Ukraine had said a satellite reentering the atmosphere was the cause of the phenomenon, but the space agency has denied this
A flash in the sky over the Ukrainian capital prompted confusion and alarm as city authorities said it was caused by a Nasa satellite reentering the atmosphere, while the US space agency denied involvement.
A “bright glow” was observed over Kyiv around 10pm local time, the head of Kyiv’s military administration Sergiy Popko wrote on Telegram.
Continue reading...Fighting in Sudan is continuing despite an internationally brokered truce. At the heart of the conflict is a power struggle between two powerful generals in a country permanently in the grip of its military. Nesrine Malik reports
When Omar al-Bashir was forced from Sudan’s presidency in 2019 after 30 years of repression it felt to many like a time for celebration and a fresh start for the country. Toppled by the military, a tyrant accused of genocide and war crimes was finally out of power.
But the vacuum he left behind was quickly filled, not by one man but two. Many feared that Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the de facto leader and army chief, and Lt Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the vice-president who controls the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and is known as Hemedti, would soon clash. That fear became reality last weekend.
Continue reading...Video shows Gonçalves Dias inside presidential palace as supporters of Bolsonaro went on the rampage in January
A key member of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s new administration has been forced to resign after the emergence of security footage showing him inside the presidential palace during the 8 January far-right assault on Brazil’s democratic institutions.
After his election last year, president Lula made the retired army general Gonçalves Dias head of Brazil’s Institutional Security Bureau (GSI), which advises the president on defense and security matters and handles presidential security.
Continue reading...Nine employees stuck for five days say they are ‘terrified’ as they wait to be evacuated while fighting continues in Sudan
Nine employees of the British Council in Khartoum have been stranded in their offices for five days amid heavy gunfire and explosions, as fighting in the streets of the Sudanese capital continues between the army and paramilitary forces.
One of the British Council staff is a British-Ugandan dual citizen; the rest are Sudanese. They include a security guard, an English language teacher, a driver and administrators.
Continue reading...Germany and Japan reportedly planning to evacuate citizens as UN documents describe ‘nightmare scenario’
Thousands of residents have fled Khartoum as fighting continued across the city for a fifth day and many countries began preparations to evacuate their citizens from Sudan.
Attempts to resurrect a US-brokered ceasefire between the army and paramilitary forces that failed to hold on Tuesday did not reassure many inhabitants of the capital, which suffered some of the most intense clashes yet seen as rival factions battled for control of the airport, defence headquarters and other key strategic sites.
Continue reading...Bank warns spinning off more profitable Asia business would be complex and would lower dividends
HSBC’s board has urged shareholders to vote against a proposed break-up of its business at its annual meeting, arguing that a split would result in a “material loss” and lower dividends.
In response to calls for the split from its largest shareholder, the Chinese insurer Ping An, HSBC warned on Wednesday that spinning off its more profitable Asian business from the rest of the bank would also require approval from regulators in approximately 25 jurisdictions, and force it to make changes to customer services.
Continue reading...This live blog has now closed, you can read more of our Ukraine war coverage here
Ukraine’s agriculture minister, Mykola Solsky, confirmed on Wednesday that the transit of Ukrainian grain and food products will resume through Poland after an agreement reached in talks with Warsaw.
But Reuters reports he again raised concerns about the status of an agreement with Moscow on the safe passage of ships carrying grain from Ukrainian Black Sea ports, saying it was impossible to predict how many vessels Moscow would allow through.
Continue reading...Investigators make announcement following deadly shooting at 16th birthday party in small town of Dadeville on Saturday
Two people were arrested and charged with murder in connection with a shooting that killed four people at a Sweet 16 birthday party in Alabama last weekend, investigators announced on Wednesday.
It was the first police news conference since the day after the shooting, which happened on Saturday. The district attorney, Mike Segrest, said the pair would be charged as adults and prosecutors would ask a judge to hold them without bail.
Associated Press contributed reporting
Continue reading...Judge says weak climate plans will increase risk of death for Canada’s young people but do not violate Charter rights
A judge has warned that Ontario’s weak climate plans will “increase the risk of death” for Canada’s young people – but dismissed a lawsuit brought by a group worried that government inaction on global heating threatens their futures.
Justice Marie-Andrée Vermette of Ontario superior court issued a decision on Tuesday that found that while both young people and Indigenous peoples bear the brunt of climate change, government failures to react were not a breach of their rights.
Continue reading...President tours rural France in attempt to calm tensions over his unpopular pensions changes
Emmanuel Macron has said that banging saucepans at him will not move France forward, as about 100 protesters bashing pots were pushed back by police when the French president visited a factory in Alsace in an attempt to contain anger over raising the pension age from 62 to 64.
Members of the CGT and CFDT trade unions had gathered in front of the mayor’s office in the village of Muttersholtz on Wednesday, where Macron began a series of visits to rural France to try to calm tensions over his unpopular pensions changes.
Continue reading...Sudanese campaigners describe their fears amid escalating clashes between forces loyal to the two generals, as well as their anger over warnings ignored
The Sudanese people will continue to resist military forces that usurped the transition to democratic rule, says the protester who has become known as “the Spiderman of Sudan”.
The young teacher, who became known as “Spidey” for the costume he wore to protests against the military coup in 2021, said a friend had already been killed in heavy fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which erupted on Saturday.
Continue reading...Moscow using spy ships disguised as fishing vessels to monitor potential sabotage targets, say broadcasters
A joint investigation by the public broadcasters of several Nordic countries alleges that Russia has established a state-run programme using spy ships disguised as fishing vessels aimed at giving it the capability to attack windfarms and communications cables in the North Sea.
The investigation quotes a Danish counter-intelligence officer who claims the sabotage strategy is designed to be implemented in the event that Russia and the west enter a full-blown conflict.
Continue reading...Frank-Walter Steinmeier becomes his country’s first head of state to speak at Warsaw commemorations
Germany’s president has asked for forgiveness for the crimes his country committed in the second world war, on the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the first German president to speak at the commemorations in Poland’s capital, joined his Polish and Israeli counterparts to mark 80 years since Jewish insurgents’ doomed uprising against Nazi occupiers.
Continue reading...UN population officials say it is not possible to pinpoint a date because of uncertainty about data
India is expected to overtake China as the world’s most populous country with almost 3 million more people by the middle of this year, according to UN figures.
The State of World Population 2023 report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates India’s population will be 1.4286 billion by the end of June, compared with China’s 1.4257 billion.
Continue reading...Director of Changfeng hospital among those detained after deadliest fire in China’s capital since 2002
Chinese authorities have said they have detained a dozen people over a hospital fire in Beijing that left at least 29 dead and forced desperate survivors to jump out of windows to escape.
The fire, which broke out on Tuesday afternoon at the Changfeng hospital in China’s capital, killed mostly patients, and left scores of other people injured.
Continue reading...El Faro moves its headquarters to avoid ‘fabricated accusations’ after 25 years reporting on drug wars, crime and corruption
El Faro has survived many pressures in its 25 years reporting on El Salvador’s bloody drug wars, crime and institutional corruption.
“We’ve been harassed. We’ve received death threats from drug cartels, requiring us to contract armed security guards. And we’ve had the police coming to our houses after we revealed their corruption scandals,” said Óscar Martínez, editor of the online investigative outlet. “Some of our journalists have been exiled, but we have managed to continue reporting from San Salvador.”
Continue reading...Extreme temperatures described as ‘worst April heatwave in Asian history’ as records threatened in India, China, Thailand and Laos
A severe heatwave has swept across much of Asia, causing deaths and school closures in India and record-breaking temperatures in China.
Maximiliano Herrera, a climatologist and weather historian, described the unusually high temperatures as the “worst April heatwave in Asian history”.
Continue reading...Olivier Becht says two countries have moved on since tensions with government of Boris Johnson
France’s overseas trade minister will visit London on Wednesday in what is being hailed in Paris as a return to business as usual between the two countries after Brexit and the cross-Channel “tensions” of Boris Johnson’s leadership.
It will be Olivier Becht’s first official visit to the UK since his appointment last year and comes after a warmer relationship was signalled with the meeting of Britain’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris last month.
Continue reading...Cabinet Office secretary, Oliver Dowden, to issue national alert and urge companies to boost cybersecurity
Russian hackers organised along the lines of the paramilitary Wagner group are seeking “to disrupt or destroy” parts of the UK’s critical national infrastructure, a cabinet minister will warn at a cyber conference in Belfast on Wednesday.
Oliver Dowden, the Cabinet Office minister, will issue a national alert to key businesses amid growing international concern that as Russia struggles in Ukraine, an under-pressure Kremlin is searching for new ways to threaten the west.
Continue reading...Ukraine confirms grain transit to resume in Poland; Patriot air defence systems delivered
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