Biden doesn’t see ‘any real prospect’ Putin will use nuclear weapons; three people killed in Russian shelling
Continue reading...Category Archives: World News
Severe thunderstorm warning for parts of Vermont, New York, Vermont and Ohio Valley – live
Latest storm warning comes just days after areas of Vermont and New York were hit with flash flooding, raising concerns over more damage
Meterologist Ben Frechette from NBC5 reported that a tornado risk is going up slightly in north-eastern NewYork state:
As some parts of the US are sweltering, Vermont was bracing for more rain on Thursday.
Continue reading...Hollywood actors announce strike in first joint action with writers in over 60 years
Simultaneous strikes by WGA and Sag-Aftra are expected to halt the majority of Hollywood’s film and TV production
The union representing Hollywood actors formally announced a strike on Thursday, expanding the standoff between Hollywood workers and studio executives over wages, AI technology and how to divide the profits of the new digital streaming era.
The strike by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (Sag-Aftra) marks the first time in 63 years Hollywood writers and actors are striking simultaneously.
Continue reading...Cluster munitions from the US arrive in Ukraine
The bombs, which open in air to deploy scores of deadly bomblets, are banned in 120 countries, but not in the US, Ukraine or Russia
Cluster munitions provided by the United States have now arrived in Ukraine, the Pentagon confirmed on Thursday.
The munitions – bombs that open in the air and release scores of smaller bomblets – are seen by the US as a way to get Kyiv critically needed ammunition to help bolster its offensive and push through Russian frontlines. US leaders debated the thorny issue for months, before President Joe Biden made the final decision last week.
Continue reading...Marshall Islands calls for US to pay more compensation over nuclear tests
Pacific nation plagued by environmental effects of 67 bomb tests between 1946 and 1958, including Castle Bravo detonation in 1954
The foreign minister of the Marshall Islands has called for more US compensation over the legacy of massive US nuclear testing to enable the renewal of a strategic agreement governing bilateral relations.
Marshall Islanders are still plagued by health and environmental effects of 67 nuclear bomb tests from 1946 to 1958, which included Castle Bravo at Bikini Atoll in 1954 – the largest US bomb ever detonated.
Continue reading...Biden ‘serious’ on prisoner swap for US reporter Evan Gershkovich
Biden says process ‘under way’ to free Wall Street Journal reporter held in Russia and accused without evidence of spying
Joe Biden has said he is serious about pursuing a prisoner exchange for the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been detained in Russia for more than 100 days, and claimed the process was “under way”.
“I’m serious on a prisoner exchange,” Biden told reporters on Thursday when asked about Gershkovich’s continued detention in Russia.
Continue reading...Guatemala prosecutor suspends party of anti-corruption election candidate
Prosecutor suspends Movimiento Semilla after Bernardo Arévalo unexpectedly reached second round
Guatemala’s presidential election has been thrown into confusion after the country’s top prosecutor moved to suspend the party of a centre-left anti-corruption candidate who unexpectedly made it to the second round and officials from the attorney general’s office raided the headquarters of the electoral authority.
Observers had voiced fears that the Central American country’s political establishment might try to force Bernardo Arévalo from August’s runoff after he unexpectedly came second in last month’s vote.
Continue reading...Committee report is rightfully scathing on UK’s China strategy
The ISC’s warnings are unlikely to act as much of a brake on Britain’s approach to China
If there is one constant in the UK’s policy towards China over the past three decades it has been its short-termism and inconsistency, the scathing intelligence and security committee report on China rightly finds, comparing Britain’s endless course corrections with Beijing’s capacity to think strategically about how to advance the global interests of the Chinese Communist party.
If Downing Street thinks in terms of the next news bulletin, China has a planning cycle that in some of its documents takes it to 2049, as the ISC was told by one of its intelligence agency witnesses.
Continue reading...Thailand’s winning candidate for PM blocked from power
Pita Limjaroenrat fails to get parliamentary backing required to take office but can run again
The leader of Thailand’s pro-reform party has been blocked from taking power by a parliamentary vote that includes military-appointed senators despite winning the most seats in the election in May.
Pita Limjaroenrat’s progressive Move Forward party, which campaigned on a promise of change after nine years of rule by a former army chief, gained the most votes two months ago, but election rules rewritten after a military coup in 2014 require him to have majority support from parliament to become prime minister.
Continue reading...Ukraine’s top security official dismisses Ben Wallace’s criticisms of Kyiv
Oleksiy Danilov says UK defence secretary misspoke when calling for more gratitude as he was ‘emotional’
Ukraine’s top security official has dismissed criticism of Kyiv from British defence secretary Ben Wallace, suggesting Wallace misspoke due to a surfeit of emotion.
“I wouldn’t pay too much attention to what he said,” Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s security council, told the Guardian in Kyiv on Thursday. “Everyone can say something when they are emotional and then regret it … I know for sure this isn’t his actual position.”
Continue reading...Italian man cleared of assault because grope only lasted ‘between five and 10 seconds’
Judge trying case of caretaker accused of sexually assaulting teenage student rules grope too fleeting to be a crime
An Italian judge has provoked outrage after clearing a school caretaker of sexually assaulting a teenage girl because the grope lasted only “a handful of seconds”.
A 17-year-old student at a school in Rome complained of being groped by the caretaker as she walked up a staircase with a friend in April 2022.
Continue reading...Bodies of 87 people found in Sudan mass grave, says UN
Alleged victims of Sudanese paramilitary and allied militia found in shallow grave in West Darfur
At least 87 people including ethnic Masalits have been found buried in a mass grave in Sudan’s West Darfur, the UN human rights office has said, adding that it had credible information that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) were responsible.
RSF officials denied any involvement, saying the paramilitary group was not a party to the conflict in West Darfur.
Continue reading...Biden says ‘no real prospect’ of Putin using nuclear weapons – as it happened
US president plays down worries during Finland visit when asked about whether Russian president could escalate action in Ukraine. This live blog is now closed
Pavlo Kyrylenko, Ukraine’s governor of Donetsk, has posted an operational update listing a number of settlements that suffered bombardment and “massive artillery shelling” damaging houses and residential buildings. He stated that “In total, the Russians wounded 8 residents of Donetsk region in one day.”
The claims have not been independently verified. Donetsk is one of the partially occupied regions of Ukraine which the Russian Federation claims to have annexed.
In the Darnytskyi district of Kyiv, during a night attack, a fragment of a downed drone hit the 25th floor of a building, destroying one of the apartments.
The man whose apartment was hit was at home – he was wounded by shrapnel, he was given help, now he is in a stable condition, reports our correspondent, who managed to talk to him.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 505 of the invasion
Biden labels Putin ‘craven’ as Nato summit ends; G7 signs declaration outlining support for Ukraine
US president Joe Biden concluded a Nato summit on Wednesday denouncing Russian president Vladimir Putin as “craven” and promising Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy full support even without membership in the military alliance. Biden, who has made unifying Nato countries a foreign policy priority, said Putin had badly underestimated their resolve.
“This is very important. For the first time since our independence, we have established a foundation of security for Ukraine on its path to Nato,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address. “These are concrete security guarantees confirmed by the world’s top seven democracies. Never before have we had such a security base and it is at the level of the G7.” Zelenskiy reaffirmed statements he made at the summit in Lithuania that “we have removed any doubts or ambiguity about whether Ukraine will be in Nato. It will be.”
Ben Wallace, the British defence secretary said “people want to see a bit of gratitude” and Ukraine needed to put more emphasis on saying thank you for western help when he was asked about president Zelenskiy’s complaints on Tuesday that the country had not been issued a firm timetable or set of conditions for joining Nato. Wallace said Ukrainians’ haste to get all the help they could meant they did not always say they were grateful for the help received.
UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, distanced himself from Wallace’s comments, saying Zelenskiy has expressed gratitude for UK support. He highlighted that president Zelenskiy had expressed gratitude on multiple occasions, including his address to parliament earlier this year. “I know he and his people are grateful to the UK,” said Sunak.
Zelenskiy said he “didn’t understand” Wallace’s comments. He also said “we could express our words of gratitude personally to the minister”.
The G7 signed a declaration outlining support for Ukraine and help towards governance reforms needed for ‘Euro-Atlantic aspirations’. The member nations said they would provide security and economic support, including modern military equipment, across land, air, and sea, intelligence sharing and the training of Ukrainian forces in exchange for Ukraine committing to reforms “to underscore its commitments to democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights and media freedoms”, “put its economy on a sustainable path” and strengthen “democratic civilian control of the military”.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Sweden’s Nato accession will not be put to Turkish parliament until autumn when it reopens. Speaking at a news conference after the Nato summit in Vilnius, Erdogan said that Sweden would provide a roadmap for Turkey regarding the steps to take against purported terrorism before the ratification.
UN secretary-general António Guterres has proposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin that he extend a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of grain from Ukraine in return for connecting a subsidiary of Russia’s agricultural bank to the SWIFT international payment system, sources told Reuters. The last two ships traveling under the Black Sea agreement are currently loading cargoes at the Ukrainian port of Odesa ahead of the deadline.
An 81-year-old man was killed after shelling in Kherson. His 82-year-old wife was wounded in shelling of the southern city of Kherson, the region’s governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said on Telegram on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Catholic chaplain who sexually abused Louisiana students jailed for five years
Patrick Wattigny, former high school chaplain who resigned in 2020, pleads guilty to molesting two minors at school
The former chaplain of a Roman Catholic high school in Louisiana has pleaded guilty to molesting two minors whom he met through his work and was ordered to spend five years in prison.
Patrick Wattigny’s plea and sentence on Wednesday came after both of his victims strongly advocated for a harsher punishment. One victim, who was present, described how Wattigny spent time grooming him in the mid-1990s. The victim said Wattigny told him he could help him gain entry to heaven, then took him to a rectory to fondle his genitals. Wattigny also used his fingers to rape the victim while masturbating.
Continue reading...US and UK call for more gratitude from Kyiv after Zelenskiy’s Nato complaint
Comments come after Ukrainian leader complained his country had not been given firm timetable for joining alliance
Britain’s defence secretary and the US national security adviser have suggested Ukraine ought to show more gratitude for the help it has received from the west, in response to Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s complaints that his country has not been issued a firm timetable or set of conditions for joining Nato.
Their unscripted remarks – at two different events on the margins of the second day of the Nato summit in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius – appeared to prompt a change of tack from the Ukrainian leader on Wednesday, who later said he was “grateful to all leaders of Nato countries” for their support and help.
Continue reading...Mexico: IEDs kill four police officers and two civilians in ‘brutal’ cartel ambush
Another 14 wounded after seven improvised devices set off in attack by organized crime group in Tlajomulco, Jalisco state
Four police officers and two civilians have been killed by bombs planted in a road in western Mexico that officials said were an ambush set by a drug cartel.
The attack late on Tuesday appeared to mark the first time that Mexican criminals have successfully targeted law-enforcement personnel with improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, in the latest example of the brazen military challenge posed by organized crime groups in the country.
Continue reading...Ugandan president and son accused of sponsoring violence in ICC testimony
Documents containing allegations of torture filed to court in support of complaint made by Bobi Wine
The Uganda president, Yoweri Museveni, and his son Muhoozi Kainerugaba have been accused of sponsoring violence and abusing critics in harrowing testimony filed before the international criminal court.
The submissions contain detailed allegations of the torture of opposition figures and activists who report being arrested arbitrarily and being held incommunicado in “torture centres”, where they were reportedly interrogated about their links with the opposition figure Bobi Wine and subjected to physical harm and indignifying treatment.
Continue reading...UK imposes sanctions on companies linked to warring Sudanese factions
Move designed to send message to forces involved as fears grow conflict could become more widespread in the region
The UK has put sanctions on six companies it says are associated with the two sides fighting for power in Sudan, though the prospect of any of the Gulf states most entwined in the Sudanese economy joining the UK remain remote.
The Foreign Office slapped sanctions on three firms linked to leaders of the Sudanese armed forces and three connected to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Continue reading...Giant sloth pendants indicate humans settled Americas much earlier than thought
Scientists studied jewelry made from now extinct creatures and theorize that humans arrived in Americas 27,000 years ago
New research suggests humans lived in South America at the same time as now extinct giant sloths, bolstering evidence that people arrived in the Americas earlier than once thought.
Scientists analyzed triangular and teardrop-shaped pendants made of bony material from the sloths. They concluded that the carved and polished shapes and drilled holes were the work of deliberate craftsmanship.
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