Category Archives: World News

Brazil: at least 64 reported killed in Rio’s worst day of violence amid police favela raids

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Governor says city ‘at war’ after gunfights between troops and Red Command drug traffickers who reportedly used weaponised drones

At least 64 people have reportedly been killed in Rio’s worst-ever day of violence as more than 2,500 officers and special forces stormed an area of favelas near Rio’s international airport that is considered the headquarters of one of Brazil’s most powerful organised crime groups.

The predawn police raid – the deadliest in Rio’s history – sparked intense gunfights in and around Alemão and Penha favelas, which are home to an estimated 300,000 people.

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Teenager from Gaza ‘stuck in hell’ after being prevented from joining mother in UK

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Dania Alafranji, 16, still waiting on visa from Home Office despite being offered school place in Berkshire 18 months ago

A teenager from Gaza who has been denied an opportunity to attend school in Britain and be reunited with her mother has said she is “stuck in hell”, despite other European countries making exceptions for students from the region.

Dania Alafranji, 16, was accepted on to the Nsouli Scholars Programme to attend Reddam House school in Berkshire more than 18 months ago, but has yet to receive a visa that would allow her to escape the war in Gaza, with her family saying that they feel helpless and have been “going in circles” trying to get her to Britain.

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Returned body parts were of Gaza hostage recovered two years ago, Israel says

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Netanyahu accuses Hamas of ‘clear violation’ of ceasefire as far-right ministers call for resumption of war

Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Hamas of a “clear violation” of the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire, saying the militant group had returned body parts of a hostage whose remains Israeli troops had recovered two years before.

Under the terms of the ceasefire, which took effect on 10 October, Hamas is required to return the remains of all Israeli hostages as soon as possible. In exchange, Israel has agreed to hand over 15 Palestinian bodies for each Israeli. Hamas has yet to return 13 bodies.

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Pakistani farmers to sue German polluters over climate-linked flood damage

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Claimants seek compensation from RWE and Heidelberg Materials after extreme flooding destroyed harvests

A group of Pakistani farmers whose livelihoods were devastated by floods three years ago has fired the starting shot in legal action against two of Germany’s most polluting companies.

Lawyers acting for 43 men and women from the Sindh region sent the energy firm RWE and the cement producer Heidelberg formal letters before action on Tuesday warning of their intention to sue later this year.

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Russian drone attacks on civilians in Ukraine are war crimes, UN report concludes

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Rights commission inquiry focused on south-east of country found drones targeted gathering points and critical infrastructure

A UN rights commission has concluded that Russia’s drone attacks on civilians in south-eastern Ukraine constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes.

In a report published this week, the commission said Russian forces, operating under a centralised command, had systematically used drones to “intentionally target civilians and civilian objects and cause harm and destruction”.

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House of Dynamite writer ‘respectfully disagrees’ with Pentagon’s complaints about nuclear missile thriller

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Noah Oppenheim responded to complaints from the Pentagon over the accuracy of the film’s depiction of the US’s defence systems

Warning: contains a spoiler for the plot of House of Dynamite

Noah Oppenheim, the writer of Kathryn Bigelow’s nuclear-missile thriller House of Dynamite has responded to complaints from the Pentagon over the accuracy of its depiction of the US’s defence systems, saying he “respectfully disagree[s]”.

In an internal memo dated 16 October obtained by Bloomberg, the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) said: “The fictional interceptors in the movie miss their target and we understand this is intended to be a compelling part of the drama intended for the entertainment of the audience,” but results from real-world testing “tell a vastly different story.”

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Japanese PM promises golden age in relations with US during Trump visit

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Sanae Takaichi says she will nominate Trump for peace prize as two leaders sign agreement on rare earths

Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, has pledged to realise a “golden age” in relations with the US and to “fundamentally reinforce” her country’s defence posture at the start of a visit by Donald Trump.

The US president, who is in Japan on the second leg of a week-long tour of Asia, and Takaichi quickly signed an agreement laying out a framework to secure the mining and processing of rare earths and other minerals.

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World’s climate plans fall drastically short of action needed, analysis shows

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Recent plans submitted to UN by more than 60 countries would cut carbon by only 10%, a sixth of what is needed

Recently drafted climate plans from scores of countries fall drastically short of what is needed to stave off the worst effects of climate breakdown, analysis has shown.

More than 60 countries have so far submitted national plans on greenhouse gas emissions to the UN, setting out how they will curb carbon for the next decade.

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UK military equipment used by militia accused of genocide found in Sudan, UN told

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Exclusive: two dossiers of material seen by the security council raise questions over export of British arms to the UAE, which has been accused of supplying weapons to paramilitary RSF group

British military equipment has been found on battlefields in Sudan, used by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group accused of genocide, according to documents seen by the UN security council.

UK-manufactured small-arms target systems and British-made engines for armoured personnel carriers have been recovered from combat sites in a conflict that has now caused the world’s biggest humanitarian catastrophe.

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New Yorkers sue state elections board as battle over House maps intensifies

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Lawsuit alleges congressional map illegally dilutes voting power of Black and Latino residents of Staten Island

A group of New Yorkers has filed a lawsuit against the state’s board of elections alleging that its congressional map unconstitutionally dilutes the voting power of Black and Latino residents of Staten Island.

The complaint, filed Monday, is another volley in the battle between Democrats and Republicans to redraw congressional districts in a way that favors their party in advance of the midterm elections.

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Hamas returns remains of Israeli hostage after Red Cross’s help in search

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Exclusive: Red Cross acts as ‘neutral intermediary’ to recover hostages’ remains in areas under Israeli control

The International Committee of the Red Cross has accompanied members of Hamas inside areas of Gaza still under the control of the Israeli military to facilitate the search for the bodies of Israeli hostages, as the Palestinian militant group delivered the remains of another captive.

Under the US-brokered ceasefire, which took effect on 10 October, Hamas is required to return the remains of all Israeli hostages as soon as possible. In exchange, Israel has agreed to hand over 15 Palestinian bodies for each Israeli.

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Alassane Ouattara wins landslide fourth term as Ivory Coast’s president

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Low turnout said to have made for most peaceful election in years, as 83-year-old accused of clampdown on dissent wins 89.77% of vote

Alassane Ouattara has been declared the winner of the presidential election in Ivory Coast by a landslide.

According to provisional results announced by the Independent Electoral Commission (CIE) on Monday evening, the 83-year-old won a fourth term as head of the west African country with 89.77% or 3.75m votes.

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Ten people go on trial in Paris accused of online harassment of Brigitte Macron

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Trial is latest phase in legal battle against false claim that French first lady is a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux

Ten people have gone on trial in Paris charged with online harassment of Brigitte Macron – the latest phase of a legal battle on both sides of the Atlantic against the false claim that the French first lady is a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux.

The president, Emmanuel Macron, and his wife filed a defamation lawsuit in the US at the end of July, in connection with a rumour amplified and repeated online that Brigitte Macron was born a man.

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Warming oceans probably fueling Hurricane Melissa’s rapid intensification

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Climate scientists have long warned that warming oceans are making explosive storm development more common

The extraordinary intensification of Hurricane Melissa, set to be one of the strongest storms to ever hit Jamaica, is probably a symptom of the rapid heating of the world’s oceans, scientists have said.

Melissa was a tropical storm on Saturday, before exploding in strength to a category 4 hurricane early on Sunday. The storm’s winds escalated from 70mph to 140mph in just a day, one of the fastest intensifications on record in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

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Trump’s bailout threat may have been key to Milei’s electoral triumph in Argentina

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Voters appear to have responded to idea that US president’s ‘generosity’ would evaporate if Milei failed to win

“The dollar always talks in the end,” Donald Trump wrote in his 1987 bestseller The Art of the Deal.

Javier Milei’s surprise triumph in Argentina’s midterm elections – after Trump bailed him out with 40bn of them – suggests there may be some truth to that assertion.

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Italian ski pass price rises mean sport may become only for wealthy, watchdog warns

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Price increases of as much as 40% will make sport exclusive privilege of the wealthy, says Assoutenti

“Completely unjustified” prices rises for ski passes in Italy this winter mean the sport is at risk of becoming the exclusive privilege of the wealthy, the president of an Italian consumers’ association has warned.

From the Alps and the Dolomites in the north to the slopes of the central Italian region of Abruzzo, prices are poised to rise by as much as 40% compared with 2021, according to a report compiled by the watchdog, Assoutenti.

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World’s oldest serving head of state declared winner in Cameroon election

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Paul Biya, 92, said to have won 53.66% of vote after volatile two weeks since election when opponent claimed victory

Paul Biya, the world’s oldest serving head of state, has been declared the winner of Cameroon’s election, granting him an eighth term that could keep him in office until he is nearly 100.

The country’s constitutional council said Biya had won 53.66% of the vote, while his former ally turned challenger, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, got 35.19%.

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Lithuania says it will shoot down smuggling balloons from Russia’s ally Belarus

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PM blames Alexander Lukashenko for not stopping ‘hybrid attacks’, which closed Vilnius airport four times last week

Lithuania’s prime minister has authorised the shooting down of smuggling balloons that cross the border from Russia’s ally Belarus, calling them “hybrid attacks” in an echo of the term used to describe Moscow’s destabilisation efforts.

Incursions by balloons carrying contraband cigarettes prompted the Nato and EU member state to close Vilnius airport four times last week and shut its border crossings with Belarus temporarily.

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Republican senator calls Trump’s military airstrikes ‘extrajudicial killings’

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Rand Paul’s comments come days after president claimed US lawmakers wouldn’t take issue with Venezuelan strikes

The Trump administration’s military airtrikes against boats off Venezuela’s coast that the White House claims were being used for drug trafficking are “extrajudicial killings”, said Rand Paul, the president’s fellow Republican and US senator from Kentucky.

Paul’s strong comments on the topic came on Sunday during an interview on Republican-friendly Fox News, three days after Donald Trump publicly claimed he “can’t imagine” federal lawmakers would have “any problem” with the strikes when asked about seeking congressional approval for them.

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Archaeological dig to unearth wreckage of WW2 hero pilot crash under way

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Exclusive: Excavation, overseen by the US Department of Defense, will feature in More 4’s Hidden Wonders TV series

On 26 January 1944, a 23-year-old US pilot was flying a mighty P-47 Thunderbolt on a wartime training exercise when it crashed in Essex.

Locals witnessed the horror of 2nd Lt Lester Lowry’s aircraft diving to the ground and bursting into flames. Lowry was not seen to bail out and he has remained missing in action (MIA) for more than 80 years. Ironically, his plane was named “Lucky Boy”.

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