President says Belgrade ‘has not nor will it’ send Kyiv arms, after leaked Pentagon paper claimed Serbia had agreed to send weapons
The Serbian president says his country has not sold arms to Ukraine and would not do so, after a leaked Pentagon report said Belgrade had agreed to provide arms to Kyiv, according to foreign media reports.
“Serbia has not nor will it export weapons to Ukraine,” Aleksandar Vučić told reporters on Thursday, according to the Beta news agency.
Continue reading...BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce among those funded, with aim of producing new aircraft by 2035
The Ministry of Defence has awarded £650m to manufacturers working on its Tempest fighter jet, in the latest sign that the UK is pushing forward with the aim of producing the aircraft by 2035.
The companies who will receive the money are led by manufacturer BAE Systems, jet engine maker Rolls-Royce, and the UK arms of Italy’s Leonardo and European missile-maker MBDA.
Continue reading...Daniel Urresti sent to jail for 12 years for his role in the 1988 killing of Hugo Bustíos at the height of the country’s civil conflict
A former Peruvian presidential candidate, Daniel Urresti, has been sentenced to 12 years in jail for his role in the murder of a journalist in 1988 at the height of the country’s brutal civil conflict.
A court ruled on Thursday that Urresti, then a military intelligence army officer, took part in the ambush and murder of Hugo Bustíos, who was investigating human rights abuses.
Continue reading...Benjamin Netanyahu’s rightwing policies are emboldening attacks on 2,000-year-old community, says Catholic regional leader
The head of the Roman Catholic church in the Holy Land has warned in an interview that Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government has made life worse for Christians in the birthplace of Christianity.
The Vatican-appointed Latin Patriarch, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, said that the region’s 2,000-year-old Christian community has come under increasing attack, with the most rightwing government in Israel’s history emboldening extremists who have harassed clergy and vandalised religious property at a quickening pace.
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Overnight the Times of London has reported that MPs have warned that British lives have been put at risk by the leak of classified US intelligence documents. It writes:
Tobias Ellwood, [the Conservative MP] who chairs the defence select committee, said the US leaks could “endanger lives”.
“Given our long-established lead in scale and capability when it comes to elite forces it will come as no surprise that our special forces are doing much of the heavy lifting,” he said.
Continue reading...Congress group drafts legislation targeting officials and government supporters, mainly affiliated to Fidesz party
A bipartisan group in Congress is drafting US sanctions that would target leading Hungarian political figures tied to the Orbán government, as the relationship between the two countries continues to spiral downwards.
The sanctions bill would name former officials and government supporters, mostly affiliated with the Fidesz party of the prime minister, Viktor Orbán.
Continue reading...Charles Michel says higher bills due to demands of Covid pandemic and Ukraine war after use of private jets comes under scrutiny
The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, has denied running up “extravagant” travel bills, after his use of private jets came under scrutiny.
Michel, who is responsible for organising EU summits, said his travel bill was higher than his predecessors because of the demands of representing Europe on the world stage during the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
Continue reading...Emmanuel Macron back from Netherlands amid sustained unrest over plan to raise pension age to 64
Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated across France on Thursday, with trade unionists and strikers briefly storming into the Paris headquarters of the luxury goods company LVMH, in a fresh round of protests against Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular plans to raise the minimum pension age from 62 to 64.
“You’re looking for money to finance pensions? Take it from the pockets of billionaires,” said the Sud Rail trade unionist Fabien Villedieu, as the LVMH headquarters filled with red smoke from flares.
Continue reading...Major investigation is tracking down man known as OG who is thought to be behind exposure of hundreds of secret documents
US authorities are close to catching the leaker responsible for causing a major security breach by circulating hundreds of secret documents, Joe Biden has said.
Speaking to reporters outside the Irish president’s residence, where he is on an official visit, Biden said: “There’s a full-blown investigation going on, as you know, with the intelligence community and the justice department, and they’re getting close.”
Continue reading...Promoter claims ‘catastrophe’ has cost it more than £88k and accuses British government of hypocrisy
Key members of a Ukrainian state orchestra were refused visas to play a series of concerts in the UK this month in a “catastrophe” that the promoter claims cost it more than €100,000 (£88,000).
The Khmelnitsky Orchestra was due to tour the UK this month with two shows: The Magical Music of Harry Potter, and The Music From the Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit andThe Rings of Power.
Continue reading...Mathias Döpfner’s reported comments on climate, Muslims and east Germany – and his apparent political manoeuvring – create shock waves
The German CEO of Europe’s largest media publisher tried to use his flagship tabloid, Bild, to influence the outcome of Germany’s last election and fed the newspaper his personal views attacking climate change activism, Covid measures and the former chancellor Angela Merkel, leaked messages suggest.
The internal chats, emails and text messages published by the German weekly Die Zeit on Wednesday clash with the public presentation of Axel Springer SE’s chief executive, Mathias Döpfner, who recently said he wanted to bring “non-partisan” journalism to a too-polarised US media landscape through his acquisition of the English-language title Politico.
Continue reading...Rapist and murderer’s escape sparked outrage over competence of country’s police and criminal justice system
A fugitive rapist and murderer who left a burnt corpse in his cell during a jailbreak has returned to prison in South Africa after fleeing to Tanzania.
The case has embarrassed authorities and sparked fresh outrage over the competence of South Africa’s police and criminal justice system.
Continue reading...White House edits transcript after US president referred to military force rather than New Zealand rugby team
The White House has corrected a gaffe by Joe Biden that confused New Zealand’s All Blacks rugby team with the British military force known as the Black and Tans that terrorised Ireland.
An official transcript of the remarks released on Thursday crossed out “Black and Tans” and inserted “All Blacks” instead.
Continue reading...Dozens of mostly sub-Saharan Africans have drowned in region in recent weeks trying to reach Europe
At least 25 people have died after a boat carrying people from sub-Saharan Africa towards Europe sank off the coast of Tunisia.
Fifteen bodies were discovered on Thursday, the Tunisian coastguard said, after 10 were recovered on Wednesday following the shipwreck the day before off the coastal city of Sfax.
Continue reading...Inquiry comes after tax raid on corporation’s offices and a documentary that was critical of PM Narendra Modi
India’s financial crimes agency is investigating the BBC over alleged violations of foreign exchange rules, less than two months after the corporation’s Indian headquarters were raided by tax inspectors.
According to officials, the latest investigation is being conducted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), a central government agency.
Continue reading...Breakthrough hailed as highly effective R21 vaccine is cleared by west African country but questions remain over funding
Ghana has become the first country to approve a highly effective malaria vaccine developed at Oxford university in the UK.
The R21/Matrix-M vaccine, the first to exceed the World Health Organization’s target of 75% efficacy, has been cleared for use by Ghana’s Food and Drugs Authority in children aged 5-36 months, the group at highest risk of death from malaria.
Continue reading...Programme is for people aged between nine and 24 who are experiencing extreme social withdrawal
South Korea is to offer reclusive youths a monthly living allowance of 650,000 won ($490) in order to encourage them out of their homes, as part of a new measure passed by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. The measure also offers education, job and health support.
The condition is known as “hikikomori”, a Japanese term that roughly translated means, “to pull back”. The government wants to try to make it easier for those experiencing it to leave the house to go to school, university or work.
Continue reading...Researchers say improved health screening of people arriving in small boats is needed to prevent outbreaks
Health experts are calling for better care for asylum seekers as research reveals small boat crossings have been linked to a sharp increase in diphtheria cases in the UK and across Europe.
Reception centres in the UK have hit by a series of scandals in recent months, including outbreaks of disease and reports that offers of assistance from public health leaders have been declined by the Home Office.
Continue reading...Dead creature was one of 150 descendants of four hippos imported by drug baron Pablo Escobar in 1980s
Colombia has logged its first hippopotamus-caused road traffic accident after a car crashed into one of the animals at high speed, leaving the vehicle mangled and the two-tonne mammal lying lifeless and bloodied across a highway.
The hippo was declared dead soon after the crash on Tuesday night in the municipality of Doradal on a highway connecting the cities of Bogotá and Medellín, local environmental authorities said.
Continue reading...After murdering her friend’s mother as a teenager, as dramatised in film Heavenly Creatures, she turned to writing period thrillers
A British crime writer who helped bludgeon her friend’s mother to death as a teenager and was the inspiration for Peter Jackson’s film Heavenly Creatures has died in Los Angeles, her publisher announced Wednesday. She was 84.
Anne Perry, a prolific author whose period thrillers have sold over 25m copies worldwide, was 15 years old when she and her friend Pauline Parker murdered Pauline’s mother in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1954. Honora Mary Parker died after being hit with a brick about 20 times, in a killing that shocked and captivated the country.
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