Category Archives: World News

US doctor accused of using own sperm to impregnate patients dies in air crash

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Morris Wortman, 72, was passenger in hand-built, experimental plane that went down in New York state on Sunday, killing pilot too

A New York fertility doctor who was accused of using his own sperm to impregnate several patients died when the hand-built airplane he was in fell apart mid-flight and crashed, authorities said.

Dr Morris Wortman, 72, of Rochester, was a passenger in the experimental aircraft that went down on Sunday in a pasture in Orleans county. The pilot, Earl Luce Jr, of Brockport, also was killed, the county sheriff said.

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Ukrainian sanctions on media tycoon Alexander Lebedev revealed

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The Russian businessman is the father of Evgeny Lebedev, who was given a peerage by Boris Johnson

Ukraine has imposed sanctions on Alexander Lebedev – the former KGB intelligence officer whose son Evgeny sits in the House of Lords – in connection with Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

The national security and defence council in Kyiv imposed sanctions on Lebedev Sr last October. The decision – first reported by Tortoise media – emerged on Thursday and follows a decree signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

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Nova Scotia: fears extreme heat and strong winds could worsen wildfires

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Officials say combination of high temperatures and stiff breezes could lead to ‘extreme fire behaviour’ in Maritime province

Officials in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia say a day of blistering heat, strong winds and low humidity could lead to “extreme fire behaviour” as they work to control wildfires that have forced more than 20,000 people from their homes.

Fire crews said on Thursday they were concerned about a phenomenon known as “crossover”, which occurs when temperature rises above 30C, humidity drops below 30% and winds exceed 30km/h.

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Burkina Faso is the world’s ‘most neglected crisis’ as focus remains on Ukraine

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Chronic emergencies in Africa are being ignored while Ukraine dominates headlines and receives more funding, says NGO

The displacement of 2 million people in Burkina Faso has been named the world’s most neglected crisis, while the world’s attention and aid has been focused on Ukraine, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

Burkina Faso has endured five years of conflict with militias – who have attacked water sources and forced school closures – now controlling up to 40% of the country’s territory.

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Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira will not be forgotten, vows Brazil’s Lula

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President says last year’s killings were result of ‘encouragement of anarchy’ in Amazon under Bolsonaro

Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira will not be forgotten, Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has vowed, blaming their killings a year ago on the Amazonian “anarchy” unleashed under his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro.

Phillips, a British journalist, and Pereira, a Brazilian Indigenous expert, were shot dead by a group of illegal fishers on 5 June last year while travelling in the remote Javari valley near Brazil’s border with Colombia and Peru.

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Socialite Jasmine Hartin fined after killing Belize police officer

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Ex-partner of Lord Ashcroft’s son discharged gun at Henry Jemmott in 2021 as the pair drank together

The Canadian socialite and former partner of the son of the billionaire and Conservative party grandee Michael Ashcroft has been fined after killing a police officer in Belize.

Jasmine Hartin, 34, was ordered to pay £30,000 by the supreme court in Belize City for manslaughter by negligence. She must also undertake 300 hours of community service and film a video about the dangers of “drinking and making foolish decisions”.

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Brazilian Amazon at risk of being taken over by mafia, ex-police chief warns

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Alexandre Saraiva gives alert on organised crime in region ahead of anniversary of killings of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira

The rapid advance of organised crime groups in the Brazilian Amazon risks turning the region into a vast, conflict-stricken hinterland plagued by heavily armed “criminal insurgents”, a former senior federal police chief has warned.

Alexandre Saraiva, who worked in the Amazon from 2011 to 2021, said he feared the growing footprint of drug-trafficking mafias in the region could spawn a situation similar to the decades-long drug conflict in Rio de Janeiro, where the police’s battle with drug gangs and paramilitaries has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

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Last images of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira found on recovered phone

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Photos and videos on phone found near site of men’s killing show some of their last movements in Brazilian Amazon

Some of the last images of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira have been found after Indigenous activists recovered a mobile phone Pereira was carrying when the two men were killed in the Brazilian Amazon last year.

The phone was found last October when activists from Univaja, the Indigenous association where Pereira worked, returned to a stretch of flooded forest along the Itaquaí River where the men’s bodies were taken after they were shot dead on their boat on the morning of 5 June 2022.

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Zimbabwe outlaws criticism of government before August elections

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New law that criminalises ‘wilfully damaging’ country’s national interest raises fears of crackdown on dissent

Zimbabwe’s parliament has outlawed criticism of the government before presidential and parliamentary elections in August, with violations of a new law punishable by up to 20 years in jail.

The criminal law code amendment bill, widely known as the “patriotic bill”, contains a clause that criminalises “wilfully damaging the sovereignty and national interest of Zimbabwe”.

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Man accused of starting New Zealand hostel fire faces five murder charges

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Suspect, 48, was earlier charged with arson for allegedly setting fire to a couch and the hostel in Wellington

New Zealand police have filed five murder charges against the man they say lit a deadly fire at a Wellington hostel two weeks ago.

Police had earlier filed arson charges against the 48-year-old, accusing him of setting fire to a couch and to the hostel itself. He has remained in jail since his arrest two days after the fire.

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Nepali sherpa saves climber in rare Everest ‘death zone’ rescue

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Gelje Sherpa was guiding Chinese client to summit when he saw Malaysian climber clinging to rope

A Malaysian climber narrowly survived after a Nepali sherpa guide hauled him down from below the summit of Mount Everest in a very rare high-altitude rescue, a government official has said.

Gelje Sherpa, 30, was guiding a Chinese client to the 8,849-metre (29,032ft) Everest summit on 18 May when he saw the Malaysian climber clinging to a rope and shivering from extreme cold in the area known as the death zone, where temperatures can dip to -30C or lower.

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US announces $300m arms package for Ukraine – with a caveat

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The shipment comes with a warning that the weaponry should not be used to attack within Russia

The United States has announced a new $300m arms package for Ukraine, including air defense systems and tens of millions of rounds of ammunition – but warned Kyiv that US weaponry should not be used to attack within Russia.

“We have been very clear with the Ukrainians privately – we’ve certainly been clear publicly – that we do not support attacks inside Russia. We do not enable and we do not encourage attacks inside Russia,” said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.

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Canada’s Marineland theme park charged over its handling of black bears

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Park has long been a target of activists who have sought to shut it down over the lack of care given to its captive animals

A theme park in Canada is facing charges for its handling of black bears in captivity, placing fresh scrutiny on a park that animal rights activists have long sought to shut down.

Ontario’s ministry of the solicitor general said on Wednesday it had laid the charges against Marineland, an amusement park on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. The province said the park had failed to comply with an order related to its captive American black bears.

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At least 60 children die trapped in Khartoum orphanage amid Sudan conflict

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Infants, toddlers and older children died from fever or lack of food while trapped in deteriorating conditions

At least 60 infants, toddlers and older children have perished over the past six weeks while trapped in harrowing conditions in an orphanage in Sudan’s capital as fighting raged outside.

Most died from lack of food and from fever. Twenty-six died in two days over the weekend.

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Moldova to press for accelerated EU membership process at leaders’ summit

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Meeting in Chișinău is opportunity to show country is ‘fit for EU membership’, foreign minister says

Moldova wants to start formal talks on becoming a EU member state and will use the a summit of all 50 EU and non-member European leaders in its capital, Chișinău, on Thursday to underline its desire to accelerate the accession process, the country’s foreign minister said.

Along with Ukraine, Moldova has official accession candidate status since last year but believes, like its larger neighbour, it can accelerate the years-long process to get a seat in Brussels in the face of continuing threats from Russia.

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‘Unprecedented’ Nova Scotia wildfires expected to worsen, officials warn

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More than 18,000 people remain under evacuation order outside Halifax as Canadian PM Justin Trudeau pledges federal assistance

Officials in the province of Nova Scotia say unprecedented wildfires that have forced thousands from their homes will keep growing despite the “water, raw muscle power and air power” deployed by fire crews.

As of Wednesday, more than 20,000 hectares of the Maritime province were burning from 13 wildfires, including three fires that considered out of control. More than 18,000 people remain under evacuation order outside Halifax, the region’s largest city. More than 200 structures, the majority of which are homes, have been destroyed by the fire. No fatalities have been recorded.

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Indian official fined after draining reservoir in search of mobile phone

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Rajesh Vishwas dropped phone into Paraklot reservoir in Chhattisgarh state while taking a selfie

An Indian official who drained a reservoir to retrieve a mobile he dropped while taking a selfie has been fined 53,092 rupees (£520) by the government.

Rajesh Vishwas, a food inspector, had dropped his new phone worth about £1,000 into the Paralkot reservoir in Chhattisgarh state while taking a selfie during a picnic and swim with friends.

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Outrage as Brazil law threatening Indigenous lands advances in congress

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Critics denounced ‘lies, hatred and racism’ as legislation moves to senate after being overwhelmingly endorsed by lower house

Indigenous leaders and environmentalists in Brazil have voiced horror and indignation after lawmakers approved controversial legislation which opponents fear will strike a devastating blow to Indigenous communities and isolated tribes.

Members of Brazil’s conservative-dominated lower house overwhelmingly endorsed bill number 490 on Tuesday night, by 283 votes to 155.

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House begins vote on debt ceiling bill amid resistance – live

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Moderate Republicans have touted the historic cuts while Democrats present the deal as a crucial compromise

Mike Pence is expected to launch his 2024 presidential bid within the next two weeks, The Messenger reports.

In a screenshot of an email sent by former Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake to delegates of the Georgia Republican Party, Lake wrote:

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