Category Archives: World News

East Libya postpones Derna reconstruction conference amid calls for unity

Posted on by

Rival governments urged to work together to best manage donations for city after catastrophic flooding

The government in eastern Libya has been forced to postpone a reconstruction conference for the stricken city of Derna amid concerns about how donations will be spent and a lack of coordination with the west of the country.

A large part of Derna was destroyed on the night of 10 September when severe flooding caused two dams above the town to burst. The death toll has been put at more than 10,000, but no official figure is yet deemed accurate.

Continue reading...

Russia-Ukraine war live: UK’s plan to train service members in Ukraine makes them ‘legal targets’, says Medvedev

Posted on by

Russia’s former leader responds to statements by UK defence secretary, who said UK is in talks to move training to Ukraine

Vladimir Putin declared that yesterday was “Reunification Day” in commemoration of commemorating Russia’s illegal annexation of the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts, Celebrations drew crowds of people to Red Square in Moscow this weekend, but in the occupied regions where residents say they were forced under threats of violence to vote in the sham referendums making their homes part of the Russian Federation?

In the Luhansk oblast, a car rally in honour of the reunification brought in just 11 cars.

Continue reading...

‘Let’s have that fight’: McCarthy and Gaetz go to war over shutdown deal

Posted on by

Far-right congressman says he will move to oust Kevin McCarthy as speaker over deal to avert shutdown to ‘rip the Bandaid off’

Simmering hostility between Republicans over the bipartisan deal that averted a government shutdown descended into open political warfare on Sunday, a rightwing congressman saying he would move to oust Kevin McCarthy and the embattled House speaker insisting he would survive.

“We need to rip off the Bandaid. We need to move on with new leadership that can be trustworthy,” the Florida representative Matt Gaetz told CNN’s State of the Union, saying he would file a “motion to vacate” in the next few days.

Continue reading...

Kosovan government calls on Serbia to pull all troops from border

Posted on by

Demand follows part withdrawal after US warning of potential punitive measures against Belgrade

Kosovo has demanded that Serbia pull its troops back from their common border and warned it was ready to protect its territorial integrity, after the US warned of punitive measures against Belgrade and Serbia’s president insisted he “does not want war”.

“We call on … Serbia to immediately withdraw all troops from the border with Kosovo,” the Kosovan government said, demanding that Belgrade “demilitarise” 48 forward military and police bases, “which pose a permanent threat to our country”.

Continue reading...

Bob Menendez’s daughter says MSNBC colleagues will cover story ‘aggressively’

Posted on by

Alicia Menendez, a weekend anchor on liberal network, says she has been watching father’s case ‘along with all of you as a citizen’

The MSNBC anchor Alicia Menendez said her colleagues at the network would “aggressively” cover the corruption scandal involving her father, the indicted New Jersey senator, Bob Menendez – “as they should”.

Alicia Menendez hosts a weekend show on the liberal-leaning network.

Continue reading...

Autumn heat continues in Europe after record-breaking September

Posted on by

Countries including France, Germany and Poland all had their hottest Septembers on record

Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Poland and Switzerland have all experienced their hottest Septembers on record, with unseasonably high temperatures set to continue into October, in a year likely to be the warmest in human history.

As 31C (88F) was forecast in south-west France on Sunday and 28C in Paris, the French weather authority, Météo-France, said September’s average temperature was 21.5C, between 3.5C and 3.6C above the norm for the 1991-2020 reference period.

Continue reading...

Bolivian ex-president to pay damages to victims of military in landmark US case

Posted on by

Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada and former defence minister agree to pay for 2003 violence in which 60 protesters were killed

A former Bolivian president and his defence minister have agreed to pay damages to the families of people killed by the military during their government, in a landmark settlement that sets a precedent by which other foreign leaders could face accountability for human rights abuse in US courts.

The settlement concerns events in 2003, when massive protests broke out over then president Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada’s plan to export Bolivia’s natural gas. The army was sent to clear blockades in the largely Indigenous and working-class city of El Alto, killing more than 60 protesters and injuring hundreds.

Continue reading...

Turkey explosion: suicide bomber detonates device near ministry in Ankara, say officials

Posted on by

Government says one ‘terrorist’ died in explosion and a second was ‘neutralised’ after attack

The Turkish government has said two terrorists carried out a bomb attack in front of the interior ministry buildings in Ankara, adding that one of them died in the explosion and the other was “neutralised” by authorities.

The blast was the first in the Turkish capital since 2016 and took place less than a mile from the parliament building, hours before lawmakers were due to return for its reopening after a three-month summer break.

Continue reading...

Indigenous Australians split over voice vote despite memory of colonial horror

Posted on by

But memories of colonial project to wipe out Tasmania’s natives boost yes campaign on island

Patsy Cameron stands in her dining room in Tomahawk – a small fishing village on the north-east coast of Tasmania, Australia. She tells a story – a few decades old – of how she boarded a plane back from Darwin, her hands full of cultural objects she had bought. The man next to her turned and said: “They should have shot them all like they did to the Tasmanians.” She started crying. He responded by offering her a piece of cake, and an apology.

Behind her is a cabinet full of shell necklaces and drawings of her ancestors. The home she shares with her husband, Graham, is filled with cultural artefacts that the historian learned to make by reading diaries and anthologies of colonisers. Piece by piece she has put history back together. Piece by piece she is reviving her culture.

Continue reading...

Slovakia election 2023: exit poll shows Progressives in lead but Smer ahead in early counts – live

Posted on by

Election could decide whether country sticks with liberal, pro-western line or begins to lean more towards Russia

Slovakia’s election day in pictures

“There is a real concern that after the vote Slovakia could become some sort of Trojan horse of Russia in the EU and NATO,” said Andrej Matisak, a journalist at Slovak daily Pravda.

Continue reading...

Pro-China candidate Mohamed Muizzu wins Maldives presidency, upending relationship with India

Posted on by

Runoff vote was widely seen as a referendum on whether to pursue closer ties with China or India, both vying for influence in the island nation

Pro-China candidate Mohamed Muizzu won Saturday’s presidential election in the Maldives, a result set to once again upend the archipelago’s relationship with traditional partner India.

Muizzu helms a party that presided over an influx of Chinese loans when it last held power in the atoll nation, better known for its luxury beach resorts and celebrity tourists.

Continue reading...

Serbia pulls some troops back from Kosovo border after warning from US

Posted on by

Serbian president, Aleksandar Vučić, announces move after US threatens punitive measures over buildup of troops

Serbia has pulled some of its troops back from the Kosovo border after US warnings that it could face punitive measures for what the White House called an “unprecedented” buildup of Serbian troops and armour.

The Serbian president, Aleksandar Vučić, announced he had ordered troops to be pulled back. In a statement to the Financial Times, he said any military action would be counterproductive, adding: “Serbia does not want war”.

Continue reading...

British troops could deploy to Ukraine for first time to train soldiers, says Grant Shapps

Posted on by

Defence secretary says proposal being discussed would reduce reliance on UK and other Nato members’ bases

The new defence secretary, Grant Shapps, said he has held talks with army leaders about deploying British troops within Ukraine for the first time for a training programme.

Shapps, who met Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, for talks in Kyiv earlier this week, said the proposal being discussed would reduce the reliance on the UK and other Nato members’ bases.

Continue reading...

Ex-Wagner commander who met Putin ‘likely to be considered a traitor by soldiers’ – as it happened

Posted on by

UK intelligence says Andrei Troshev’s meeting with the Russian president will not be viewed positively by Wagner fighters. This blog is now closed

Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced today the creation of the Defence Industries Alliance at Kyiv’s first Defence Industries Forum.

“Right now, the most powerful military-industrial complexes are being determined, as are their priorities and the global standard of defence. All of this is being determined in Ukraine,” Zelenskiy said on Telegram.

Continue reading...

‘Azerbaijan is hungry for land’: Armenians fear country will seek to grab more territory

Posted on by

After Baku’s success in Nagorno-Karabakh, it could attempt to encroach farther, locals believe

The beehives were in no man’s land. After the border clash near his village in April, Geram drove down to the fields where his family has been farming for decades and kept a small apiary.

But when he got near, he heard gunshots. The Azerbaijanis were firing at him from their new positions on the surrounding hilltops. He ran back to his car and never returned.

Continue reading...

Original letter from Columbus announcing ‘discovery’ of America goes on sale for first time

Posted on by

The explorer is widely thought of as an exploiter today, and didn’t know east from west. But a version of his boastful missive is expected to fetch up to £1.2m at auction

In 1493, Christopher Columbus wrote a letter that would change the landscape of the modern world. “I sailed to the Indies with the fleet that the illustrious King and Queen, our sovereigns, gave me, where I discovered a great many islands, inhabited by numberless people,” he wrote after his return to Europe to royal treasurer Luis de Santángel. “Of all, I have taken possession for their Highnesses.”

The events relayed in the letter were “the first report of a voyage that really did change the world”, says Columbus biographer Professor Felipe Fernández-Armesto.

Continue reading...

Private jet service for rich dog owners condemned by climate campaigners

Posted on by

UK-based charter firm launches ‘ludicrous’ £8,166 Dubai-London route for clients who want to fly with pets

Environmentalists have condemned a “ludicrous” private jet service that transports wealthy people’s dogs, which this week ran its first flight from Dubai to London.

For £8,166, one way, customers were able to sit with their dogs on their laps and sip champagne as they travelled from Al Maktoum international airport to Farnborough in a Gulfstream IV-SP jet.

Continue reading...

Slovakia election: polls open in knife-edge vote with Ukraine high on agenda

Posted on by

Election could decide whether country sticks with liberal, pro-western line or begins to lean more towards Russia

Voting has started in a knife-edge election in Slovakia that could decide whether the country sticks with its liberal, pro-western line or abandons its staunch support for neighbouring Ukraine to lean more towards Moscow.

After a virulent campaign that has included physical brawls and amid a wave of online disinformation, the populist, nationalist three-time prime minister Robert Fico and his Smer-SD party were neck and neck with the newcomers Progressive Slovakia heading into the vote, with PS just ahead in two of the final four opinion polls.

Continue reading...

‘No turning back’: how the Ukraine war has profoundly changed the EU

Posted on by

Russia’s invasion has had a major impact on the bloc’s security and energy policies – and even its very raison d’être

“The EU has changed. There is no turning back. We have turned out the lights behind us and there is basically only one way.”

The words of the Danish politician and EU commissioner Margrethe Vestager at a conference in May neatly reflect the mood among the Brussels elite, taken aback at their own ability to shed EU bureaucratic torpor, defend Ukraine, embrace enlargement and move closer to fulfilling Ursula von der Leyen’s ambition for the EU to become a “geopolitical force”.

Continue reading...

Black History Month to celebrate women and UK’s Windrush generation

Posted on by

Hundreds of events lined up for October, with focus on role black women have played in shaping British history

Black History Month launches with hundreds of events planned across the UK in October, with celebrations focusing on the contributions of black women and the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush.

First celebrated in the UK in October 1987, Black History Month has since morphed into a big cultural and political event to highlight the historical and contemporary contribution of black Britons.

Continue reading...