French climber dies in suspected fall during ‘stunt’ at Hong Kong high-rise

Remi Lucidi, 30, who had a large social media following, found dead on a patio at apartment block

A man identified as the French climber Remi Lucidi has been found dead in Hong Kong and is believed to have fallen from a high-rise building while attempting a stunt.

Police said the body of a 30-year-old man believed to have engaged in extreme sports was found on a patio of an apartment block in the city’s Mid-Levels area. He was named in local media as Lucidi, who had gained a large social media following under the name “Remi Enigma” as he posted photographs from tall structures around the world.

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Chinese zoo denies its sun bears are humans dressed in costumes

Hangzhou zoo insists animals are real after video of one standing on hind legs triggers online speculation

A zoo in eastern China has denied suggestions that some of its bears could be humans dressed in costumes, after video of one standing on its hind legs circulated online.

In a statement published on Sunday from the perspective of Angela, a Malaysian sun bear, zookeepers at Hangzhou zoo said: “When it comes to bears, the first thing that comes to mind is a huge figure and amazing power … But not all bears are behemoths and danger personified. We Malayan bears are petite, the smallest bear in the world.”

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China: 31,000 forced to flee homes in Beijing as Typhoon Doksuri brings heavy rains

Strongest storm to hit country in years has also caused widespread flooding and evacuations in province of Fujian

Two people are reported to have died in severe flooding that has engulfed parts of Beijing, as Typhoon Doksuri passed through China’s capital.

People’s Daily reported on Monday that two people were found unresponsive in a river in Mentougou, a district in west Beijing that has suffered some of the worst flooding. According to state broadcaster CCTV, more than 31,000 people have evacuated their homes in the city.

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First image of Niger’s ousted president appears online

Mohamed Bazoum, pictured with president of Chad, believed to be being held at presidential residence

The first image of Niger’s ousted president has been published online after an attempted coup, showing the leader smiling broadly and appearing to be in good health during a meeting with the president of neighbouring Chad.

Mahamat Idriss Déby, the president of Chad, travelled to Niger as a diplomatic envoy to speak to the country’s democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum – who is believed to be being held at the presidential residence – and the coup leaders.

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UN complaint lodged over Turkish airstrikes on hospital in Iraq

Exclusive: Survivors and witnesses bring case to human rights council over 2021 attack killing eight people

Turkish airstrikes that allegedly targeted a civilian hospital and killed eight people in Iraq have been made the subject of a formal complaint to the UN human rights council.

It is the first case to be brought on the issue of Turkish airstrikes against the Yazidi people. The attack on 17 August 2021 destroyed the Sikeniye medical clinic in Sinjar and left more than 20 people injured.

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Twenty years ago, Africa’s women’s treaty set a path to equality. We must be ready for the next steps

The landmark Maputo protocol has led to huge gains in women’s rights, from abortion access to equal pay. But to go further will require political will and action

Signed 20 years ago, in the Mozambique city that bears its name, the Maputo protocol was a landmark treaty in the progress towards gender equality across Africa.

It promises equality and non-discrimination to women and girls in civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.

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‘I won’t be deterred’: Hong Kong activist Finn Lau vows to fight on despite arrest bounty

Pro-democracy leader who now lives in UK argues UK government is doing too little about Chinese threat

When Finn Lau woke one morning this month to dozens of messages urging him to take care, he was confused as to what had happened. But he was not distressed to learn that Hong Kong authorities had offered a HK$1m (£100,000) bounty for his arrest, along with that of seven other overseas activists, because it was not the first threat he had faced.

Since helping to lead pro-democracy protests challenging Hong Kong’s authorities and a national security law that brought sweeping extraterritorial powers into force three years ago, Lau, 29, who now lives in the UK, has become a prominent critic of the Chinese Communist party.

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Pakistan police suspect Islamic State in bomb blast that killed at least 44

Nearly 200 injured at gathering of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party ahead of elections expected later this year

At least 44 people have been killed and almost 200 injured in a bomb blast in Pakistan’s north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that targeted a political party gathering.

Police said the explosion at a rally on Sunday afternoon for the conservative Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party (JUI-F), a government coalition partner, was carried out by a suicide bomber who detonated his explosives vest close to the stage where several senior leaders of the party were sitting.

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Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 523 of the invasion

At least six people have been killed in Kryvyi Rih, and two people killed in occupied Donetsk, after several strikes across Ukraine

At least six people, including a 10-year-old child, have been killed and more than 50 people injured when Russia struck a high-rise apartment in Kryvyi Rih. Authorities said people were trapped under rubble. Oleksiy Kuleba, the deputy head of Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office, called for revenge, saying: “Every day, Ukrainian cities are under fire from Russian terrorists. Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Kharkiv. This is only for the last few days.” He said targeting civilians was a sign of “the despair and defeat of the Russian Federation at the front”.

Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, said “This is how the week begins in a Ukrainian city that just wants a quiet, normal life. Russia wants to take peace and life away”, and offered condolences to the victims and their families. The city is the home town of both Zelenska and her husband.

On Telegram, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said more than 350 people are working on the rescue mission in Kryvyi Rih after what he said were two Russian ballistic missiles hit the city.

Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza on Monday lost an appeal against his 25-year jail sentence, the RIA state news agency reported. Kara-Murza, who holds Russian and British citizenship, was jailed for 25 years in April for treason and spreading “false information” about Russia’s war in Ukraine, Reuters reports. Britain added six new designations to its Russia sanctions list, an update to the government website showed on Monday, targeting judges and officials involved in the trial of Kara-Murza.

According to Reuters, Ukraine and Croatia have agreed on the possibility of using Croatian ports on the Danube and the Adriatic Sea for the export of Ukrainian grain, Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said after talks with his Croatian counterpart on Monday.

Russian airstrikes destroyed an estimated 180,000 metric tonnes of grain crops in the space of nine days this month, the Ukrainian foreign ministry said on Monday, Reuters reports.

Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation, said Russia lost 87 units of equipment last week, including 33 strongholds, 26 armored combat vehicles and 15 tanks. These claims have not been independently verified.

The Kremlin on Monday described a recent drone attack on Moscow as an “act of desperation” by Ukraine after setbacks on the battlefield. AFP reports that Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said it has been “very difficult” for Ukrainian forces on the frontline since it launched its counteroffensive in June. He added: “It is obvious that the counteroffensive is not a success. In an act of desperation, the regime in Kyiv is turning to such terrorist attacks. All possible measures have been taken to defend civil infrastructure [against Ukrainian strikes].”

Ukrainian forces have recaptured nearly 15 sq km (5.8 sq miles) of land from Russian troops in the east and south over the past week during their counteroffensive, a senior defence official said on Monday. Kyiv’s forces have now retaken 204.7 sq km in the south since they launched a major push back against Russian forces early last month, deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said on Telegram.

The Kremlin said on Monday that Ukraine’s counteroffensive is “not working out as planned” and that Nato resources supplied to Kyiv had been “wasted”, during the course of a two month-long operation that has seen limited gains for Ukraine.

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Six dead as fighting breaks out at Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon

At least seven injured after violence between Fatah and Islamists in Ain al-Hilweh camp

At least six people have been killed after fighting broke out in Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp near the southern port city of Sidon, Palestinian officials said on Sunday.

UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, put the death toll at six, and Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said two children were among seven people wounded at the Ain al-Hilweh camp.

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Niger coup: Britain cuts aid and neighbours ‘may use force’ to restore president

Ecowas bloc issues one-week ultimatum, warning it will take ‘all measures necessary” to restore order

The British government has announced it will be halting “long-term development assistance” to Niger in the wake of the coup that deposed the president last week.

A powerful bloc of west African states has suspended ties with Niger after the coup and authorised the possible use of force if the country’s democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, is not released and reinstated within a week.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: ‘War is returning to Russia,’ says Zelenskiy, after drones damage Moscow buildings – as it happened

Night-time drone attack damages two office blocks, as Ukrainian president says ‘this is an inevitable … and absolutely fair process’

President Vladimir Putin said the Russian navy will get 30 new ships this year, Reuters reports.

Putin made the announcement at a ceremony in St Petersburg to mark Russia’s annual Navy Day after reviewing a parade of warships on the Neva river.

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UK’s post-Brexit policing pact put at risk by migration laws, say peers

Committee concerned illegal migration legislation will jeopardise sharing of DNA, fingerprinting and criminal records

The UK’s post-Brexit policing pact with the EU on sharing DNA, fingerprinting and criminal records could be put at risk by Suella Braverman’s migration laws, a House of Lords committee has said.

Lady Hamwee, the chair of the Lords justice and home affairs committee, has written to the home secretary to say its members are “particularly concerned” that the new illegal migration legislation along with new data laws could lead to the “termination and/or suspension” of the security cooperation elements of the Brexit trade deal.

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Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 522 of the invasion

Putin says Russia ‘building up power’ of its navy; drone attack on Moscow damages two office blocks

President Vladimir Putin praised Russia’s navy in an address at the annual Navy Day parade. He announced 30 new ships this year as he said Russia was “building up the power” of its navy.

Putin has said African and Chinese proposals could serve as a basis for finding peace but added elements were “difficult or impossible” to implement. He was speaking at a press conference after meeting African leaders in St Petersburg.

A night-time drone attack on Moscow damaged two office blocks, the mayor of the Russian capital said early on Sunday, Russia’s state news agency Tass reported. The capital’s Vnukovo airport was temporarily shut. City mayor Sergei Sobyanin posted on Telegram that there were “no victims or injured”. However, Tass reported a security guard had been injured in the attacks.

Ukraine’s ministry of defence has said Saturday’s Russian missile attacks killed one person and 10 were injured in Sumy. In Zaporizhzhia two people died and two were injured.

Moscow said on Sunday its forces had thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to attack Russia-annexed Crimea with 25 drones overnight.

The latest UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) update says satellite imagery captured on 19 July has identified approximately 300 tents and 200 vehicles in Tsel, Belarus, where Wagner troops have likely established a military camp there. The MoD said it was unclear what happened to the heavy equipment Wagner used in Ukraine, suggesting it was possible it was forced to return these to the Russian military.

Pope Francis has called on Russia to revive the Black Sea grain deal, through which Moscow had allowed Ukraine to export grain from its seaports despite the war.

The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said Russia has lost 245,700 troops in Ukraine since the start of the war. According to the report, as of 9am (EET) on 30 July, Russia has also lost 4,205 tanks, 8,178 armoured fighting vehicles.

Ukrainian soldiers fired UK-donated AS90 self-propelled artillery guns to mark the end of their training in south-west England. British army instructors taught the 72 Ukrainian army personnel how to operate and maintain the guns when in combat, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

The Associated Press has reported that Saudi Arabia will host a Ukrainian-organised peace summit in early August.

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Spain stalemate drags on as Pedro Sánchez’s socialist party loses crucial seat

Votes from overseas means left and right blocs now neck and neck in race for power

Spain’s socialist party has suffered a setback in its efforts to form a new leftwing coalition government after this month’s inconclusive election as a count of overseas votes handed a crucial seat across to the opposition conservatives.

The result means the left and right blocs are now neck and neck as MPs prepare for a vote in congress that will determine who gets to govern.

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Storm leaves eight dead after trees fall on campsite in Russia

Emergency services clear debris after storm hits site in Mari El, along northern bank of Volga River

Eight people died and another 10 were hospitalised in Russia when trees fell at a campsite during a severe storm described as a hurricane.

“According to the latest information, eight people died in Mari El due to the hurricane that took place the day before,” said Yevgeny Maslov, the mayor of the city of Yoshkar-Ola.

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Family of US woman who died from ingesting kratom wins $11m damages

Krystal Talavera, 39, took legal herbal extract, which has opioid-like effect on the brain, in 2021 and died shortly after

The family of a Florida woman who died in 2021 after ingesting kratom has been awarded more than $11m from a distributor of the south-east Asian herbal extract that has an opioid-like effect on the brain.

In a ruling finalized Thursday, judge Donald Middlebrooks of the federal courthouse in West Palm Beach, Florida, told a company operating as the Kratom Distro to pay damages to the four surviving children of Krystal Talavera as well as her estate.

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Poland raises fears about ‘dangerous’ situation with Wagner troops near border – as it happened

Poland has been concerned about the spillover of war on to its territory ever since Russia invaded Ukraine. This blog is now closed

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has issued a special invitation to a Ukrainian fencer to take part in the Paris Olympics next year, after she was disqualified from a tournament for refusing to shake hands with her defeated Russian opponent.

The IOC president, Thomas Bach, a former Olympic champion fencer himself, wrote in person to Olha Kharlan to make a “unique exception” to Olympic qualifying procedures, in an unusually emotional letter.

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Pentagon hit by ‘critical compromise’ of US air force communications – report

Forbes reports claim that engineer at Arnold air force base in Tennessee had taken home government radio technologies

The Pentagon is investigating a “critical compromise” of communications across 17 US air force facilities, according to reports.

The US department of defense’s investigation comes amid a tip from a base contractor that a 48-year-old engineer at the Arnold air force base in Tennessee had taken home various government radio technologies, Forbes first reported Friday.

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Channel Island Nazis inquiry under pressure to find out why perpetrators never faced justice

Thousands of people may have perished on Alderney during the second world war but their murderers never stood trial

The official inquiry into Nazi atrocities committed on Alderney in the Channel Islands is under pressure to investigate why those responsible for committing war crimes on British soil were never brought to trial in the UK.

Prof Anthony Glees, the security and intelligence expert who advised Margaret Thatcher’s war crimes inquiry, told the Observer: “This is a vital opportunity to establish all the facts, and it must examine why those who perpetrated such heinous war crimes were never brought to trial in this country. The review into the atrocities on Alderney is to be warmly welcomed, but I believe it should not just focus on the numbers killed, as important as that is.”

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