This live blog is now closed. You can read the latest Ukraine coverage here.
Two people were killed in Russian shelling of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, the head of the Ukrainian president’s office said on Thursday.
Andriy Yermak, the president’s chief of staff, said on Telegram that one of the dead was a utility worker who trimmed trees.
Continue reading...As our climate warms, urban trees will be needed more than ever. A study looks at how they can be protected
El Niño is officially under way and Australians are preparing for a hot spring and summer. Urban trees play a vital role in keeping cities cool, evaporating water to provide a natural form of air-conditioning, cooling air temperatures and reducing heat-related deaths by more than a third. But trees struggle with extreme heat. A study shows that simply planting trees isn’t enough; urban trees need continuing care.
Researchers investigated the impact of extreme heat on trees during Australia’s last major heatwave, in 2019 and 2020. They found species with large thin leaves, such as red maple, were particularly vulnerable to extreme heat, whereas trees with thicker leaves, such as ash and Chinese elm, were better able to regulate their temperature. The results, published in Global Change Biology, show that access to water is also crucial, with well-watered trees able to open their pores and evaporate water, preventing scorching of leaves.
Continue reading...The regulatory crackdown that sparked arrests and a debt crisis in China’s second-biggest developer may do more harm than good to market, say analysts
The saga of China’s second-largest development firm has escalated from a financial crisis to a potentially criminal one with the investigation and detention of Evergrande chairman and founder, Hui Ka Yan.
The company resumed trading on Tuesday after it was suspended last week in the wake of media reports of Hui’s apprehension. But analysts say signs point to a potential liquidation of the company, which could have drastic ramifications for China’s economy too.
Continue reading...President speaks after the ousting of House speaker Kevin McCarthy, but German Chancellor remains ‘very convinced’ US will continue to support Kyiv
US president Joe Biden admitted Wednesday he was worried that political turmoil in Washington could threaten US aid to Ukraine, urging Republicans to stop their infighting and back “critically important” assistance for Kyiv.
Biden said that he would soon be giving a major speech on the need to support Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion after the chaos in Washington alarmed US allies.
Continue reading...Justice department claimed ownership of the ordnance on the grounds that they were being smuggled to Yemeni Houthi forces, breaching a UN embargo
The United States has supplied Ukraine with more than a million rounds of Iranian ammunition confiscated in the Gulf late last year.
The transfer of the ordnance followed a civil forfeiture case pursued by the justice department to gain ownership on the grounds that the bullets were seized as they were being smuggled to Yemeni Houthi forces in violation of a UN arms embargo.
Continue reading...Quarter of UK private renters spending over 40% of income on housing amid warning people are ‘trapped in poverty’
England is now “the most difficult place to find a home in the developed world”, housebuilders have claimed in a snapshot of the housing crisis that also found a greater proportion of people in England live in substandard properties than the European Union average.
The Home Builders Federation (HBF), an industry group representing companies that build for private sale, found that England has the lowest percentage of vacant homes per capita in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a group of 38 nations, including most of the EU the US, Japan and Australia.
Continue reading...Conflict erupted after Luis Arce and ex-president Evo Morales both showed interest in the party’s presidential nomination
Bolivia’s president Luis Arce has been expelled from his own party, amid a bitter struggle with the former president, Evo Morales, to lead the party into the 2025 election.
According to a resolution passed at the congress of the Movimiento al Socialismo (Mas) on Wednesday, Arce “expelled himself” from the party by not appearing at the meeting yon Tuesday in the department of Cochabamba.
Continue reading...The two prime ministers have forced immigration onto the agenda at European Political Community summit in Granada
Giorgia Meloni has turned to the UK’s prime minister Rishi Sunak to take her battle against migration beyond the EU, it has emerged.
In what some are dubbing the Spanish framework, the prime ministers have forced migration on to the agenda at a historic meeting of about 50 European leaders in Granada on Thursday.
Continue reading...Influx of injuries may suggest deliberate targeting by Israel’s army, which human rights groups say is unlawful
Medics in the Gaza Strip have reported treating an influx of protesters who appear to have been deliberately targeted in the ankle in recent unrest at the volatile boundary of the blockaded Palestinian enclave.
At least one person has been killed and dozens more wounded since demonstrations by groups of young men, some of them throwing stones and molotov cocktails, began in mid-September.
Continue reading...Statement at UN human rights council voices ‘disappointment’ after host country refuses to change restrictive laws
The UK has asked the United Arab Emirates, one of its closest Gulf allies, to explain how it will guarantee free speech around the UN Cop28 climate summit in Dubai after the country refused to change its restrictive laws.
The refusal came after a four-yearly UN review of the UAE’s human rights record.
Continue reading...Failure to renew ICHREE mandate comes after human rights experts warn that abuses continue in Ethiopia
A United Nations investigation into human rights abuses committed during Ethiopia’s Tigray war has been terminated, despite urgent warnings from its members about the risk of future violations in the east African country.
The mandate of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE) will expire later this month, after a deadline passed on Wednesday to table a resolution renewing it to the UN Human Rights Council.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed. You can read our latest on the trial below:
Sam Bankman-Fried’s confidants were along for the ride. At his side was Caroline Ellison, Alameda’s CEO and his on-again, off-again lover.
Ellison, too, projected tech bro-like eccentricities, waxing philosophical about free love and drugs. She wrote in a now-notorious tweet.:
Nothing like regular amphetamine use to make you appreciate how dumb a lot of normal, non-medicated human experience is.
Continue reading...Rishi Sunak urges allies to arm Ukraine in party conference speech; Victoria Roshchyna has not been heard from since 3 August, says International Women’s Media Foundation
A Russian court has sentenced the former state TV journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who burst into a news broadcast with a placard that read “Stop the war” and “They’re lying to you”, to eight and half years in jail in absentia on Wednesday.
Ovsyannikova was found guilty of “spreading knowingly false information about the Russian armed forces”, according to a statement posted by the court on Telegram.
Continue reading...Second day of trial featured prosecutors’ first witness as defense presented Bankman-Fried as ‘math nerd’ with good intentions who got in over his head
Opening arguments began in Sam Bankman-Fried’s fraud trial on Wednesday, with prosecutors accusing the former cryptocurrency star of building his empire “on lies” and living a lavish lifestyle while defrauding his customers. Defense attorneys countered by presenting Bankman-Fried as a “math nerd” with good intentions who got in over his head.
The second day of the trial began with Judge Lewis Kaplan finalizing a group of 12 jurors who would hear the case, along with six alternates, and later in the afternoon featured prosecutors calling their first witness.
Continue reading...Chief prosecutor Bruno Cherchi says he is proceeding with road multiple homicide investigation after tourist bus crashed off overpass in northern Italy
Massimo Fiorese, the chief executive of the transport company that owned the bus that crashed, said this morning the vehicle appeared to have been leaning on a railing, TGcom24 reported.
His comments add to speculation about the quality of infrastructure on the stretch of road where the accident took place.
Continue reading...Voters elect Wab Kinew, 41-year-old leader of the leftwing New Democratic party and a former rapper and broadcast journalist
The Canadian province of Manitoba has elected the country’s first First Nations premier, handing the progressive leader a legislative majority following a contentious election campaign.
Wab Kinew, the 41-year-old leader of the leftwing New Democratic party, has led the province’s party since 2017. A former rapper, broadcast journalist and university administrator, Kinew said his newly-elected government will focus on re-opening three emergency rooms shuttered in recent years. He also said the province would invest in more social housing.
Continue reading...Police investigating whether driver suffered illness in moments before tourist bus veered off overpass
Three children, including a newborn baby, are among 21 people confirmed to have died after a tourist coach veered off an overpass near Venice before plummeting 15 metres and bursting into flames.
The cause of the crash is not yet clear, although one theory is that the driver, who also died, had suffered a sudden illness. “From the initial findings there are no signs of braking,” Marco Agostini, a Venice police chief, told the Ansa news agency. “The driver’s illness is a hypothesis.”
Continue reading...Jim Jordan confirms his run while Steve Scalise, House majority leader, reportedly sounds out support
Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Jim Jordan of Ohio emerged as leading contenders to succeed Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the US House of Representatives, after the Californian was brutally removed by his own Republican party on Tuesday.
Scalise is House majority leader, Jordan chair of the powerful judiciary committee. In the aftermath of McCarthy’s defeat, both were widely reported to be making calls and sounding out support. On Wednesday morning, speaking to reporters, Jordan confirmed his run.
Continue reading...In event of war, natural disaster or climate emergency, rules will allow frontline states to move people swiftly to other EU countries
The EU has reached a historic agreement on how member states will deal with a sudden increase in the number of people seeking asylum in the event of war, natural disaster or climate emergency.
The new rules will allow frontline states to fast-track asylum applications and move people swiftly to other countries in Europe, avoiding a repeat of 2015 when 1 million refugees came to the EU from Syria and beyond, and some countries accepted far more than others.
The pact was sealed early on Wednesday morning, ending three years of arguments between member states on the eve of 27 EU leaders gathering in the Spanish city of Granada on Friday.
The Spanish government, which now holds the rotating EU presidency, had confidently predicted it had majority backing for the deal at an interior ministers’ meeting in Brussels last Thursday.
But at the last minute, Italy said it would not support the deal after two clauses were drafted to satisfy German concerns about human rights.
While it is thought the EU had the numbers to push through the deal on a majority basis, ministers decided it would not be worth the paper it was written on unless Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s rightwing prime minister, was on board.
Italy has received about half the 250,000 people who have arrived in the EU this year. EU leaders, including the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, and the European Commissioner, Ursula von der Leyen, have gone out of their way to ensure the rest of the bloc shows solidarity.
“EU ambassadors have reached an agreement on the regulation addressing situations of crisis and force majeure in the field of migration and asylum,” the Spanish presidency announced on X, the company formerly known as Twitter.
The clash between Italy and Germany encapsulated the differing approaches of European governments. Italy wanted a clause allowing for minimum standards in detention centres to be breached in the event of a crisis spike in arrivals, which Germany had objected to. Italy also attacked Germany over its support for NGOs in search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean.
The EU has already agreed new rules on dealing with irregular arrivals at current levels with “solidarity” relocation of migrants away from frontline countries. Under the new agreement, that will be replicated in the event of a rise in numbers.
Continue reading...Cost of ‘certificate of entitlement’, introduced in 1990 to control number of cars, now equivalent to four Toyota Camry Hybrids in US
To own a car in Singapore, a buyer must bid for a certificate that now costs $106,000, equivalent to four Toyota Camry Hybrids in the US, as a post-pandemic recovery has driven up the cost of the country’s vehicle quota system to all-time highs.
Singapore has a 10-year “certificate of entitlement” (COE) system, introduced in 1990, to control the number of vehicles in the small city-state, which is home to 5.9 million people and can be driven across in less than an hour.
Continue reading...