condemns Hamas and pledges support for Israel after attacks

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Joe Biden says US will offer ‘rock solid and unwavering’ support to Israeli government as Tel Aviv mounts counterattack

The White House and other US politicians voiced their support for Israel on Saturday after attacks from Hamas stunned the world.

Joe Biden said he spoke to Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Saturday, assuring him that the American government is “ready to offer all appropriate means of support to the government and people of Israel”.

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Greece’s gay Syriza leader says he told of plans to become parent to ‘stir’ debate

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Stefanos Kasselakis says he wanted to open up the subject of same-sex couples having children

Greece’s first openly gay political party leader says he was deliberately trying to “stir stagnant waters” and tackle the taboo subject of same-sex couples having children when he announced he and his partner planned to become parents through surrogacy.

Weeks after his unexpected election to the helm of the main opposition left-wing Syriza, Stefanos Kasselakis insisted his comments had aimed to give the issue visibility in a nation where LGBT rights were rarely publicly discussed.

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Missing, presumed poached: Staten Island fears for beloved turtle

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Shnappy, who weighs 50lbs and lives in Clove Lakes Park, has gone missing – and locals suspect poachers stole it for soup

It is the case of a missing turtle.

And this is no ordinary beast. The huge snapping turtle, known to all as Shnappy, weighs an enormous 50lbs and is a fixture in the New York borough of Staten Island, where he has long resided in Clove Lakes Park.

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Civilians and soldiers held hostage in Gaza, says Israel – as it happened

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Rocket fire continues to strike Israel from Gaza.

Israeli media have reported that gunmen opened fire on passers-by in the town of Sderot, in southern Israel, and footage circulating on social media appeared to show clashes in city streets as well as gunmen in jeeps roaming the countryside.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Russian border region of Belgorod attacked, local governor says – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed, you can read more of our Ukraine war coverage here

One woman was killed and two more people injured in the Russian shelling of the village of Bilenke in the Zaporizhzhia oblast this morning, the head of the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration said on Telegram.

A private house and outbuildings were damaged in the attack, said Yuriy Malashko.

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Hamas and Israel at war: what we know so far

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Israel responds after Palestinian Islamist group launches surprise attack and incursion

The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas has launched a surprise attack on Israel, its biggest in years.

Here is what we know so far:

Hamas militants entered Israeli territory in the early hours of Saturday morning, appearing to take control of various communities in the south of the country. Fighting is still going on in some areas.

Hamas fired thousands of rockets towards Israel, according to Israeli authorities. The Hamas military commander, Mohammed Deif, said 5,000 had been fired, but an Israeli military spokesperson said 2,500 had been fired.

The death toll in Israel is at least 40, according to the Israeli national rescue service. The country’s health ministry said at least 561 wounded were being treated in hospital, according to an Associated Press count based on public statements and calls to hospitals.

The Palestinian health ministry says at least 198 people have been killed and 1,610 wounded in Gaza by Israeli retaliation after the Hamas attack.

There are reports of Israeli hostages in Gaza.

“We are at war and we will win it,” the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a video address to the country.

The British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, said he was “shocked by this morning’s attacks by Hamas terrorists against Israeli citizens”. “Israel has an absolute right to defend itself,” he said.

Adrienne Watson, the spokesperson for the US national security council, said: “The US unequivocally condemns the unprovoked attacks by Hamas terrorists against Israeli civilians. We stand firmly with the government and people of Israel and extend our condolences for the Israeli lives lost in these attacks.”

Saudi Arabia, which has been in talks with the US about normalising relations with Israel, called on both sides to exercise restraint.

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Iranian intellectual calls on opposition to unite as he is again sent to prison

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Majid Tavakoli, taken from his family in handcuffs, urges dissidents to ‘frankly analyse’ why opposition to the regime has successively failed

One of Iran’s foremost public intellectuals and critics of the Iranian regime was taken to prison in handcuffs on Saturday to start serving a five-year sentence.

Majid Tavakoli, who has a three-year-old child, was found guilty of spreading propaganda against the state. His dispatch to jail had been deferred for three weeks, but security officials came to take him away on Saturday, the day after another jailed Iranian human rights activist, Narges Mohammadi, was given the Nobel peace prize.

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Hamas’s stealth attack will be remembered as Israeli intelligence failure for the ages

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Israel’s advanced surveillance of Palestinians makes scenes of Hamas gunmen moving through its streets all the more astounding

Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel, on the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur war, will be remembered as an intelligence failure for the ages.

In the space of several hours, dozens of Gaza militants broke through the border fence into southern Israel, surprising local military positions.

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‘He loves this’: Trump takes 2024 campaign to the courtroom

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Legal woes that would destroy most candidates have become a defining feature of his campaign – and some say it might work

The blue suit, white shirt, red tie and American flag pin looked familiar. So did the TV cameras following every move and reporters hanging on every word. So did the wild hand gestures as he unleashed a torrent of incendiary rhetoric about the elites supposedly out to get him.

But this was not Donald Trump at one of his rollicking campaign rallies in middle America. This was the former US president standing outside a New York courtroom, with uniformed officers looking on, during a civil fraud trial accusing him of grossly inflating the value of his businesses.

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Dozens of people killed after powerful earthquakes hit Afghanistan, UN says

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UN says estimate of 320 fatalities is being verified, although local authorities put the death toll at 100, with 500 injured

Hundreds of people are feared dead after a series of powerful earthquakes hit western Afghanistan.

The United Nations said more than 320 had lost their lives before later saying the figure was still being verified. A local Taliban official told the Guardian the death toll “is much higher than that”.

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Biden accused of betrayal of Khashoggi over push to deepen Saudi ties

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Activists and Democrats condemn rapprochement – aimed at heading off China – with ‘autocratic, sociopathic government’

Joe Biden is facing accusations of betraying a pre-election promise to re-evaluate ties with Saudi Arabia over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in favour of pursuing a rapprochement with the kingdom aimed at repelling a challenge from China to US primacy in the Middle East.

The charge, from human rights campaigners and some Democrats, follows the fifth anniversary of Khashoggi’s death at the hands of Saudi regime agents and comes amid mounting criticism of a proposed new defence treaty between Washington and Riyadh that could result in Saudi Arabia granting official recognition to Israel.

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Border walls and deportations: Biden’s migrant plans prompt outrage

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The president decried Trump’s migration approach but a series of recent steps, critics say, are barely different from his predecessor

As a candidate in the 2020 election, Joe Biden assailed Donald Trump over what he cast as his rival’s ineffective and un-American approach to immigration – one that undermined the nation’s long history of welcoming those seeking refuge in the United States.

Now as president, facing a migrant crisis that is straining resources at the border and feeding into major US cities, Biden has taken a series of steps that critics on his left say are hardly distinguishable from his predecessor.

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Israel and Hamas at war after surprise attacks from Gaza Strip

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Twenty-two Israelis confirmed dead so far and 545 injured, with death toll likely to rise, after aerial and ground attack

Israel and Hamas are once again at war after the Palestinian militant group launched a large aerial and ground operation from the blockaded Gaza Strip, its biggest attack in years.

Sirens sounded across Israel and as far north as the contested city of Jerusalem from about 7am on Saturday after volleys of what Hamas claimed were 5,000 rockets launched from the blockaded enclave. A ground infiltration by Hamas gunmen into Israeli towns and villages on the periphery – an unprecedented development in the 16 years since the Islamists took over the strip – is ongoing, with the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) saying seven villages and towns are under Hamas control. The Israeli army put the number of projectiles at around 2,200.

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EU veteran Tusk heads into final week of battle to steer Poland from populism

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Election is contest between Law and Justice party and politician it claims represents malevolent foreign forces

“I want this message to reach everybody in Poland,” said Donald Tusk, speaking to a rally of supporters, gathered in a cavernous indoor sports arena in the city of Bydgoszcz. “This is really the last chance.”

As a vicious, bruising campaign comes to its climax ahead of parliamentary elections on 15 October, Tusk, a veteran of Polish and European politics, has sought to make this point with increasing urgency.

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