Protests erupt in Bulgaria after attacks on woman by ex-partner deemed ‘mild’

Rallies in Sofia and other cities after leniency shown to man whose ex-girlfriend says she was cut hundreds of times by him

Thousands of Bulgarians have taken to the streets to protest against violence against women after a harrowing case of a teen cut hundreds of times shocked the Balkan nation.

Approximately 5,000 people demonstrated in Sofia, while protests also took place in other cities across the country, where rallies over violence against women are rare.

In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org

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Top US adviser to attend Saudi talks in bid to attract support for Ukraine plan

Ukraine and allies seek to draw countries such as Brazil and India off the fence and back Kyiv’s proposals for ‘just and durable peace’

Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, is expected to attend a meeting in Saudi Arabia this weekend at which Ukraine and its allies will try to persuade countries from the global south to back Kyiv’s proposals for ending the war.

According to officials involved in planning for the meeting, it is primarily aimed at drawing neutral countries such as Brazil and India off the fence in their approach to the Russian invasion.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: civilian deaths reported after strikes in Kryvyi Rih, Kherson and Donetsk

Ukraine defence minister says Moscow has intensified strikes on military infrastructure; Kremlin says Ukraine counteroffensive ‘not working out as planned’

Alexey Kulemzin, the Russian-imposed mayor of the occupied city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, has reported that “facades, balconies, roofing and glazing” have been damaged in Kuibyshevskyi district in the city by overnight shelling.

Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin appears to have said in a voice message published on Monday that his Wagner group was not currently recruiting fighters but was likely to do so in future.

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At least eight dead following alleged revenge attack by São Paulo police

Brazil authorities call for investigation after hundreds of police officers were deployed in response to the killing of an officer

Authorities in Brazil have called for an investigation after a police operation on the coast of São Paulo state left at least eight people dead, in an apparent act of retaliation.

About 600 police officers have been deployed across the Baixada Santista region in response to the killing of an officer by drug traffickers in the city of Guarujá last Thursday.

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Myanmar junta extends state of emergency, forcing delay to elections

Military-controlled government seemingly needs more time to organise new vote as it tackles protests and armed resistance

Myanmar’s military-controlled government has extended the state of emergency it imposed when the army seized power from an elected government in 2021, forcing a further delay in elections it promised when it took over.

MRTV television said the National Defense and Security Council met on Monday in the capital, Naypyidaw, and extended the state of emergency for another six months starting on Tuesday because time is needed to prepare for the elections. The NDSC is nominally a constitutional government body, but in practice is controlled by the military.

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British woman among three killed in French motorway collision

Miriam Posen, from London, killed in three-vehicle crash on A26 that left five others in a critical condition

A British woman has died along with two other people in a three-car collision on a motorway in northern France.

More than 65 firefighters and nine ambulances attended the crash on Sunday evening, which involved eight children and involved a British nine-seater family vehicle and two other cars on the A26 near Neuville-Saint-Vaast and Thélus.

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Niger coup leaders accuse France of plotting military intervention

Junta that seized power claims Paris is aiming to reinstate deposed president as regional tensions grow

The military junta that seized power in Niger has accused France of plotting military intervention to reinstate the deposed president, Mohamed Bazoum, as tensions in the region continued to grow in the wake of the coup.

The junta said on national TV that France was searching “for ways and means to intervene militarily in Niger” and had held a meeting with the chief of staff of Niger’s national guard “to obtain the necessary political and military authorisation”.

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Islamic State says it carried out Pakistan suicide bombing that killed 54

Blast took place at political rally for a pro-Taliban party as country faces a rising tide of militant attacks

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed 54 people in Pakistan, as the country battles a rising tide of militant attacks.

The bombing took place at a rally for a pro-Taliban party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province bordering Afghanistan that has faced a rapidly declining security situation due to attacks from militant groups including the Pakistan Taliban and Islamic State’s regional affiliate.

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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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