Category Archives: World News

Russia-Ukraine war live: morning explosions in Kyiv after Ukraine claims to have downed 37 missiles overnight

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Capital’s mayor warns residents to take shelter after explosions reported in central area

Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, offers this roundup of overnight events in the skies over Ukraine:

At night, Russia launched up to 40 cruise missiles and about 35 drones over Ukraine: air defence managed to shoot down 37 missiles and 29 “Shahed” drones. Debris fell in several districts of Kyiv and the region. There are no dead or injured.

Russia attacked targets in the Khmelnytskyi region: one of them is a military one. Five aircraft were disabled, and fires broke out in fuel and lubricant warehouses. Fires are being extinguished and the runway is being restored.

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Balearic authorities call meeting with Ryanair in pastry carry-on

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Airline said to have demanded two passengers pay €45 each to take ensaïmada onboard with hand luggage

The government of the Balearic Islands has called an urgent meeting with Ryanair and the local pastry-makers’ association after the airline tried to charge passengers to bring cakes onboard, claiming it exceeded their cabin baggage limit.

The row erupted after two passengers at Palma de Mallorca airport tried to each carry an ensaïmada, a traditional Mallorcan pastry, along with their hand baggage. The airline demanded an additional €45 (£39) each to bring the pastries onboard, at which point the passengers abandoned them rather than paying.

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Nova Scotia officials declare emergency over rare and ‘very aggressive’ wildfires

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Thousands forced from their homes after spring fires destroy buildings in Canadian province

Rare and “very aggressive” spring wildfires in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia have destroyed many buildings and forced thousands from their homes and prompting officials to declare a local state of emergency.

Over the weekend, residents of the Maritime province posted video of thick smoke encroaching over Halifax as a nearby blaze rapidly swept through a suburb.

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Fighting continues in Sudan as week of ceasefire nears its end

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Violence in recent days has stopped aid getting to civilians, as fears grow war will escalate

Gunshots and artillery fire have rocked the Sudanese capital on the last day of a frequently breached ceasefire, as calls to arms stoked fears the six-week war would intensify.

People said they could hear street battles in northern Khartoum, as well as artillery fire in the south of the city of more than 5 million people, which has been turned into a war zone.

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Russia launch morning missile strikes on Kyiv after overnight barrage

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Residents run for shelter during attack that appears to have been part of effort to exhaust air defences

Russian forces have launched an intense and unusual daytime missile barrage at Kyiv, forcing residents to flee to bomb shelters, in what appears to be an effort to exhaust Ukraine’s air defences.

The Ukrainian military said it had intercepted all 11 of the ballistic and cruise missiles fired at the city in the attack that began at 11am. One person was reported to have been injured. Residents who had become accustomed to a string of night-time attacks ran to Kyiv’s metro stations and other shelters after a succession of loud bangs as incoming missiles were intercepted and bursts of smoke from air defences dotted the clear morning sky.

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Jubilant Latvians given national holiday after shock ice hockey win over USA

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  • Team won bronze at ice hockey world championship
  • Members of parliament pass bill to commemorate win

Latvians woke up to go to work Monday morning, only to find they didn’t have to. Their parliament had met at midnight to declare a holiday after the national ice hockey team chalked up its best result at the world championship.

Latvia, where hockey is hugely popular, co-hosted the men’s championship with Finland, and the country’s 4-3 overtime victory over the United States for the bronze medal on Sunday was greeted with jubilation.

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Ugandan president signs anti-LGBTQ+ law with death penalty for same-sex acts

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Global outcry over Museveni’s assent to draconian new anti-gay law, condemned as a ‘permission slip for hate and dehumanisation’


Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, has signed into law the world’s harshest anti-LGBTQ+ bill, which allows the death penalty for homosexual acts. The move immediately drew widespread international outrage as well as condemnation from many Ugandans.

Early on Monday, the speaker of the Ugandan parliament, Anita Annet Among, released a statement on social media confirming Museveni had assented to the law first passed by MPs in March. It imposes the death penalty or life imprisonment for certain same-sex acts, up to 20 years in prison for “recruitment, promotion and funding” of same-sex “activities”, and anyone convicted of “attempted aggravated homosexuality” faces a 14-year sentence.

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Drax-owned wood pellet plant in US broke air pollution rules again

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Amite BioEnergy, which was fined $2.5m in 2021, notified Mississippi facility had breached emission limits

A US plant that supplies wood pellets to the UK power generator Drax has violated air pollution limits in Mississippi, it has emerged.

The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) has written to Amite BioEnergy notifying the Drax-owned company that it had violated emissions rules.

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Hong Kong court rebuffs effort to dismiss Jimmy Lai national security trial

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Lawyers acting for pro-democracy activist argued that proceedings could be biased due to judge selection

Hong Kong’s high court has rejected an attempt by lawyers acting for the jailed pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai to have his national security trial dismissed.

The court ruled on Monday that the argument the trial may appear to be biased had “no merits”, and gave the proceedings, which are scheduled to start in September, the green light.

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Number of people prosecuted in China’s courts up 12% in five years, report shows

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Experts point to crackdown on national security and legal system that encourages guilty pleas

Chinese courts prosecuted 8.3 million people in the five years to 2022, a 12% increase on the previous period. There was also a nearly 20% increase in the number of protests against court rulings.

The figures released by the supreme people’s procuratorate (SPP) in March give a glimpse of how China’s notoriously opaque justice system has operated in recent years, amid a tightening domestic security environment.

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Spain’s conservative opposition heading for emphatic win in regional polls

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People’s party strengthens hold on Madrid and could take regions of Valencia and Aragón, according to poll

Spain’s opposition conservative People’s party (PP) is heading for an emphatic win in Sunday’s key regional and municipal elections, winning an absolute majority in the city of Madrid and in the surrounding area.

It is poised to wrest the regions of Valencia, Aragón and the Balearic islands from the ruling Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE).

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West caught between fear and hope as Erdoğan extends 20-year rule in Turkey

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Re-elected president could take Nato country further towards Russia, or may instead be more open to alternatives

Western capitals remained silent through Turkey’s presidential campaign – privately hoping Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s erratic 20-year rule would come to a surprise close – but now he has been handed a decisive mandate to serve a third term, the west is caught between fear and hope.

It fears he will exploit the result to take this Nato founder member further from the liberal secular west, but hopes against hope that, not being eligible to run again and thus freed from the need to pander to a nationalist electorate for the rest of his political life, he may at least be open to persuasion and base his foreign policy on something other than self-preservation.

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Guantánamo detainee accuses UK agencies of complicity in his torture

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Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri wants to bring case examining alleged role of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ in his mistreatment by CIA

A Guantánamo Bay prisoner tortured by the CIA has accused British intelligence agencies of complicity in his mistreatment in a new case before one of UK’s most secretive courts.

Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, who is alleged by the US to have plotted al-Qaida’s bombing of an American naval ship, is seeking to persuade the court to consider his complaint against MI5, MI6 and GCHQ.

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Protesters accuse Roger Waters of antisemitism ahead of Frankfurt gig

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Pink Floyd co-founder rejects accusations before his Sunday night concert in former Nazi site

Several Jewish groups, politicians and an alliance of civil society groups gathered for a memorial ceremony and a protest rally against a concert by Roger Waters in Frankfurt on Sunday evening.

They accuse the Pink Floyd co-founder of antisemitism – an allegation he denies.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: ‘We haven’t started yet to act very seriously,’ says Kremlin ambassador – as it happened to UK

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Andrei Kelin tells BBC: ‘It is an idealistic mistake to think that Ukraine will prevail’

The death toll from a Russian missile attack on a clinic in Dnipro has risen from two to four people, according to the region’s governor.

In a post on Telegram, Serhii Lysak said further analysis had confirmed that three missing people had been killed in the attack on Friday.

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Venice police investigate source of bright green liquid in Grand Canal

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Speculation climate protesters could be responsible for phosphorescent patch that appeared by Rialto Bridge

Police in Venice are investigating the source of phosphorescent green liquid that appeared on Sunday in the city’s Grand Canal, amid speculation it was caused by climate protesters.

Gondoliers could be seen punting through the phosphorescent waters while tourists took photographs of the green patch, from the Rialto Bridge up and along part of the canal.

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Heavily pregnant woman who escaped from Sudan gives birth to ‘miracle baby’

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Woman’s husband has been granted asylum in UK and has been trying to get her a visa to join him

A heavily pregnant woman who was shot at, escaped an overturned car and had to walk for hours in the middle of the night to reach a border crossing with her three-year-old daughter has given birth to a miracle baby, her husband has said.

The woman had been trapped in the war-torn Sudanese capital, Khartoum, after fighting broke out last month, while her husband, who works as a carer in Wolverhampton, tried to get her a UK visa.

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South Korean court issues arrest warrant for man who opened plane door mid-air

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Man in his 30s was detained on Friday after opening emergency exit at about 200 metres above ground

A South Korean court has issued an arrest warrant for a passenger who opened an Asiana Airlines plane door minutes before it landed, it has been reported.

The man in his 30s was detained on landing on Friday after opening the door when the Airbus A321-200 was about 200 metres (700ft) above the ground in Daegu, South Korea, causing panic onboard.

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Kyiv: Russian drone strike kills one as Ukraine capital prepares to celebrate founding day

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Officials warned residents to stay in shelters in latest round of Russian strikes on the city

Russia unleashed a major two-wave overnight air attack on Kyiv that killed at least one person, officials said, as the Ukrainian capital prepares to celebrate its birthday on Sunday.

Air defence systems downed at least 20 drones moving towards Kyiv, with falling debris killing a 41-year-old man and injuring a 35-year-old woman in the city, mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

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