Putin’s spokesperson claims, without providing evidence, that Washington was involved in alleged attempt to kill president
Russia has accused the US of being behind what it says was a drone attack on the Kremlin intended to kill Vladimir Putin.
Speaking to journalists on Thursday, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said Ukraine was merely implementing plans “dictated” by Washington, but he did not provide any evidence to support the allegations.
Continue reading...Camped outside Foreign Office, Beheshti is demanding Iran’s Revolutionary Guards be proscribed
Vahid Beheshti’s hunger strike outside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office took a surreal turn on Wednesday – its 70th day – when he attended a royal coronation tea party at Buckingham Palace, arriving by wheelchair and wearing a suit and red tie.
He has lost more than 17kg (37lb), or a quarter of his body weight, and he told the Guardian that “my body and joints are now racked in intense pain”. As he left his tent, draped in the Iranian flag and surrounded by flowers, he clutched an envelope containing a letter for the king. After carefully smartening himself up, he was wheeled to a taxi by his wife, Mattie Heaven, a Conservative councillor.
Continue reading...Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn accused of killing friends, an ex-partner and police officers known to her
A Thai woman accused of poisoning people with cyanide has been charged with 14 counts of murder, while her ex-husband is facing charges of fraud, police said, in one of the country’s worst suspected serial killing cases.
Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn was arrested last week after suspicions were raised over the death of her friend Siriporn Khanwong. The two had met to release fish at a pier in Ratchaburi on 14 April when Siriporn suddenly collapsed and died at the riverbank.
Continue reading...Baby brought out to media in incubator as Paetongtarn Shinawatra says ‘children are my secret power’ ahead of election
Paetongtarn Shinawatra, a leading candidate in the upcoming Thai election, has said she is keen to resume campaigning days after giving birth.
Speaking at a press conference held at a hospital in Bangkok, Paetongtarn said she remained confident that her Pheu Thai party would win a landslide victory.
Continue reading...Two alleged Hamas operatives and alleged accomplice shot dead in operation in occupied West Bank
Israel said its security forces shot dead three Palestinians blamed for killing a British-Israeli woman and her two daughters last month, in a raid on Thursday in the occupied West Bank.
Two suspects in the killings, members of the militant group Hamas, and a third man accused of helping them were killed in an operation in Nablus by the army, police and the security service Shin Bet, a statement said.
Continue reading...World’s biggest grain trader accused of ‘shoddy due diligence’ on deforestation and alleged rights violations
The world’s largest grain trader, Cargill, is facing a first-ever legal challenge in the United States over its failure to remove deforestation and human rights abuses from its soya supply chain in Brazil.
ClientEarth, an environmental law organisation, filed the formal complaint on Thursday, accusing Cargill of inadequate monitoring and a laggard response to the decline of the Amazon rainforest and other globally important biomes, such as the Cerrado savannah and the Atlantic Forest.
Soya beans bought from third-party traders, which make up 42% of all Brazilian soya Cargill purchases.
Soya beans owned by other companies that passes through Cargill ports.
Indirect land use change.
Soya sourced from the Cerrado savannah.
Soya sourced from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest.
Continue reading...Foreign Office accused of creating ‘confusion’ during evacuation, with some struggling to get visas or prove citizenship
British people trapped in Sudan have described being forced to make impossible choices about whether to fly home without family members the UK government will not allow on flights.
Suleiman, a British national who asked to withhold his family name, said a British official had called him to say he could be evacuated with his two children only if he left his pregnant wife behind. His children are also British nationals, and their mother is a Sudanese citizen.
Continue reading...Lawsuit alleged newspaper sought out niece Mary Trump and persuaded her to join ‘insidious plot’ to obtain Trump’s tax records
A judge in New York has thrown out Donald Trump’s 2021 lawsuit accusing New York Times reporters of an “insidious plot” to obtain his tax records.
The former president has also been asked to pay all attorneys’ fees and legal expenses the Times has incurred. The lawsuit alleged that the newspaper sought out Trump’s niece Mary Trump and persuaded her “to smuggle the records out of her attorney’s office”.
Continue reading...Jurors shown tape of deposition taken before case came to court in which Trump dismissed ‘the most ridiculous, disgusting story’
Donald Trump has described the accusation he raped the advice columnist E Jean Carroll as “ridiculous” in a deposition played to a New York jury on Wednesday.
The former president also said he could not remember when he was married to his various wives, but could find out. Asked if he had affairs while married, Trump said: “I don’t know.”
Continue reading...The prisoners are to be released the most important Buddhist holy day of the year. However, deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains in jail
Myanmar’s ruling military council has said it is releasing more than 2,100 political prisoners as a humanitarian gesture.
Thousands more remain imprisoned on charges generally involving nonviolent protests or criticism of military rule, which began when the army seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.
Continue reading...Brazilian government has accused Alphabet of interference after it placed advertising on its search homepage and YouTube
Brazil’s government is taking a stand against major tech companies over a new internet regulation that is shaping up to be one of the world’s strongest legislations on social media.
Bill 2630, also known as the ‘fake news’ law, puts the onus on the internet companies, search engines and social messaging services to find and report illegal material, instead of leaving it to the courts, charging hefty fines for failures to do so.
Continue reading...Michael Chong accused Trudeau’s government of turning blind eye while Chinese diplomat gathered information in Canada
A Canadian lawmaker has accused government officials of turning a blind eye to Chinese harassment of his family as pressure mounts on Justin Trudeau to launch a public inquiry into Beijing’s attempts to meddle in the country’s domestic politics.
The Globe and Mail reported that China’s intelligence agency had sought information about Michael Chong’s family in Hong Kong “for further potential sanctions” over the Conservative MP’s criticism of Beijing’s human rights abuses. The paper also reported that Zhao Wei, a Chinese diplomat in Toronto, was part of the harassment campaign.
Continue reading...Six trucks of humanitarian supplies looted while airstrikes in Khartoum undermine ceasefire
Aid agencies are pleading with battling factions in Sudan to allow humanitarian assistance to reach the needy, after six trucks of humanitarian supplies were looted and airstrikes in Khartoum undermined a new ceasefire.
Martin Griffiths, the UN’s emergency relief coordinator, said on Wednesday he was seeking assurances that would allow for movement of staff and supplies.
Continue reading...Elk tooth pendant unearthed in Siberia is first prehistoric artefact to be linked to specific person using genetic sleuthing
Scientists have used a new method for extracting ancient DNA to identify the owner of a 20,000-year-old pendant fashioned from an elk’s canine tooth.
The method can isolate DNA that was present in skin cells, sweat or other body fluids and was absorbed by certain types of porous material including bones, teeth and tusks when handled by someone thousands of years ago.
Continue reading...Three members of Huwaitat tribe face execution, reportedly for opposition to Neom project
UN rights experts have denounced the pending execution of three members of a Saudi tribe, reportedly in connection with their opposition to a planned Red Sea megacity.
Three members of the Huwaitat tribe, which inhabits the desert area in north-western Saudi Arabia where the crown prince Mohammed bin Salman’s $500bn (£400bn) futuristic megacity is under construction, face the “imminent risk of execution”, more than a dozen independent experts warned.
Continue reading...Newspaper uses secret room in first-person shooter game Counter-Strike to bypass Russian censorship
A Finnish newspaper is circumventing Russian media restrictions by hiding news reports about the war in Ukraine in an online game popular among Russian gamers.
“While Helsingin Sanomat and other foreign independent media are blocked in Russia, online games have not been banned so far,” said Antero Mukka, the editor-in-chief of Helsingin Sanomat.
Continue reading...Strikes kill total of 16 and come after leak suggested Ukraine air defence missiles would run out this week
Russia has launched a wave of missile and drone attacks on Ukraine, killing 16 as Moscow tested the strength of the country’s air defences in intensified fighting, including eight people after hitting a supermarket in the southern city of Kherson.
The strikes early on Wednesday, the latest in a string of attacks over the last week, come after leaked Pentagon documents suggested Ukraine would run out of missiles for its S-300 primary air defence system on Tuesday unless Kyiv could urgently find replacements.
Continue reading...State-run broadcaster says flood waters still rising in northern and western provinces and warns death toll may rise
At least 115 people have died as floods and mudslides swept through northern and western Rwanda after torrential rains, according to the state-run broadcaster, which warned that the toll could rise.
“The rain that fell last night caused disaster in the northern and western provinces,” the Rwanda Broadcasting Agency (RBA) said on its website on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Kenneth Law, 57, arrested in Ontario following allegations he sold lethal substance to people in dozens of countries
Police in Canada have laid charges against an Ontario man following allegations he sold a lethal substance to people in dozens of countries, including four people who killed themselves in Britain and one in the United States.
Kenneth Law, 57, is due to appear in court on Wednesday after Peel regional police charged him with two counts of counselling or aiding suicide on Tuesday in relation to Canadian adults.
In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 800-273-8255 and online chat is also available. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. A list of prevention resources can be found here.
The Trevor Project’s trained crisis counselors are available 24/7 at 1-866-488-7386, via chat at TheTrevorProject.org/Get-Help, or by texting START to 678678
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.
Continue reading...Tehran seeks to bolster influence over Damascus as Gulf states move to normalise relations with Assad
Ebrahim Raisi has flown to Damascus for the first state visit by an Iranian president to Syria since the civil war broke out in 2011, as Tehran seeks to bolster its political and economic influence over the Assad regime.
Iran has been a long-term supporter of Bashar al-Assad, sending Iranian militia to help defeat Assad’s opponents, and as the normalisation of relations between Syria and Gulf states nears, Iran wants to ensure it reaps the economic benefits of its support. Raisi is also making the visit now to try to build a stronger anti-Israeli alliance in the region.
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