Category Archives: World News

US China hawks to press UK minister for tougher line on Beijing

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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.

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Injectable HIV-prevention drug to be made in South Africa for the first time

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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.

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Russia orders arrest of Oscar-nominated film producer for criticism of war

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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.

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Ukraine tells China envoy it will not give up territory to Russia as price of peace

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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.

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Half of children given ‘skinny jab’ no longer clinically obese, study finds

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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.

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Rishi Sunak seeks to build stronger defence with Japan at Tokyo G7

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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.

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‘The city was underwater’: quarter of a million Somalis flee flooded homes

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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.

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Kyrgyz mercenary who fought for Russia in Ukraine jailed

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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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Spanish climber, 84, injured in bid to be oldest to scale world’s 14 highest peaks

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Carlos Soria forced to abandon ascent of Nepal’s Dhaulagiri, one of two 8,000-metre summits he is still to conquer

An 84-year-old Spanish mountaineer has been forced to abandon his 15th attempt to reach the summit of Nepal’s Dhaulagiri – one of the two “8,000ers” he had left to climb to claim the title of the oldest climber to conquer the world’s 14 highest mountains.

A Sherpa fell on Carlos Soria, injuring his leg, a message posted on his behalf on his Twitter and Facebook accounts said.

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European leaders urged to help Tunisians resist assault on democracy

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International academics join effort to highlight crackdown on freedom after jailing of opposition leader, Rached Ghannouchi

European powers must stand by pro-democracy Tunisians resisting a fierce onslaught designed to take the country back to the darkest days of dictatorship, a letter from more than 70 academics has urged.

The letter, designed to shine a light on the Tunisian crackdown, was in part collated by Soumaya Ghannoushi, whose father, the Tunisian opposition leader, Rached Ghannouchi, was sentenced to a year in jail on Monday.

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China fines comedy firm £1.68m over standup’s stray dog joke

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Comedian apologises after some critics said gag about dogs chasing a squirrel drew parallels with country’s army

One of China’s leading comedy show companies has been fined £1.68m after a joke by one of its comedians at a standup show in Beijing about stray dogs went viral over the weekend.

In his routine, Li Haoshi, known by the stage name House, told of watching two stray dogs he had adopted chase a squirrel. The phrase that came to mind, he said, was: “Fight well, win the battle” – a punchline based on an eight-character slogan that is associated with China’s People’s Liberation Army.

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Beijing tells foreign embassies to remove ‘politicised propaganda’

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Request is apparently a reference to Ukrainian flags missions have put on display since Russia’s invasion

Foreign embassies in Beijing have been asked to remove “politicised propaganda” from their buildings, apparently a reference to the Ukrainian flags that many missions have displayed on their exterior since the Russian invasion.

The notice from China’s foreign ministry, sent earlier this month, said: “Do not use the building facilities’ exterior walls to display politicised propaganda to avoid inciting disputes between countries,” according to Reuters.

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Ecuador’s embattled president dissolves congress in bid to avoid impeachment

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Guillermo Lasso announces move a day after the start of an impeachment trial that seems likely to lead to his removal

Ecuador’s embattled president, Guillermo Lasso, has dissolved congress in an attempt to escape impeachment – a radical maneuver that comes amid a backdrop of wider democratic backsliding and political turbulence across Latin America.

Lasso announced the dramatic move on Wednesday morning, a day after the start of an impeachment trial that seemed likely to lead to his removal from power in the coming days.

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Climate breakdown made southern Asia heatwave at least 2C hotter, study finds

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Temperatures up to 45C recorded in April in parts of India, Bangladesh, Thailand and Laos

A searing heatwave in parts of southern Asia in April was made at least 30 times more likely by climate breakdown, according to a study by international scientists.

Unusually high temperatures of up to 45C (113F) were recorded last month in monitoring stations in parts of India, Bangladesh, Thailand and Laos.

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Former world leaders urge G7 to get nuclear arms control back on track

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Exclusive: Letter calls on US and Russia to isolate weapons agreements from other disputes

A global array of former world leaders and defence ministers, nuclear experts and diplomats have called on the leaders of G7 countries at their meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, not to let progress on nuclear arms control continue to be the victim of growing geopolitical conflict, including the conflict between the west and Russia over Ukraine.

The Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, who is from Hiroshima, chose the G7 venue to lend seriousness to his personal call to world leaders to at least agree a roadmap to resume nuclear arms control talks.

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Could Guyana’s Exxon ruling scare big oil off risky exploration?

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Ruling requiring ‘unlimited guarantee’ from oil firms to cover costs of spills could change offshore drilling throughout region

A ruling from Guyana’s high court could change the face of offshore oil drilling throughout the Caribbean, according to financial and legal analysts.

The ruling ordered the country’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to require an independent liability insurance policy from Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) and an “unlimited guarantee” from its parent company, ExxonMobil, in the case of any damage caused by the company’s oil and gas development in the country.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Kyiv tells China it will not accept any peace plan involving loss of land to Russia – as it happened

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This live blog has now closed, you can read more of our Ukraine war coverage here

Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has said the war in Ukraine may end due to the US abandoning its allies, as he said it had done before in Afghanistan.

Tass reports that in an interview with the Tsargrad TV channel, the head of Russian diplomacy recalled the US “abandoned the Afghan leadership on which they had relied during the 20-year US occupation of that country.”

At night, Russian troops launched a rocket attack on Mykolaiv: one person was injured. A shopping centre, a car showroom and an industrial facility were partially destroyed; residential buildings and shops were damaged.

In the morning, the Russian Federation shelled a hospital in Beryslav, Kherson region. There is damage, no one was hurt. Yesterday, the Russian army fired more than 400 projectiles in the Kherson region – seven people were injured.

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Florida: blow to DeSantis as Democrat wins Jacksonville mayor’s race

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Donna Deegan becomes city’s first female mayor by beating Daniel Davis, Republican backed by hard-right governor

In a major electoral upset on Tuesday, voters in Jacksonville elected their first female mayor, defeating a Republican backed by business leaders and endorsed by Ron DeSantis, the state governor and prospective presidential candidate.

Jacksonville is the most populous Florida city, with about 950,000 residents. Donna Deegan, a Democrat, earned 52% of the vote, beating Daniel Davis. About 217,000 people voted, a turnout of 33%.

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Nepali sherpa scales summit of Mount Everest for record 27th time

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‘Strong climber’ Kami Rita Sherpa beats own record for number of ascents on world’s highest mountain

A Nepali sherpa has scaled Mount Everest for a record 27th time, beating his own record, a government official and his hiking company said.

Kami Rita Sherpa, 53, scaled the 8,849-metre (29,032ft) mountain early on Wednesday morning along the traditional south-east ridge route, guiding a foreign climber.

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Intruder at home of Biden adviser Jake Sullivan bypassed Secret Service agents

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National security adviser confronted apparently intoxicated man at 3am then told his protectors what happened, report says

The US Secret Service was investigating after an apparently intoxicated and confused man walked past agents and into the Washington home of Joe Biden’s national security adviser.

Jake Sullivan confronted the man and told him to leave, the Washington Post first reported, of an incident that happened at about 3am one night in late April. There were no signs of forced entry.

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