Category Archives: World News

Death toll in Kenya road crash rises to 52

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Truck lost control at notorious junction in Londiani, hitting people and vehicles in latest road catastrophe

The death toll of a road crash in western Kenya rose to 52 on Saturday, officials said, as rescuers worked to clear the wreckage from one of the deadliest traffic accidents in the country in recent years.

A truck carrying a shipping container veered out of control and ploughed into multiple other vehicles and people thronging a busy roadside junction on Friday evening, plunging the nation into shock and mourning.

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US set to rejoin Unesco after leaving during Trump presidency

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Biden committed to rejoining body to ‘counter Chinese influence’ after Trump administration pulled out over ‘anti-Israeli bias’

The US is set to rejoin Unesco this month after a four-year absence from the global cultural and educational body that the country abandoned during the Donald Trump presidency over what his administration called “anti-Israeli bias”.

The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s reunion with the US came after a two-day special session held at the body’s headquarters in Paris.

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British holidaymakers warned of risk of disruption from French riots

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Foreign Office updates travel advice for France, saying location and timing of clashes is unpredictable

British holidaymakers travelling to France have been warned they could face disruption after four nights of unrest in reaction to the police killing of a 17-year-old boy of Algerian and Moroccan descent.

The Foreign Office has changed its travel advice, warning of the potential for disruption to travel, curfews and that the “location and timing of riots are unpredictable”.

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France riots live: teargas fired in Marseille as 45,000 more police deployed across country – as it happened

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Police braced for unrest after funeral for Nahel, killed by police on Tuesday, held near Paris on Saturday

More than 1,000 people were arrested in the fourth night of unrest, as family and friends prepare to bury the 17-year-old fatally shot by police.

Associated Press reports that France’s interior ministry said that 1,311 people were arrested as protesters once again clashed with police.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: counteroffensive will be long and very bloody, says US general – as it happened

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Gen Mark Milley says no one should have any illusions about difficulty of Ukrainian offensive

Here are pictures from Friday of family and co-workers attending the funeral of a young female killed in a missile attack that hit a restaurant in downtown Kramatorsk on 27 June.

The Guardian’s Shaun Walker, Andrew Roth and Pjotr Sauer have written an analysis about the likely vengeful response opponents of Vladimir Putin should expect after the attempted Wagner mutiny last weekend.

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Dozens dead in western India bus crash

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Bus was travelling on expressway to city of Pune when it hit a pole, overturned and caught fire

At least 25 people were killed and eight others injured after a bus caught fire on an expressway in western India, police said.

The bus was travelling to the city of Pune when it hit a pole and overturned in the early hours of Saturday, causing its diesel tank to catch fire, a senior police officer told the Agence France-Presse news agency.

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Celebrity, secrets and lies: Ireland watches as scandal engulfs RTÉ

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National broadcaster embroiled in a real-life drama over clandestine payments to its star presenter

It has become Ireland’s top-rated show – a tale of celebrity, secrets and lies that has entranced the public and dominated the airwaves. Some reckon it is the most gripping drama ever produced by RTÉ.

Unfortunately for the national broadcaster, it is an all too real scandal over clandestine payments that has engulfed its star presenter and senior managers and planted a question mark over RTÉ’s future.

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Judges ban Bolsonaro from running for office for eight years over ‘appalling lies’

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Former far-right leader will only be able to seek elected office again in 2030, when he will be 75

The political future of Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro has been cast into doubt after electoral judges banned him from running for office for eight years for abusing his powers and peddling “immoral” and “appalling lies” during last year’s acrimonious election.

Five of the superior electoral court’s seven judges voted to banish the far-right radical, who relentlessly vilified the South American country’s democratic institutions during his unsuccessful battle to win a second term in power. Two voted against the decision.

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Pope Francis holds meeting with Julian Assange’s wife

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‘He understands Julian is suffering and is concerned,’ says Stella Assange after audience with pontiff

Pope Francis has met Stella Assange, the wife of the imprisoned WikiLeaks founder, who said the pope’s gesture in receiving her was evidence of his “ongoing show of support for our family’s plight” and concern over the suffering of her husband, Julian.

After the audience, Stella Assange said Francis had sent a letter to her husband in March 2021, during a particularly difficult period. “He has provided great solace and comfort and we are extremely appreciative for his reaching out to our family in this way,” she told the Associated Press. “He understands that Julian is suffering and is concerned.”

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Russia-Ukraine war live: Russia reducing its presence at nuclear power plant, says Ukraine; Pope says war seems to have ‘no end’

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Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate warns that staff are leaving Zaporizhzhia as Moscow has mined power units; Pope Francis calls for peace

Overnight, the BBC has been reporting that recruitment continues at Wagner mercenary offices across Russia, despite the fallout from the weekend’s armed mutiny. It writes:

Using a Russian phone number, we called more than a dozen recruitment centres saying, if asked, that we were inquiring on behalf of a brother.

All those who replied confirmed that it was business as usual.

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Hundreds arrested in France on fourth night of unrest as reinforcements sent to Marseille – as it happened

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Nationwide ban on bus and tram services follows violence triggered by the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old on Tuesday. This blog is now closed

An ambulance driver was filmed berating police after Nahel’s death. In the video, which has circulated widely online, he shouted at officers:

He’s 17, you see he has a baby face. For a driving licence offence. For a driving licence offence, brother. I know the lad, I watched him grow up. His mother brought him up all alone, his dad left. She’s going to bury her son. For a driving licence offence.

You’re going to see how it goes tonight. Everyone’s sleeping right now – you’re going to see how Nanterre awakens.

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Over 24,000 UK asylum seekers could be sent to Rwanda despite court ruling

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Home Office sent 24,083 letters of intent warning refugees they were being considered for forcible removal

More than 24,000 asylum seekers from about one-third of the world’s countries could face removal to Rwanda by the UK Home Office in the future, even though the scheme was found to be unlawful in the court of appeal on Thursday.

Home Office data obtained under a freedom of information request shows that, between January 2021 and March 2023, 24,083 asylum seekers were issued with letters warning them that they were being considered for forcible removal to Rwanda.

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Netanyahu angers coalition partners by ditching part of judicial overhaul

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Israeli PM says he has thrown out controversial measure to allow parliament to override supreme court decisions

A surprise announcement from Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, that one of the most controversial elements of his government’s proposed judicial overhaul will be dropped, has angered his coalition partners and failed to placate protesters opposed to the plans.

“The idea of an override clause, where the parliament, the Knesset, can override the decisions of the supreme court with a simple majority, I said, I threw that out … It’s out,” Netanyahu said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal published on Thursday.

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Could Yevgeny Prigozhin really have captured Moscow?

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Last week’s Wagner revolt was less an attempted coup, more an impulsive demonstration that got out of hand

Could Yevgeny Prigozhin have somehow captured Moscow last weekend? The emerging consensus – from experts and in western capitals – is probably not: the extraordinary rebellion of last Friday and Saturday was far less than an attempted coup, and more an impulsive demonstration that quickly got out of hand.

Consider the numbers involved in Saturday’s march on Moscow. The best estimates of rebel numbers are nothing like the 25,000 claimed by Prigozhin himself, probably closer to the 4,000 cited by the Institute of the Study of War. Even that is only a small part of Wagner’s total Ukraine force, generally estimated to be 15,000, the size of an army division.

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Finland coalition in chaos as far-right minister quits over ‘climate abortion’ remark

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Vilhelm Junnila, already criticised for Nazi ‘joke’, found to have called for abortions in Africa to combat climate crisis

The new Finnish coalition government has been plunged into crisis, as a key minister was forced to resign after it emerged he had called for Finland to support abortions in Africa to combat the climate crisis.

Vilhelm Junnila, of the far-right Finns party, resigned after a week of fiercely criticised revelations, including that he made jokes about “Heil Hitler” and had given a speech at an event attended by neo-Nazis.

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EU softens China strategy by adopting ‘de-risking’ approach

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Decision agreed quickly at Brussels summit of leaders as bloc highlights vulnerability of supply chains

EU leaders have launched a policy towards China of “de-risking”, a softening of its unofficial “decoupling” approach that reflects concerns over the economic damage of cutting off the world’s second-biggest economy or entering a trade war with it.

The decision was agreed quickly at a summit of leaders in Brussels after the European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, went into the summit with consensus among the 27 member states.

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Oligarch hit by Ukrainian sanctions has UK residency and was given ‘golden visa’

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Pavel Fuks, a Ukrainian who made a fortune in Russia and is under investigation for fraud, was granted special visa for the rich in 2012

An oligarch who made a fortune in Russia and is under Ukrainian sanctions has UK residency after being granted a special visa for the rich.

Pavel Fuks, a Ukrainian national who had sanctions imposed in 2021, is also under criminal investigation for fraud and tax evasion in his home country. But the Guardian has established that Fuks, known as a regular at an exclusive Mayfair restaurant, was granted a so-called golden visa in 2012, followed by indefinite leave to remain in the UK in 2017. “It’s effective as of today,” his spokesperson said.

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War crimes surge in Burkina Faso, the world’s ‘most neglected crisis’

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Villagers increasingly caught up in army crackdown on Islamist militants, with both sides accused of mass killings of civilians

Civilians in Burkina Faso are being punished by the “total war” the government is waging against Islamist militant groups, with both sides accused of war crimes.

The military has been accused of targeting the Fulani ethnic group, while jihadists have sought retribution against villagers they believe support the government.

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German travel agency criticized for tour of Panama’s deadly jungle migrant zone

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Travel startup says it doesn’t ‘holiday where people suffer’ but offers trek in Darién Gap known for dangerous migration routes

“We go where no one goes,” is Wandermut’s tagline, but one of the German tour agency’s packages has left people asking whether some places are better left unexplored.

The travel startup’s 10-day Panama Jungle Tour has been criticised across Latin America in recent weeks for offering tour packages in a region which is home to one of the world’s most dangerous migration routes.

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Hong Kong pro-democracy radio station closes citing ‘dangerous’ political situation

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Citizens’ Radio to close on third anniversary of national security law that has led to demise of several other liberal media outlets

Hong Kong’s pro-democracy online Citizens’ Radio station will cease operations on Friday owing to what its founder described as a “dangerous” political situation and the freezing of its bank account.

Launched in 2005 by veteran activist Tsang Kin-shing, the Cantonese-language broadcaster gained a steady following for its hard-hitting talkshows that were critical of authorities, as well as its years-long campaign for press freedom.

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