Polish president casts doubt on supplying fighter jets to Ukraine; UK MoD says Russian casualty rate may be at highest since invasion
Continue reading...Category Archives: World News
New ‘unidentified object’ shot down over Canada, says Trudeau
Canadian prime minister says he has spoken to US president Joe Biden about the object
A US warplane shot down an unidentified object over North American airspace, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said on Saturday. It was the second day in a row in which the US military shot down an unidentified airborne object.
“I ordered the take down of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace,” Trudeau tweeted on Saturday afternoon. A US F-22 fighter plane with the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which protects Canadian and American airspace, shot down the object over Yukon, Canada.
Continue reading...Wagner head warns it could take two years to achieve Moscow’s objectives – as it happened
Yevgeny Prigozhin says Moscow’s stated aim of capturing eastern regions unlikely to happen in 2023. This blog is now closed
Ukraine’s presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, who headed the country’s negotiating team in the early phases of the conflict, has said “talks are out of the question”.
Podolyak posted to Twitter that Moscow was refusing to withdraw from occupied Ukrainian territories and to admit to “crimes”.
Continue reading...Russia’s plans to seize eastern Ukraine could take two years, says Wagner boss
Yevgeny Prigozhin’s comments suggest Moscow is preparing for a long conflict, as Volodymyr Zelenskiy renews appeal for fighter jets
The boss of the Russian mercenary Wagner group said it could take Russia two years to seize the entire east of Ukraine in a rare interview that suggests at least some key figures in Moscow are gearing up for a protracted conflict.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has emerged from the shadows to become a high-profile figure since the start of the war, suggested Russia’s focus was now on capturing the rest of the Donbas region it has not occupied since the start of the war nearly a year ago.
Continue reading...Iain Duncan Smith calls for arrest of Chinese governor for ‘crimes against humanity’
Erkin Tuniyaz is head of the Xinjiang region, where human rights abuses are alleged to be taking place
The former Conservative party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith has joined calls for a governor from a region of China where the UN has said crimes against humanity may be taking place to be arrested during a potential visit this week.
The Tory backbencher said that the governor of Xinjiang, Erkin Tuniyaz, should be arrested if he arrives in the UK. The House of Commons heard this week that he was due to visit the UK next week and may meet Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) officials.
Continue reading...Turkey-Syria earthquake: death toll passes 25,000 as Erdoğan warns against looting – as it happened
This live blog has now closed, you can read more about the earthquake here
Rescuers in Turkey pulled two women alive from the rubble of collapsed buildings after they were been trapped for 122 hours following the region’s deadliest quake in two decades, authorities said on Saturday.
The death toll exceeded 24,150 across southern Turkey and northwest Syria a day after the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said authorities should have reacted faster to Monday’s huge earthquake.
Our main goal is to ensure that they return to a normal life by delivering permanent housing to them within one year, and that they heal their pain as soon as possible.”
We focused all our energy to this project to serve people in the area impacted by the earthquake. We aim to provide a safe haven to them as soon as possible.”
Continue reading...Frida Kahlo’s husband may have helped her die, reveals Diego Rivera’s grandson
The revered Mexican artist’s suffering was so great, she ‘probably’ asked her soulmate to assist in ending her life, documentary is told
People’s love of Frida Kahlo’s vibrant art is matched by fascination with her colourful private life. Now the battle to win greater attention for her talent – above and beyond her extraordinary, painful personal story – faces another potential knock.
A documentary about the Mexican artist is to reveal a secret suspicion that endures within the family of her husband and great love, the renowned muralist Diego Rivera.
Continue reading...Turkey-Syria earthquake death toll likely to ‘more than double’, UN says
At least 24,596 people have been confirmed dead after the 7.8-magnitude quake struck on Monday
The death toll from the earthquake in Turkey and Syria is likely to “more than double”, according to a United Nations emergency relief coordinator.
Martin Griffiths, speaking to Sky News on Saturday, said he expected tens of thousands more deaths.
Continue reading...South African rap artist AKA shot dead outside restaurant in Durban
Parents of Kiernan Forbes pay tribute to ‘beloved son’ who was killed alongside another man while walking to car
One of South Africa’s top rap artists, known as AKA, has been shot dead outside a restaurant in the eastern city of Durban, his family said.
Kiernan Forbes, 35, won multiple South African awards, was nominated several times for a Black Entertainment Television award in the US and was once nominated for an MTV Europe music award.
Continue reading...Iran marks 44 years since revolution amid protests
Anti-government hackers interrupted televised speech by president Ebrahim Raisi, who appealed to the ‘deceived youth’ to repent
Iran marked the 44th anniversary its revolution on Saturday with state-organised rallies, as anti-government hackers briefly interrupted a televised speech by the president, Ebrahim Raisi.
Raisi, whose hardline government faces one of the boldest challenges from young protesters, appealed to the “deceived youth” to repent so they can be pardoned by Iran’s supreme leader.
Continue reading...Toronto mayor quits after admitting affair with former staffer
John Tory acknowledged relationship in a statement and apologised to his wife and family, and ‘all those hurt by my actions’
The mayor of Toronto has resigned, shortly after the Toronto Star newspaper reported he had an affair with a former staff member.
John Tory, 68, acknowledged the relationship in a statement announcing his departure, saying it had ended earlier this year and the employee had left city hall.
Continue reading...Alarming levels of PFAS in Norwegian Arctic ice pose new risk to wildlife
Oxford University-led study detects 26 types of PFAS compounds in ice around Svalbard, threatening downstream ecosystems
Norwegian Arctic ice is contaminated with alarming levels of toxic PFAS, and the chemicals may represent a major environmental stressor to the region’s wildlife, new research finds.
The Oxford University-led study’s measurements of ice around Svalbard, Norway, detected 26 types of PFAS compounds, and found when ice melts, the chemicals can move from glaciers into downstream ecosystems like Arctic fjords and tundra.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 353 of the invasion
Wave of Russian missiles hit power facilities across Ukraine, causing blackouts across the country
Continue reading...Unidentified object shot down over Alaska by US military, White House says
Spokesman John Kirby says object, the size of a small car, was ordered by President Biden to be downed
• Chinese ‘spy balloon’ wakes up world to new era of war on edge of space
A US fighter jet has shot down an unidentified high-altitude object over Alaska that was the size of a small car but the nature, purpose or origin of the object remains unclear.
US officials said the targeted aircraft brought down on Friday was considerably smaller than the Chinese balloon downed last Saturday over the Atlantic, and carefully avoided characterising it as a balloon, drone or plane, giving nothing away about the description of the object other than its rough size, its altitude and its direction of travel.
Continue reading...Crackdown on ‘birth tourism’ as pregnant Russians flock to Argentina
South American country has seen rise since Ukraine invasion in Russian women arriving to have children and thus gain citizenship
Immigration authorities in Argentina are cracking down on Russian women who since the invasion of Ukraine have started travelling to Buenos Aires to give birth in order to gain Argentinian citizenship for their children.
The director of Argentina’s immigration office, Florencia Carignano, said on Friday that a judicial investigation has been launched into what she described as a lucrative business that promises Argentinian passports for the Russian parents.
Continue reading...US announces 180-day exemption to Syria sanctions for disaster aid
Assad regime still insists on handling all aid shipments to war-torn and quake-ravaged country that has been all but cut off from help
The US has temporarily eased its sanctions on Syria in an effort to speed up aid deliveries to the country’s north-west, where almost no humanitarian assistance has arrived despite the deaths of thousands in this week’s earthquake.
The tremor that has killed nearly 23,000 people there and in neighboring Turkey added to the devastation suffered in Syria’s north, which was already badly damaged by the civil war and is now mostly under opposition control, with Bashar al-Assad’s government present only in some areas.
Continue reading...Spanish film-maker Carlos Saura, director of ¡Ay Carmela!, dies aged 91
One of Spain’s most prolific auteurs continued to work until the end – his last film, Walls Can Talk, was released last week
Veteran Spanish film-maker Carlos Saura, director of award-winning films such as Peppermint Frappé, ¡Ay Carmela! and Tango, has died aged 91, the day before he was due to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Goyas, Spain’s version of the Oscars.
Spain’s Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences, the body that hands out the Goya awards, confirmed his death on social media, saying: “Saura, one of the essential film-makers in the history of Spanish cinema, has died at home today at the age of 91, surrounded by his loved ones. His final film, Walls Can Talk, came out last week and demonstrated his tireless activity and his love for his work until the very last moment.”
Continue reading...US congresswoman poured coffee over attacker to deter him, chief of staff says
Man, 26, arrested after attack in elevator in Angie Craig’s Washington apartment building early on Thursday morning
Angie Craig, a Democratic congresswoman from Minnesota who was assaulted in her Washington apartment, reportedly deterred her attacker by pouring hot coffee over him, it emerged on Friday.
“Representative Craig defended herself from the attacker and suffered bruising, but is otherwise physically OK,” her chief of staff, Nick Coe, said in a statement on Thursday.
Continue reading...George Santos: puppy theft charge news follows Romney’s ‘sick puppy’ barb
Republican at centre of string of scandals was charged in Pennsylvania with theft over purchase of puppies in 2017
The New York Republican congressman George Santos, who is at the centre of a bizarre string of scandals and who the Utah senator Mitt Romney this week called a “sick puppy”, was charged with theft in Pennsylvania in 2017 – over a purchase of “puppies”.
The scandal, reported by Politico, is not Santos’s first involving dogs and his charity, Friends of Pets United. A New Jersey veteran alleges Santos raised money for an operation for his dog, then absconded with the money.
Continue reading...UK’s Turkish and Syrian communities rush to aid earthquake victims
Determination to get donations to stricken areas is galvanising people haunted by fears for family and friends
Dozens of volunteers are packing boxes piled high on a north London industrial estate, filling them with vital donations to be sent to Gaziantep, the south-eastern province in Turkey devastated by the earthquake that hit in the early hours on Monday.
Huseyin Goran, 36, has been helping for three days straight. “The first two days I didn’t sleep and did as much as I could. I took a three-hour rest and carried on.”
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