Category Archives: World News

At least 108 police injured and 291 held in May Day protests in cities across France

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Teargas fired amid clashes as unions turn traditional marches into anti-government protest against pension reform

French police fired teargas and clashed with demonstrators in Paris and other cities on Monday after trade unions transformed their traditional Labour Day marches into anti-government demonstrations against the rise in the retirement age.

At least 108 police were wounded and 291 people detained across France as violence erupted in several cities on the sidelines of the main union-led marches, the interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, said. In Paris, 25 police were injured and 111 people were detained. One police officer suffered serious burns to his hands and face after being hit by a petrol bomb, he said.

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Liverpool predicted to get £40m Eurovision boost in visitor spending

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Extra 100,000 visitors expected amid £1bn lift for UK hospitality in May helped by coronation, bank holidays and Eurovision

Liverpool is likely to receive a £40m boost as tens of thousands of Eurovision fans descend on the city to celebrate the annual song contest next week.

Liverpool, which saw off Glasgow to be chosen as host after last year’s winners, Ukraine, were unable to hold the event amid Russia’s invasion, is expecting an influx of visitors.

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Brazil’s battle to reclaim Yanomami lands from illegal miners turns deadly

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Fatalities underline dangers in government efforts to evict thousands of miners who have devastated Indigenous territory

Brazil’s battle to reclaim its largest Indigenous territory from tens of thousands of illegal miners has taken a deadly turn after at least five people were reportedly killed during 36 hours of violence in the Amazon’s sprawling Yanomami territory.

The bloodshed began on Saturday afternoon when masked illegal miners allegedly launched an attack on a Yanomami village called Uxiu.

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Medics in Sudan warn of crisis as health system near collapse

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Critical shortages of basic goods including water, and bodies piling in streets creating ‘environmental catastrophe’

Sudanese medics have described seeing piles of bodies in the streets of the capital, Khartoum, people drinking polluted water, and doctors working under bombardments as the battle between the country’s two warring generals continues despite a threadbare ceasefire.

Intense explosions and shelling were audible in Omdurman, Khartoum’s twin city across the Nile, on Monday and there were reports of further explosions and clashes in the Bahri and Kafouri districts of Khartoum North. In the south of Khartoum, residents reported that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fired anti-aircraft missiles in response to bombardments by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).

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Chilly willy: photo of phallic iceberg off Canadian coast prompts merriment

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Photographer Ken Pretty from the town of Dildo spotted an unusual ice formation at sea – an avalanche of risque puns ensued

It was a calm spring day when Canadian photographer Ken Pretty spotted an interestingly shaped 30ft iceberg off Newfoundland’s east coast.

As he flew his drone overhead, Pretty, who hails from the town of Dildo, realized the hulk of ice bore a distinct resemblance to a characteristic part of the male human anatomy.

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May Day deal ends strike for 120,000 Canadian federal workers

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Country’s largest public sector strike in history ends with most set to return but over 35,000 revenue agency workers still negotiating

Canada’s government struck an agreement with 120,000 federal workers on Monday, effectively ending the country’s largest public sector strike in history, which had crippled services from passport renewals to immigration.

While most strikers are set to return to work after almost two weeks of deadlock, more than 35,000 revenue agency workers who also went on strike on 19 April are still negotiating, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) union said.

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US and Philippine presidents meet amid China’s ‘aggressive tactics’

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Ferdinand Marcos Jr and Joe Biden are expected to discuss the security situation in the South China Sea

The president of the Philippines is meeting his US counterpart in Washington as the two countries draw closer together against what they say is growing aggression and harassment by China.

Ferdinand Marcos Jr and Joe Biden will meet in the Oval Office on Monday during the Philippine president’s four-day US tour. They are expected to discuss the security situation, with the US hoping to strengthen longstanding ties between the two nations as it battles Beijing for influence in Asia.

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Māori punk band’s tour of Wales puts spotlight on indigenous languages

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New Zealand group Half/Time to perform alongside artists who sing in Cymraeg as part of musical cultural exchange

They will bring heavy riffs, pounding drums and lyrics delivered with a growl – but a punk band from New Zealand arriving in Wales this week is also hoping to spark important conversations about what it means to create pop songs in “minority” languages.

The band Half/Time, which perform in Māori as well as English, is to appear alongside artists and groups who sing in Cymraeg as part of a cultural exchange organised by the universities of Cardiff and Waikato in the south Island of New Zealand.

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Bangladesh media in fear after PM’s ‘people’s enemy’ attack

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Even stories on cost of living leave journalists facing assault, threats and arrest under Digital Security Act

Four weeks ago, a reporter in Bangladesh was hauled from his office, badly beaten – and then thrown from the roof of his building, leaving him with fractures in his back, three broken ribs and a machete wound on his head.

The journalist, Ayub Meahzi, believes he was targeted for reporting on alleged local government ties to a criminal group.

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UK forces to oversee another evacuation flight from Sudan

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Unclear whether all British evacuees will be able to reach Port Sudan, more than 500 miles from Khartoum

British forces will oversee an additional evacuation flight out of Sudan as fighting continues to rage in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.

British passport holders, as well as doctors with leave to remain in the UK and their dependents, were told to arrive at Port Sudan international airport on the Red Sea coast before midday local time (11am BST).

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JP Morgan to snap up most of failed US bank First Republic

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US banking titan to buy ‘all deposits and substantially all assets’ in deal brokered by regulators to contain banking failures

JP Morgan is to acquire most of the failed California bank First Republic, in a takeover brokered by regulators as the US races to contain a series of banking failures that has echoes of the 2008 global financial crisis.

After weekend talks to prevent a further escalation of the US banking crisis, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) confirmed that First Republic had collapsed and would be taken over by JP Morgan. The regulator is providing $50bn (£39.9bn) of financing as part of the deal.

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Uzbekistan president wins referendum on extending powers

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Shavkat Mirziyoyev will be able to remain in power until 2040 after Uzbeks backed changes in tightly controlled poll

Voters in Uzbekistan have overwhelmingly approved constitutional changes that will allow the president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, to remain in power until 2040.

Mirziyoyev, 65, became president in 2016 after the death of dictator Islam Karimov.

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Hollywood writers and studios hold talks as strike deadline looms

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Writers Guild of America could call stoppage as early as Tuesday if pay agreement is not reached

Negotiators for Hollywood writers and film and television studios are engaged in 11th-hour talks in an effort to avert a strike that would disrupt TV production across an industry grappling with seismic changes.

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) could call a work stoppage as early as Tuesday if it cannot reach a deal with companies such as Walt Disney and Netflix. A strike would be the first by the WGA in 15 years.

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Indigenous community in Colombia gets its day in court over ‘ancestral land’

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The U’wa people’s case against the Colombian government could help protect the environment across Latin America

After centuries fighting to protect their territory – and 26 years waiting to testify in an international legal dispute – an Andean Indigenous community has finally made its formal declarations against the Colombian state.

The U’wa Indigenous community told the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) that Colombia has repeatedly failed to recognise their ancestral lands and has threatened the group’s existence by polluting their territory with oil.

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Ukraine ammunition depot reportedly hit in wave of Russian missile attacks

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Ukraine intercepts 15 out of 18 missiles as Moscow launches strikes apparently designed to hamper Kyiv’s plans for a counteroffensive

Russian missiles have struck warehouses reportedly storing ammunition at a railway depot in the Ukrainian city of Pavlohrad, in an apparent effort to slow Kyiv’s preparations for its much anticipated counteroffensive expected to start shortly.

Video posted on social media showed secondary detonations amid a significant blaze at the site of the strike, which came amid overnight missile launches against a number of Ukrainian cities by Russian strategic bombers.

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Paraguay’s Taiwan ties safe as ruling party retains presidency

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Santiago Peña of the Colorado party is elected, defeating Efraín Alegre who wanted to switch diplomatic recognition to China

Paraguay’s ruling party candidate, Santiago Peña, 44, has scored a big win in the presidential election, tightening the conservative Colorado party’s political grip and defusing fears that diplomatic ties with Taiwan might have been cut.

Peña, who has pledged to maintain Paraguay’s longstanding Taiwan relations, had 42.7% of the vote with more than 99% of ballots counted – a more than 15-point lead over centre-left rival Efraín Alegre, who has argued for switching allegiance to China.

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‘Vanishing like glaciers’: plunging birthrate threatens Italian schools

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With one of the lowest fertility rates in the EU and fewer women to have children, classrooms are emptying and the future of communities is in doubt

For centuries, the infant school in Champorcher, in the Aosta Valley, has been an integral component of the community, with the sound of children’s voices in the playground providing a beacon of hope for the mountain village’s survival.

In September last year, however, the school fell eerily silent. It was forced to close after just two pupils enrolled.

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Heavy shelling reported in Kharkiv region after overnight attacks in Kherson – as it happened

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Two injured by rocket attacks in Kherson after heavy shelling and homes hit by anti-aircraft missiles in Kharkiv

Shelling through the night in the city of Kherson has injured two people, deputy head of Kherson Oblast Council Yuriy Sobolevsky said this morning.

More than 27 attacks were reported on residential areas of the wider Kherson region on Saturday, according to its authorities, with some 135 shells fired.

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Time running out for US financial firms to bid for ailing bank First Republic

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Deadline of Sunday set for companies such as JPMorgan Chase to table offer for California bank whose shares have plummeted

US regulators are racing to secure the sale of California bank First Republic, which is on course to become the third American lender to fail this year, a sequence of collapses that has drawn uncomfortable parallels with the 2008 global financial crisis.

Half a dozen US banks are in the running to take over stricken First Republic, according to reports over the weekend, with leading bidders including JPMorgan Chase, Citizens Financial and PNC Financial Services.

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