Ukrainian adviser says preliminary operations for major offensive underway; explosions shake Kyiv; Russian threat to Nato countries could get worse if Putin is ousted, says RAF chief
Continue reading...Category Archives: World News
‘I’m insanely thankful to the president’: how a Belarus dissident became an apologist for the regime
Raman Pratasevich was dragged off a plane and imprisoned two years ago. Now he praises the regime he used to denounce
Two years ago, Raman Pratasevich, a young Belarusian dissident blogger, was white-knuckled, begging a Ryanair flight crew not to make an emergency landing at Minsk airport.
He said: “Don’t do this, they will kill me, I am a refugee,” according to a fellow passenger. The plane, escorted by a Belarusian Mig-29 fighter jet sent to force it down, landed anyway. Pratasevich was promptly arrested.
Continue reading...Hong Kong’s prominent pro-democracy Civic party votes to disband
Group was among the last opposition parties, as political dissent has been banned since 2020’s security law
The Civic party, one of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy groups, has voted to disband because of a leadership vacuum, after its members were squeezed out of local councils and charged under Beijing’s national security law.
Nicknamed “the barristers’ party”, it was founded in 2006 by professional elites – mostly from the legal sector – who wanted to promote democratisation and civil society in Hong Kong.
Continue reading...‘The intensity is increasing’: Ukraine says first steps in counteroffensive have begun
Presidential adviser says supply lines and depots already being destroyed as preliminary operations get under way
• Russia-Ukraine war – latest updates
Preliminary operations have already begun to pave the way for a counteroffensive against Russian occupying forces, a Ukrainian presidential adviser has said.
“It’s a complicated process, which is not a matter of one day or a certain date or a certain hour,” Mykhailo Podolyak said in an interview with the Guardian. “It’s an ongoing process of de-occupation, and certain processes are already happening, like destroying supply lines or blowing up depots behind the lines.
Continue reading...Indian official suspended after draining reservoir to retrieve phone
More than 2m litres of water pumped from dam on orders of food inspector who said device held sensitive government data
A government official in central India has been suspended after he ordered a reservoir to be drained to retrieve his dropped phone.
Millions of litres of water were pumped over three days from the Kherkatta dam in the state of Chhattisgarh after Rajesh Vishwas, a food inspector, said his Samsung mobile held sensitive government data.
Continue reading...Rows over Eta and racism loom large as Spain holds local elections
Votes will allow the parties to hone their strategies before December’s general election
Spain heads to the polls on Sunday to elect 12 regional governments and 8,000 municipal councils in votes that will allow the governing Socialists and the opposition conservatives to gauge their strengths and hone their strategies before December’s general election.
Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the rightwing, populist president of the Madrid region, will be aiming to secure an absolute majority for the People’s party (PP), while Barcelona’s leftwing mayor, Ada Colau, will be hoping to see off challenges from the regional branch of the Socialist party and a centre-right Catalan pro-independence party.
Continue reading...Man who opened plane door over South Korea says he wanted out ‘quickly’
Asiana Airlines flight was about 200 metres above the ground when the passenger pulled emergency exit
A man who opened an emergency exit on a flight mid-air felt “suffocated” and wanted to get off quickly, South Korean police said.
The Asiana Airlines plane was carrying nearly 200 passengers as it approached the runway on Friday at Daegu international airport, about 150 miles south-east of Seoul, on a domestic flight.
Continue reading...Defeat would leave Russia brutal and vindictive even if Putin ‘disappeared’, says RAF chief – as it happened
Air Chief Marshall Sir Mike Wigston says Russian threat to UK could get worse if Putin was ousted. This blog is now closed
- ‘The intensity is increasing’: Ukraine says first steps in counteroffensive have begun
- Day 458 of Russia’s war against Ukraine
Russian forces have temporarily eased their attacks on the besieged eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut to regroup and strengthen their capabilities, a senior Kyiv official said on Saturday.
Russia’s Wagner private army began handing over its positions to regular Russian troops this week after declaring full control of Bakhmut after the longest and bloodiest battle of the war, Reuters reported.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 458 of the invasion
Toll from Russian missile attack on Dnipro rises to two; Medvedev says conflict could last decades; Blinken to visit Finland, Sweden and Norway
The death toll from a Russian missile attack on an outpatient clinic in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro has risen to two, with 30 people wounded, according to media reports. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said: “Russian terrorists once again confirm their status of fighters against everything humane and honest.”
A deal allowing the safe export of grain and fertiliser from Ukrainian Black Sea ports has not yet resumed full operations, the UN said on Friday, having come to a halt before Russia’s decision last week to extend it.
Russia’s deputy security council chair, Dmitry Medvedev, has said the conflict in Ukraine could last for decades and that negotiations with Ukraine were impossible as long as Volodymyr Zelenskiy was in power.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, plans to visit Finland, Sweden and Norway from this Monday to deepen cooperation on top national security and economic issues, the US state department has said. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Finland has joined Nato, with Sweden’s bid to join awaiting ratification from Hungary and Turkey.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has told China’s special envoy Li Hui there are “serious obstacles” to resuming peace talks, blaming Ukraine and western countries.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has said in a phone call with his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, that Russia is open to dialogue over Ukraine. Lula tweeted that he had reiterated Brazil’s willingness to talk to both sides of the war in Ukraine but declined Putin’s invitation to visit.
The former UK prime minister Boris Johnson and former US president Donald Trump discussed Ukraine and “the vital importance of Ukrainian victory” on Thursday, a spokesperson for Johnson said.
Russia has blamed Kyiv for dozens of strikes on its southern Belgorod region. Its governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said the Ukrainian military was responsible for artillery, mortar and drone attacks across the region over 24 hours but reported no casualties. In a rare attack on the southern Russian city of Krasnodar, east of Crimea, two drones damaged buildings in the city centre, officials said. In the neighbouring Rostov region, the governor said a Ukrainian missile had been shot down near Morozovsk, where there is a Russian airbase.
Canada has said it backs Ukraine’s application to join the comprehensive and progressive agreement for trans-Pacific partnership (CPTPP). Canada’s trade minister, Mary Ng, tweeted: “Following the UK’s accession, as more economies express interest in joining, Canada welcomes Ukraine’s application to join CPTPP.”
The Russian arms company Kalashnikov, maker of the world’s most widely used assault rifle, is launching a division for the production of kamikaze drones – a key weapon used in the Ukraine war
Canada will donate 43 AIM-9 missiles to Ukraine to help the country “secure its skies”, the national defence has said. “Canada’s support for Ukraine is unwavering,” said Canada’s defence minister, Anita Anand.
Moscow’s city court will hold a preliminary hearing next Wednesday in a new criminal case against the jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on charges including incitement to extremism.
Ukraine claims to have shot down 10 missiles and 25 drones launched by Russia in overnight attacks on the capital of Kyiv, the city of Dnipro and eastern regions. Several drones and missiles hit targets in the Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions, officials said on Friday. There was no immediate word of any deaths.
The city of Donetsk has come under fire from Ukrainian forces, the Russian-imposed leader of the occupied Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, has said. As a result, he said, a young woman died and another was injured.
Japan will place additional sanctions on Russia after the Group of Seven (G7) summit the country hosted last week agreed to step up measures to punish Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the chief cabinet secretary, Hirokazu Matsuno, has said.
Continue reading...Report: ‘massive’ Tesla leak reveals data breaches, thousands of safety complaints
Whistleblower files reveal customer and employee information plus complaints about driver assistance system
Tesla has failed to adequately protect data from customers, employees and business partners and has received thousands of customer complaints regarding the carmaker’s driver assistance system, Germany’s Handelsblatt has reported, citing 100 gigabytes of confidential data leaked by a whistleblower.
The Handelsblatt report said customer data could be found “in abundance” in a data set labelled “Tesla Files”.
Continue reading...Judge pauses South Carolina abortion ban; emerging debt ceiling agreement ‘has fewer cuts than expected’ – live
Temporary block on restrictions until state supreme court can review; Joe Biden and Kevin McCarthy reportedly closing in on a deal
A judge has blocked a South Carolina law enacted this week that bans most abortions past the six-week mark, a point at which most women are not yet aware they are pregnant, the Associated Press reports.
The ruling by judge Clifton Newman is the latest complication conservative state lawmakers have faced as they move to cut off abortion access following the supreme court’s decision last year overturning Roe v Wade and allowing states to restrict the procedure entirely. Newman ordered the law put on hold until the state supreme court can review it, in a ruling that came 24 hours after the law was signed by governor Henry McMaster, the AP reports.
Continue reading...Ex-fraternity members in Belgium found guilty over death of student
Sanda Dia died in hospital in December 2018 after enduring a degrading two-day initiation ritual
Eighteen former members of an elite university fraternity have been found guilty for their role in the death of a student during a brutal and degrading initiation ritual in 2018.
Sanda Dia was 20 when he died in hospital in December 2018 after he and two other first-year students endured two days of vicious hazing to enter the student fraternity, Reuzegom.
Continue reading...Russian attack on outpatient clinic in Dnipro kills two people
Volodymyr Zelenskiy describes missile strike as a crime against humanity after 30 people are injured
A Russian missile strike on an outpatient clinic in the city of Dnipro has killed two people and injured 30, in what President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described as a crime against humanity.
In the latest wave of aerial attacks on Ukraine, a salvo of air-launched missiles aimed at Kyiv were launched by Russian aircraft over the Caspian Sea early on Friday morning but they were all intercepted, according to the capital’s military administration, in what they said was the 13th attack on the city this month.
Continue reading...Belgium aid worker freed in prisoner swap with Iranian diplomat jailed for bomb plot
Deal to release Olivier Vandecasteele in exchange for Assadollah Assadi raises concerns Tehran’s hostage diplomacy has been rewarded
A Belgian aid worker jailed in Tehran has been released in a prisoner swap with an Iranian diplomat who had been sentenced to 20 years in jail for his role in a plan to bomb an Iranian opposition rally in Paris in 2018.
Assadollah Assadi had served just over two years of his 20-year sentence, and his release will raise questions about whether Iranian hostage diplomacy – the practice of seizing dual nationals as bargaining chips – has been rewarded by the Belgian authorities. The final stages of the deal were negotiated by Oman, but Belgium had been negotiating with Iran over the fate of the diplomat for much longer.
Continue reading...Berlin police investigate Roger Waters over Nazi-style uniform at concert
Pink Floyd singer wore costume during performance in which he imagines himself as fictional fascist dictator
Police in Germany have launched a criminal investigation into the Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters over a Nazi-style uniform he wore at a recent concert in Berlin.
“An investigation has been opened over the costume displayed at the concerts on 17 and 18 May,” Berlin police spokesperson Martin Halweg told the Guardian.
Continue reading...Supporters of jailed Iranian journalists call for trials to be held in public
Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi reported on death of Mahsa Amini and face charges of conspiring with foreign powers
Supporters of the two award-winning Iranian female journalists who were among the first to report on the death of Mahsa Amini, the young Kurdish woman who died last year in police custody, have demanded that their trials due to start next week are held in public.
Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi, who both have a prestigious record of on-the-ground reporting on social affairs in Iran, have been kept in jail since first being arrested eight months ago and are accused of conspiring with hostile foreign powers, a charge that potentially carries the death penalty.
Continue reading...British man, 85, ‘shot and wife starved to death’ after being left in Sudan
Family say couple were not offered support to evacuate despite living near British embassy in Khartoum
An 85-year-old British citizen was shot by snipers and his wife died of starvation after they were left behind in Sudan, their family has said.
Abdalla Sholgami, who owns a hotel in London, lived with his 80-year-old wife, Alaweya Rishwan, who is disabled, close to the UK’s diplomatic base in Khartoum, the BBC said.
Continue reading...Vietnamese cities cut public lighting to save energy amid heatwave
Measures come after warning of electricity shortages due to high demand and decreased hydropower production
Cities in Vietnam are cutting the use of public lighting to save energy as unusually hot temperatures threaten to stretch the country’s power supplies.
A sweltering heatwave has gripped swathes of Asia over recent months, causing school closures and deaths in India, as well as health warnings across many countries in the region.
Continue reading...Peruvian police seize 58kg of cocaine bearing pictures of Nazi flag
Drugs found in shipment said to be destined for Belgium also had the name Hitler printed on them
Peruvian anti-drug police have seized 58 one-kilo packages of cocaine destined for Belgium bearing a picture of a Nazi flag on the outside and the name Hitler printed in low relief.
The discovery occurred in the port of Paita, on Peru’s northern Pacific coast close to its border with Ecuador.
Continue reading...Russian weapons manufacturers hosted at Saudi trade event
Companies with direct links to Russian military set to attend, which is likely to heighten tensions with US
Seven sanctioned Russian companies, including a manufacturer of military helicopters deployed in the war in Ukraine, are visiting Saudi Arabia next week as part of a trade mission to increase business with the Gulf state.
Companies including weapons manufacturers with direct links to the Russian military, state corporations involved in the invasion of Ukraine, and the agency overseeing a Ukrainian nuclear plant in the country seized by the Russian military last year, are set to attend.
Continue reading...