Claudia Iacono, who was married to son of the late boss Moreno Gallo, was shot dead in her car outside the spa she owned
The brazen daylight shooting death of a Montreal mob boss’s daughter-in-law suggests “no one is untouchable”, said an organized crime expert, as the city braces for potential retaliation.
A woman’s body with several gunshot wounds was found in car on Tuesday. Local reports named the victim as Claudia Iacono, 39.
Continue reading...This live blog has now closed, you can read more of our Ukraine war coverage here
The FT today has a piece by Felicia Schwartz in Washington and Henry Foy in Tokyo casting forward to later in the year, and raising the spectre that European allies worry about the longevity of US support for Ukraine. They write:
Washington has been Ukraine’s dominant source of weaponry and US officials say sufficient preapproved funds remain to sustain Kyiv for about five more months, covering a crucial counter-offensive planned for the coming weeks.
But European allies are increasingly uncertain about whether the US will come close to matching its existing $48bn package, adopted in 2022, particularly as it requires a vote in Congress this autumn against the backdrop of more partisan debate on the war.
Continue reading...This week’s floods are latest weather disaster to hit country, as policymakers finally begin to respond to crescendo
This week, parts of northern Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region received half their average annual rainfall in just 36 hours. Rivers burst their banks and thousands of acres of farmland lie submerged. By Thursday evening, an estimated 20,000 people had been left homeless and 13 were confirmed dead.
It is just the latest weather disaster to hit the country. Six months ago, 12 people died on the southern island of Ischia in a landslide triggered by torrential rain. Eleven more were killed last September by flash floods in the central region of Marche.
Continue reading...Fans describe decision to go ahead as ‘outrageous’ and call on US star to reschedule Emilia-Romagna event
Bruce Springsteen has been criticised in Italy for going ahead with a concert in Ferrara on Thursday evening after the northern Emilia-Romagna region was hit by deadly floods.
Fans of “The Boss” urged him on social media to reconsider out of respect for the dead and homeless after torrential rains caused landslides and made rivers break their banks.
Continue reading...Limits on numbers at Paris summit mean some of those ‘most needing to be heard’ will not be in attendance
Scientists and NGOs have accused the UN’s environment programme (Unep) of locking out those “most needing to be heard” from upcoming negotiations in Paris aimed at halting plastic waste.
Last-minute restrictions to the numbers of NGOs attending what the head of Unep described as the “most important multilateral environmental deal” in a decade will exclude people from communities in developing countries harmed by dumping and burning of plastic waste as well as marginalised waste pickers, who are crucial to recycling, from fully participating, they said.
Continue reading...High-resolution satellite imaging of city in eastern Ukraine lay bare its destruction after months of bombardment
High-resolution satellite images published by Maxar provide stark insights into the destruction of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, caused by months of bombardment and fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces.
The images show Bakhmut from above in May 2022 and May 2023.
Continue reading...Older and disabled people trapped in homes as rescuers battle harsh conditions in Emilia-Romagna region
Older and disabled people were trapped in their homes as rescuers worked under pounding rain throughout the night to save people in the most catastrophic flooding to affect Italy in 100 years.
The floods in the northern Emilia-Romagna region have claimed 13 lives as of Thursday evening. An estimated 20,000 have been left homeless in a disaster that caused 23 rivers to burst their banks and 280 landslides, engulfing 41 cities and towns.
Continue reading...World’s fourth biggest carmaker threatens to move production to US unless government matches incentives offered to Volkswagen
Jeep maker Stellantis has threatened to shift a planned battery plant from Canada to the US unless it receives billions more in state subsidies offered to a rival, in the latest manoeuvre by a big manufacturer in the international battle over green incentives.
It comes as the world’s fourth biggest carmaker, which also produces Vauxhall/Opel, Fiat, Citroën, Peugeot, DS, Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Abarth vehicles, leads a campaign in Europe for the UK and EU to renegotiate tariff rules in the Brexit deal.
Continue reading...Since ex-PM was released from custody he has only left his residence once, citing fear of being re-arrested
Imran Khan and the police have been locked in a tense standoff in Lahore, with Pakistan’s former prime minister holed up in his residence claiming he was about to be arrested and officers barricading the surrounding roads and accusing him of harbouring “terrorists”.
Since Khan was released from police custody on Friday, after his arrest in a corruption case was declared illegal, he has repeatedly expressed his fear of being re-arrested and has only left his residence once, to attend court with his wife on Monday.
Continue reading...Western leaders and Gulf states clash over return of Syrian president after years of war against his own people
The Syrian president is to attend his first Arab League summit in 13 years on Friday as the west and Gulf states clash over his rehabilitation after more than a decade of war against his own people.
Bashar al-Assad will take his seat in Jeddah in a move engineered by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that has already led to objections in Washington and London, which say the Syrian leader has shown no contrition for the millions who have been killed and displaced by his forces since pro-democracy protests started in 2011 and no willingness to change his brutal behaviour. The UAE appears to have also deliberately challenged the west by formally inviting Assad to attend the UN Cop28 climate change conference in Dubai in November, which would be his first global summit since the beginning of war.
Continue reading...Murder of Ralikonelo ‘Leqhashasha’ Joki prompts crackdown in southern African nation amid warnings of threat to media freedom
Lesotho has imposed anationwide curfew after the killing of a prominent radio presenter in the capital, Maseru, this week.
Ralikonelo “Leqhashasha” Joki, who worked for Ts’enolo FM radio station, was shot at least 13 times by unknown assailants as he left the studio at 10pm after his Sunday evening show.
Continue reading...PM also says Japanese businesses have invested £18bn in UK as he visits country for G7 summit
Rishi Sunak has arrived in Tokyo to announce a new defence partnership with Japan and support £18bn of private business deals, ahead of the G7 summit aimed at addressing the threats of Russia and China.
Before the gathering of world leaders in Hiroshima on Friday, Sunak is meeting Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, to discuss more defence cooperation in the face of China’s increasing belligerence towards Taiwan.
Continue reading...Republican-led group expected to lobby Ben Wallace at informal lunch meeting during Westminster visit
A Republican-led group of China hawks from the US Congress will visit Westminster on Friday where they are expected to meet the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, for lunch and press for the UK to take a tougher line on Beijing.
The 11-strong delegation is led by the Republican congressman Mike Gallagher, who chairs a high-profile, newly created China committee. Some fear a strident anti-Beijing tone will alienate centrist and left-leaning politicians in the UK.
Continue reading...Indian drug company to make cheaper generic version of CAB-LA, potentially protecting millions of people in Africa from the virus
An affordable version of a groundbreaking HIV-prevention drug will be made in South Africa for the first time, potentially giving millions of people at risk of HIV infection in Africa access to a two-monthly jab that can almost eliminate their chances of contracting the virus.
The Indian drug company Cipla confirmed that a generic version of the prophylaxis, long-acting cabotegravir (CAB-LA), would be manufactured at its plants in Benoni, near Johannesburg, or Durban.
Continue reading...Alexander Rodnyansky and theatre director Ivan Vyrypaev, both vocal critics of Putin and the invasion of Ukraine, have been accused of ‘spreading false information’ about the Russian army
A Moscow court has ordered the arrest of prominent film producer Alexander Rodnyansky and theatre director Ivan Vyrypaev for “spreading false information” about the Russian army.
The initial court hearings against Rodnyansky and Vyrypaev were held on 27 April, but not reported by the court until Wednesday.
Continue reading...Li Hui, the highest-ranking Chinese diplomat to visit Ukraine since the Russian invasion, is on a European tour to promote Beijing’s peace plan
Ukraine’s foreign minister has met China’s special envoy to Kyiv and insisted that the war-torn country would not accept a peace plan that relied on giving up territory after Russia’s invasion.
In the Ukrainian capital, China’s envoy Li Hui is seeking to promote Beijing-led negotiations to resolve the conflict. He is the most senior Chinese diplomat to visit Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022.
Continue reading...Report says giving semaglutide once a week gave ‘historically unprecedented’ results
Nearly half of children who were assigned the “skinny jab” lost enough weight to no longer be classed as clinically obese, according to research.
The study, led by Dr Aaron Kelly, the co-director of the Center for Pediatric Obesity Medicine at the University of Minnesota, looked at 201 adolescents who were classed as clinically obese.
Continue reading...PM expected to unveil Hiroshima accord at meeting with Japan’s Fumio Kishida amid fears of China’s rising militarisation
Rishi Sunak will seek to build a stronger defence with Japan amid fears of China’s rising militarisation as he travels to Tokyo and Hiroshima for the G7 summit.
The prime minister will be accompanied by his wife, Akshata Murty, on their first official visit since he entered No 10 for the meeting of leaders from the US, France, Germany, Canada, Japan, Italy and the EU.
Continue reading...Climate crisis a key factor in flash flooding of Beledweyne as rains end drought and Shabelle River breaks its banks
Floods have caused almost a quarter of a million people to flee their homes after the Shabelle River in central Somalia broke its banks and submerged the town of Beledweyne, even as the country faces its most severe drought in four decades, according to the government.
Aid agencies and scientists have warned that the climate crisis is among the most significant factors accelerating humanitarian emergencies, while those affected are some of the least responsible for CO2 emissions.
Continue reading...Court established 32-year-old man had joined forces of Moscow-led separatists in Donbas
A Kyrgyz court has handed a 10-year sentence to a man who fought for Russia in Ukraine, at a time when Moscow is trying to boost recruitment of people from ex-Soviet central Asian countries.
Dozens of nationals of these countries have been killed in Ukraine in recent months, local media say, most of them after joining the ranks of the Russian army or the private military group Wagner.
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