Category Archives: World News

UN unable to feed 100,000 Haitians this month amid ‘catastrophic’ conditions

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The World Food Programme’s Haiti response is only 16% funded with more than half of the country’s population regularly hungry

The World Food Programme (WFP) will be unable to feed 100,000 Haitians this month as the UN agency has insufficient funding to meet burgeoning humanitarian needs in the embattled Caribbean nation.

Haitians grappling with dire malnutrition will have to endure the absence of vital food and financial support amid the worst hunger crisis the country has ever witnessed, the WFP announced on Monday.

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Olive oil industry in crisis as Europe’s heatwave threatens another harvest

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World’s biggest olive producer, Spain, on course for second bad harvest in a row, raising fears of gaps on shelves and even higher prices

The olive oil industry is “in crisis”, with the heatwave in southern Europe threatening to inflict the second bad harvest in a row and gaps on shelves this autumn.

After a spring heatwave affected flowering in Spain, which produces about half the global olive crop, the harvest was forecast to be only 28% up on last year, which was the worst in almost a decade.

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Russia says decision not to extend Black Sea grain deal is final

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No more talks planned, says official, despite Turkish leader expressing hope of progress at UN meeting

The UN secretary general, António Guterres has said he deeply regrets Russia’s decision to terminate the Black Sea grain deal, saying hundreds of millions of people facing hunger as well as hard-pressed consumers will pay the price for the Kremlin’s move.

The deal was designed to alleviate a food crisis sparked by a Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports that had frozen millions of tonnes of grain exports around the world, much of it to developing countries.

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Italian media more focused on foreign coverage of heatwave than its effects

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Reporting of climate crisis has been lousy for years, experts say, in a country where rightwing press has been dominant

Italy is sweltering in abnormally high temperatures, but its media appear to be more interested in how the extreme heat is being reported in the foreign press than delving deeply into the effects in a country deemed to be among the most vulnerable in Europe to the climate crisis.

Over the weekend, several outlets picked up on reports on Italy’s heatwave in leading foreign news websites – including the Guardian, the Times and the BBC. They were particularly fascinated by a headline in the Times calling Rome – where temperatures are forecast to reach highs of 43C on Tuesday – the “Infernal City”, a play on the nickname “Eternal City”. So much so that it was still a talking point come Monday.

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France clamps down on dangerous drivers with new ‘road killing’ offence

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No tougher penalties announces for offence formerly known as involuntary homicide by a driver

The French government has announced a clampdown on people who drive while unfit, months after a crash involving a high-profile comedian accused of drug-driving.

The prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, announced the creation of a new offence, of causing a “road killing”, specifically aimed at those who are unfit to be behind the wheel.

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Millions on alert as wildfire smoke from Canada to spread to US

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Officials issue air quality advisories across US and with nearly 900 forest fires – many of them ‘out of control’ – burning to the north

As they did last month, wildfires in Canada are again expected to spread increased air pollution to the US this week, as millions in the country are under air quality advisories.

About 70 million people could be under air quality alerts as wildfire smoke from western Canada spreads to parts of the northern US and as far south as Alabama, CNN reported.

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Israelis brace for disruption amid renewed push for judicial overhaul

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Knesset races to pass bill eliminating ‘reasonableness’ standard before summer recess

Israelis are bracing for a turbulent week of protests and potential strike action as the country’s governing coalition races to pass a key component of its wide-ranging judicial overhaul before the parliamentary summer recess.

The Knesset’s constitution, justice and law committee on Monday discussed sending a bill eliminating the “reasonableness” standard that allows the supreme court to overrule government decisions back to the plenum for its second reading.

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Gaza: Israeli targeted killing operations prompt petition for inquiry

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Action follows deaths of civilians during Israel’s Shield and Arrow assassination strike campaign

On the street in central Gaza City where the family of Khalil al-Bahtini lived, the contents of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander’s home and the two houses on either side remain spilled out into the street. Passersby must navigate the rubble and crumpled shell of a water tank, as well as the debris of an annihilated family life: a red teddy bear, kitchen utensils, scraps of books and clothing.

The Adas family were not the targets of the airstrike that hit their neighbour’s house at about 2am on 9 May, in the opening salvo of Israel’s Shield and Arrow operation, but the buildings were less than a metre apart. The GBU-39 bomb that crashed through three floors of the Bahtini home, down into the basement, also blew apart one side of the Adas’s house, killing the family’s two teenage daughters. Dania, 19, died immediately, while her sister, Imam, 17, clung to life for two hours before succumbing to her injuries in hospital.

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US climate envoy meets Chinese counterpart on hottest ever day in China

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John Kerry arrives in Beijing as temperature hits 52.2C in Xinjiang – where authorities tell workers and students to stay at home

A remote township in China’s western Xinjiang region has set a nationwide temperature record of 52.2C, as the US climate envoy, John Kerry, held meetings with his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, in Beijing.

The temperature was reached on Sunday at Sanbao township in the Turpan Depression, the China Meteorological Administration said in a statement. It broke a previous record of 50.6C, set in July 2017, the CMA said.

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Mystery object: Australian police warn public away from huge cylinder found washed up on WA beach

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Object at Green Head, 250km from Perth in Western Australia, could be from an Indian space rocket, experts said, but police say it is not hazardous

A giant metal cylinder has washed up on a beach in Western Australia, baffling locals and posing a mystery to police.

The huge copper-coloured cylinder was reported to police by local residents on Sunday, having washed up on a beach near Jurien Bay sometime earlier.

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Tunisia says it will not be ‘reception centre’ for returning migrants

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North African country, which agreed €1bn deal with EU to stem irregular migration, says it will take back only Tunisians

Tunisia has said it will not be a “reception centre” for returns of sub-Saharan migrants from Italy or any other country in Europe despite a groundbreaking €1bn deal signed on Sunday.

Authorities in the north African country are determined not to enter a contract similar to that which the UK has with Rwanda and will take back only Tunisians who have made irregular entry to the EU.

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Monday briefing: Thousands killed, millions displaced – the conflict in Sudan, three months in

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In today’s newsletter: In April, fighting broke out between two rival factions – with no end in sight, the UN is investigating

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Good morning.

Last week the United Nations discovered a mass grave in Sudan’s West Darfur in which 87 people were buried, prompting the UN high commissioner for Human Rights to demand a “thorough and independent investigation” into activity in the region.

Ukraine | Explosions have reportedly hit the Kerch bridge connecting the Crimean peninsula to Russia, a heavily guarded road and rail link that is among the Kremlin’s most important infrastructure projects. The head of the Russian-controlled administration in Crimea, said traffic had been stopped because of “an emergency situation”. Two people have been killed and a child was injured.

Environment | Southern Europe is bracing for a second “heat storm” in a week. Record temperatures across the Mediterranean could be broken on Tuesday, and people in Italy have been told to prepare for most intense heatwave ‘of all time’. Meanwhile in the US more than 100 million people were under extreme heat advisories this weekend.

Iran | Iran’s “morality police” have returned to the streets 10 months after the death of a woman in their custody sparked nationwide protests. It comes as authorities announce a new campaign to force women to wear the Islamic headscarf.

Hospitals | The government is on track to break a key election promise from Boris Johnson to build 40 new hospitals in England by the end of the decade, a damning report by the public spending watchdog has found.

Music | France’s favourite “petite Anglaise”, the British-born singer and actor Jane Birkin, has died at her home in Paris aged 76. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, paid tribute to Birkin, saying she “embodied freedom and sang the most beautiful words in our language”.

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Student journalists in Indonesia face backlash after reporting on sexual harassment

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Students say they are being targeted with expulsion, physical assault and death threats after writing about sensitive subjects

Yolanda Agne, 23, was just months away from graduating in journalism at a university in Maluku province, Indonesia, when she was banned from finishing her studies.

In March last year, the student magazine Lintas – of which Agne was then editor-in-chief – published a damning piece on the prevalence of sexual harassment on her campus at Ambon Islamic State Institute. Among the alleged perpetrators were eight lecturers, with incidents dating over a six-year period.

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Two dead after explosions on Kerch Bridge linking Crimea and Russia

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Only direct overland link damaged as Russia says it will pull out of UN-brokered grain deal

Twin explosions have damaged the Kerch Bridge connecting Crimea to mainland Russia, killing two people and closing the main conduit for Russian road traffic to the annexed peninsula.

The heavily guarded road and rail link is among the Kremlin’s most important and high-prestige infrastructure projects, and the only overland link that goes directly from Russia to occupied Crimea.

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China GDP growth falls short of expectations as sinking property prices hit economy

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Data shows the economy grew just 0.8% in the June quarter, down from 2.2% in the first three months of 2023

China’s economy expanded 6.3% in the second quarter from a year ago, falling short of market expectations as export demand remained tepid and sinking property prices sapped consumer confidence.

Compared with a year earlier, China’s GDP in the April-June period was 6.3% larger, the national bureau of statistics said on Monday, quickening from the 4.5% annual growth pace for the first three months of 2023. Economists had forecast growth to accelerate to 7.3%, according to a Reuters survey.

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Iran’s ‘morality police’ resume patrols 10 months after nationwide protests

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Authorities announce new campaign to force women to wear the Islamic headscarf, after period of scaled-back policing

Almost 10 months after Mahsa Amini died in police custody, triggering weeks of protest across Iran, police vans are again patrolling the country’s streets looking for women who are not wearing the hijab “correctly”. Now, however, the vans and officers will not bear the name “morality police”, and patrolmen will be wearing body cameras.

The announcement on Sunday followed widespread reports that unmarked vans had been spotted on the streets of cities such as Tehran and Shiraz, stopping people not wearing the hijab. The move has already prompted demonstrations: on Sunday, protesters took to the streets in Rasht after three women were reportedly arrested.

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Russians bombard centre of Kharkiv hours after earlier fatal attack

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Latest missile strike part of series of attacks that began at 2am on Sunday, with one dead and four wounded reported

Russia has continued its assault on Kharkiv, with loud explosions heard in the central district on Sunday evening, just hours after one person was killed and four wounded in an earlier attack.

The governor, Oleh Synyehubov, urged people to take to shelters. Russia had began bombarding the north-eastern Ukrainian city at 2am on Sunday, firing four S-300 anti-aircraft missiles. No one was injured as two were intercepted and the other two landed in a courtyard.

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EU signs off €1bn deal with Tunisia to help stem irregular migration

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Ursula von der Leyen hails deal as an investment in shared prosperity and stability

The EU has signed off on a €1bn (£860m) deal with Tunisia to help stem irregular migration, as the president of the north African country denounced those who offer migrants “sympathy without respect” for their goal to have equity in life.

Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, hailed the deal with Tunisia, including significant measures to stem deadly irregular migration across the mediterranean, as an investment in shared prosperity and stability.

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Iranian academic will appeal against prison sentence for criticising government

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Sadegh Zibakalam was sentenced for tweeting in March about the alleged poisoning of schoolchildren in Iran

One of the most distinguished former political science professors at the University of Tehran, who was sentenced to a year in jail for tweeting about the alleged poisoning of schoolchildren, has said his sentence was inexplicable and he will appeal against it.

Sadegh Zibakalam said nothing in his tweet directly accused the government of being behind the mysterious spate of alleged poisonings of schoolchildren that left hundreds in hospital and no one charged.

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Cage director banned from France as ‘threat to public order’

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Human rights campaigner Muhammad Rabbani accused of spreading conspiracy theories about ‘Islamophobic persecution’

The director of the campaign group Cage was detained in Paris for almost 24 hours last week and then sent back to London after the French government accused him of spreading conspiracy theories about “Islamophobic persecution”.

In 2020, Cage, which campaigns on behalf of communities affected by the “war on terror”, overturned a French travel ban for its director, Muhammad Rabbani. But on arrival in Paris last Tuesday for meetings with French journalists and civil society leaders, Rabbani was told that the interior ministry had imposed a new travel ban preventing him from entering the country. He was questioned and then sent back on a flight to London.

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