Category Archives: World News

Three injured in Syria as shots reportedly fired at anti-Assad protesters

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Activists accuse ruling Ba’ath party of firing at demonstrators in southern city of Suwayda

Three people have been wounded by bullets that were sprayed at anti-government protesters in the southern Syrian city of Suwayda, activists and local journalists have said, in the first reported use of violence in weeks-long demonstrations there.

Activists, who have been taking to the streets to call for President Bashar al-Assad to step down over worsening living conditions, accused members of the ruling Ba’ath party of firing. Reuters could not independently confirm this.

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Vietnam: 56 people dead after fire at nine-floor apartment building

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About 70 people have been rescued, according to Hanoi authorities, with nearly 40 injured

Vietnamese police have announced that 56 people died from a fire in a nine-floor apartment building in the capital, Hanoi.

The blaze began shortly after 11pm on Tuesday when many of the roughly 150 people living in the building were asleep or getting ready for bed.

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Libya’s floods are result of climate crisis meeting a failed state

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Storm Daniel was by no means the only factor behind the devastation wrought on the city of Derna

When the climate crisis meets a failed state, the outcome is the kind of disaster that Libya is witnessing in Derna.

Any city would have struggled with the extraordinary level of precipitation that Storm Daniel visited upon Libya’s northern coast. In its earlier, milder form, the storm caused severe damage in Greece before it crossed the Mediterranean.

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France halts iPhone 12 sales over radiation exposure levels

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Apple disputing tests by watchdog that showed radio frequency exposure was higher than permitted

Apple is facing a ban on the sale and potential recall of its iPhone 12 in France, as the US company contests a report that the smartphone exceeds radio frequency exposure limits by the nation’s regulator.

Apple said on Wednesday its iPhone 12 was certified by multiple international bodies as compliant with global radiation standards, disputing tests by the French ANFR watchdog that said the model emits more electromagnetic waves susceptible to be absorbed by the body than permitted.

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Unity seeks to clarify new game engine charges amid outrage from developers

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Games creators attack the fees, due for implementation in 2024, as company executive dials back on initial plan

Tech company Unity has sought to clarify its decision to charge a controversial new fee to game developers. A blogpost on its official site last night announced the company would be introducing a “runtime fee”, which would require developers to pay a fixed sum each time a game built using the Unity Engine was installed by a player.

Unity stipulated that the fee would only be chargeable after a game made $200,000 (£160,000) in 12 months and had at least 200,000 lifetime game installs, but developers nevertheless vented outrage on social media.

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Kim Jong-un offers Putin ‘full support’ in Russia’s ‘sacred fight’ with west

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North Korean leader backs Moscow in ‘protecting its sovereignty and security against the hegemonic forces’ that oppose it

Kim Jong-un has offered Vladimir Putin his support for Russia’s “sacred fight” against the west during talks that also touched on possible Russian help with North Korea’s space programme.

The North Korean and Russian leaders met on Wednesday at a space base in the far east of Russia amid warnings that Kim was poised to offer the Kremlin artillery shells and other munitions for the war in Ukraine.

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‘Sea is constantly dumping bodies’: fears Libya flood death toll may hit 20,000

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Full scale of devastation in north African nation still not clear as aid agencies struggle to reach cut-off areas

International aid is slowly starting to reach the devastated port city of Derna as questions are raised over how as many as 20,000 people may have died when Storm Daniel hit the northern coast of Libya on Saturday night.

Ten thousand people were declared missing by official aid agencies such as the Libyan Red Crescent, but the ominous higher estimate of 20,000 deaths came from the director of al-Bayda medical centre, Abdul Rahim Maziq.

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Iran’s ‘gender apartheid’ bill could jail women for 10 years for not wearing hijab

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Shops that serve unveiled women could be shut under draft law UN human rights body says suppresses women into ‘total submission’

Women in Iran face up to 10 years in prison if they continue to defy the country’s mandatory hijab law, under harsher laws awaiting approval by authorities. Even businesses that serve women without a hijab face being shut down.

The stricter dress code, which amounts to “gender apartheid”, UN experts said, comes one year after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, 22, who had been detained for allegedly wearing the Islamic headscarf incorrectly. Her death, after allegedly being beaten by police, led to the largest wave of popular unrest for years in Iran.

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China unveils Taiwan economic ‘integration’ plan as warships conduct manoeuvres off coast

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Measures include making it easier for Taiwanese people to live and work in China, but the plan comes amid major military exercises

China’s government has unveiled a “new path towards integrated development” with Taiwan, including proposals to make it easier for Taiwanese people to live, study and work in China.

At the same time, it sent the largest number of warships to gather in years to the waters on Taiwan’s east, in what analysts said signalled a choice between peaceful “reunification” and military violence, just months out from Taiwan’s presidential election.

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Exiled Chinese dissidents alarmed by ‘spy’ arrest of Westminster researcher

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Activists call for reassurances to be given to those who gave information to parliamentarians

Finn Lau’s meeting with a Westminster researcher who was later arrested on suspicion of spying for China lasted just 20 minutes. Nearly a year later he is mulling the potential consequences.

Lau, an exiled Hong Kong pro-democracy activist with a £100,000 bounty on his head, has a lingering suspicion that some of his ideas for putting more pressure on China appear not to have made it beyond their meeting.

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Cruise ship runs aground in Greenland with 206 passengers onboard

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There are no reports of injuries on the Ocean Explorer, which was grounded in the remote Northeast Greenland National Park

A cruise ship with 206 passengers and crew onboard has run aground in north-west Greenland, and remained stuck even after high tide.

Cmdr Brian Jensen of Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command said that nobody on board was in danger and that no damage has been reported, but added that officials “take this incident very seriously”.

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Mexican drug lord El Chapo’s wife to be released from prison, say US authorities

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Emma Coronel was sentenced to three years in prison in 2021 after pleading guilty to three counts of helping the Sinaloa drug cartel

Emma Coronel, the wife of the imprisoned Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman, will be freed in Los Angeles on Wednesday following her arrest in 2021 on drug trafficking charges, according to the US Bureau of Prisons.

The US-born 34-year-old was sentenced to three years in prison in 2021 after pleading guilty to three counts of helping the Sinaloa drug cartel, including conspiracy to launder money and distribute illegal drugs and engaging in financial dealings.

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Record numbers expected as Europe’s biggest arms fair opens in London

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Egypt, Vietnam and Indonesia among countries sending delegations to four-day DSEI at ExCeL

Europe’s biggest ever arms fair got under way in London on Tuesday with record numbers expected to attend, boosted by interest from countries with controversial human rights records.

Authoritarian Egypt and Vietnam are among those sending delegations, defence sources said, as well as Indonesia and India – all countries whose arms-buying strategies have been affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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Ordinary Moroccans bring aid to quake-hit villages amid criticism of official response

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Thousands of ordinary citizens are travelling from all over the country to bring aid to survivors of the earthquake

Morocco’s route nationale 10 was once a pretty road through the High Atlas mountains connecting Marrakech with Agadir on the Atlantic coast.

Winding through a series of steep-sided high valleys, it has now become one of the key aid routes to reach the communities closest to the epicentre of last week’s deadly earthquake that has now claimed 2,900 lives.

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Canadian police open case into ‘suicide kits’ sent to Montreal residents

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Suspected mailer is facing 14 charges in connection to deaths in Ontario, and is linked to another 88 deaths in Britain

Police in Canada have opened an investigation into “suicide kits” allegedly mailed to people in the Montreal, Quebec, by a man already facing more than a dozen criminal charges.

Montreal police said they believe Kenneth Law, 57, mailed packages containing a lethal substance to people at risk of suicide in the city. The police asked residents to exercise “vigilance” as the investigation advances.

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Wedding party saves residents of Moroccan village from quake

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Outdoor event hosted by bride’s family meant no one was trapped when buildings collapsed

A wedding celebration saved all the people of a Moroccan village during Friday’s deadly earthquake, which destroyed their stone and mud-brick houses while they were enjoying traditional music in an outdoor courtyard.

The marriage of Habiba Ajdir, 22, and Mohammed Boudad, 30, an apple farmer, was due to take place at his village of Kettou on Saturday, but by custom the bride’s family held a party the night before the wedding.

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Kim Jong-un arrives in Russia to meet Putin as US threatens sanctions

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North Korean leader travels on armoured train for talks amid concerns Putin is seeking arms deal for Ukraine war

Kim Jong-un has arrived in Russia on his armoured train for a rare summit with Vladimir Putin to discuss a possible deal to supply North Korean arms for the war in Ukraine.

The train arrived at Khasan station, the main rail gateway to Russia’s far east from North Korea, where Kim was filmed alighting and meeting the Russian environment minister, before continuing to travel north.

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Russia-Ukraine war: G7 condemns ‘sham elections’ held by Russia on Ukrainian territory – as it happened

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Foreign ministers condemn ‘elections’ held in Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia oblasts and Crimea, where electoral competition was limited

Russia has “recalibrated” its missile defences around Moscow as it faces near daily drone attacks, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has said in its latest intelligence update.

As well as being aimed at improving its defences, the changes are likely also meant as a “high-profile reassurance” to the public, the MoD said.

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Kevin McCarthy endorses Biden impeachment inquiry – live updates

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Speaker directs House committees to open formal impeachment inquiry despite Republicans being unable to substantiate wrongdoing

Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang remains listed as the co-chair for the Forward Party, which he launched after leaving the Democratic party to become an independent in 2021.

Yang slammed the idea of the 2024 presidential election shaping up to be a Donald Trump vs Joe Biden rematch in the Politico interview, describing the situation as “terribly unrepresentative and borderline ridiculous” and pointing to their ages.

I mean, you’re talking about two guys whose combined age is 160. In a country of 330 million people, you would choose these two gentlemen at this stage? I mean, it makes zero sense.

I’ve had conversations with various folks who are associated with No Labels.

I would not run for president, if I thought that my running would be counterproductive, or if it would increase the chances of someone like Donald Trump becoming president again.

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Morocco earthquake: hope fades of finding survivors in rubble

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Complicated rescue effort continues as questions remain about king and government’s response

Hope of finding earthquake survivors trapped under their homes in some of the remotest parts of the Atlas mountains in Morocco was fading rapidly as rescue efforts continued into their fourth day.

Search and rescue teams were still attempting to reach the smallest hamlets and villages in the mountainous region of Al Haouz, close to the epicentre of the 6.8-magnitude quake that struck on Friday night.

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