Category Archives: World News

Vladimir Putin better informed now about Ukraine war, says US

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Russian president not as insulated from bad news as earlier in campaign, claims intelligence chief

The head of US intelligence has said Vladimir Putin has “become better informed” about the difficulties facing his invading forces in Ukraine, as the Kremlin suggested the Russian president could visit the occupied Donbas region at a future unspecified date.

Speaking at a defence forum late on Saturday, Avril Haines, the US director of national intelligence, indicated Putin was no longer as insulated from bad news about the conditions facing his invasion of Ukraine as he was earlier in the campaign.

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Trial of 10 accused in 2016 Brussels terror attack begins on Monday

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Survivors will give evidence in specially constructed court after Belgium’s worst peacetime atrocity

Ten men will go on trial accused of playing a role in the Brussels terror attacks of 2016 that killed 32 people and injured hundreds in what was Belgium’s worst peacetime atrocity.

The trial, taking place in a specially constructed court in Nato’s former headquarters in the north of the Belgian capital, begins proceedings on Monday, more than six and a half years after the attacks on Brussels airport and Maelbeek metro station on 22 March 2016.

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Two-year-old girl survives coyote attack in Los Angeles daylight

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Security footage shows animal drag child across lawn and sidewalk before father intervenes

A coyote grabbed and injured a two-year old girl outside her Los Angeles home in a daytime attack before her father chased the animal off, her family said.

Home security video obtained by KTLA-TV showed the animal grab and drag the toddler across her lawn and sidewalk, seconds after her father took her out of a car seat, set her down and turned back inside the vehicle to gather her toys. They had just arrived home from preschool.

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China accused of flooding social media with spam to cover up Covid protests

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US firm says network of bot accounts also hijacking hashtags in large-scale attempt to obscure coverage

An attempt to flood social media platforms with spam in order to drown out coverage of the lockdown protests in China was probably backed by the Chinese government, according to analysis by a US cybersecurity firm.

Recorded Future found that networks of coordinated bot accounts were targeting non-Chinese social media platforms to crowd out genuine posts about the demonstrations with spam content and by hijacking hashtags of names of Chinese cities. It said China’s government was most likely to be behind the tactic.

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Semeru volcano: 2,000 evacuated as Indonesia issues highest warning

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Eruption causes roads to close after volcanic ash rains down on Java island

A volcano has erupted in Indonesia, spewing a cloud of ash 15km into the sky and forcing the evacuation of nearly 2,000 people, authorities have said, as they issued their highest warning for the area in the east of Java island.

There were no immediate reports of any casualties from the eruption of the Semeru volcano and Indonesia’s transport ministry said air travel was not affected but notices had been sent to two regional airports for them to be vigilant.

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Iran locked into ‘vicious cycle’ over protests and arming Russia, says US

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Washington focusing on protests and Tehran’s support of Russia in Ukraine rather than nuclear talks, envoy says

Iran’s leadership has locked itself into a “vicious cycle” that has cut it off from its own people and the international community, the US special envoy has said, adding that Washington was more focused on Tehran’s decision to arm Russia in Ukraine and the repression of its internal protests than on talks to revive the nuclear deal.

“The more Iran represses, the more there will be sanctions; the more there are sanctions, the more Iran feels isolated,” Rob Malley, the US special envoy on Iran, told a conference in Rome.

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Canada and China prepare to open Cop15 biodiversity summit despite rifts

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Ministers and experts say disputes between co-hosts unlikely to disrupt efforts to reach deal on protecting natural world

More than 10,000 scientists, government officials and activists will gather in Montreal this week for the world’s most important biodiversity conference, eager to hammer out a deal to stem habitat loss around the world and preserve sensitive ecosystems.

The UN Cop15 biodiversity summit opens on Tuesday, and will see countries negotiate this decade’s targets for protecting nature after more than two years of pandemic-related delays and just over two weeks since the end of the Cop27 climate meeting in Egypt.

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Fears of deadly infection surge as China abandons zero-Covid policy

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Dramatic U-turn following widespread unrest leaves country ill-prepared for Omicron

The portable PCR testing booth dangled in the air over a dark Beijing street, captured on camera as it was winched away by a crane in the middle of the night. The image spread rapidly across Chinese social media, the perfect symbol of the bewilderingly rapid end of a draconian era.

In the face of the most widespread national protests since the bloody crackdown on Tiananmen Square demonstrators in 1989, the Chinese government has abruptly abandoned its flagship zero-Covid policy.

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DeSantis and Pence lead Republican wave – of presidential campaign books

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The GOP flopped in the midterms but its White House hopefuls still hope to find readers – and conservative group bulk-buyers

In one of the clearest signs that the 2024 Republican presidential primary will feature rivals to Donald Trump, a host of likely candidates have released or will soon release books purporting to outline their political visions.

Such books often sell poorly, but that is rarely their point. They are markers of ambition. To judge from the political bookshelves, after midterm elections in which many Trump-endorsed candidates suffered humiliating losses, the former president will not be the only declared candidate for long.

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Revealed: UK has failed to resettle Afghans facing torture and death despite promise

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Those who risked their lives helping British government face a ‘toxic combination of incompetence and indifference’

Afghan nationals who were promised resettlement to the UK nearly a year ago are facing torture and death while they wait for a response from the British government, the Observer can reveal.

Not one person has been accepted and evacuated from Afghanistan under the Home Office’s Afghan citizens’ resettlement scheme (ACRS), launched in January, prompting claims that ministers are showing a “toxic combination of incompetence and indifference”. The scheme was intended to help Afghans who worked for, or were affiliated with, the British government – including its embassy staff and British Council teachers – and all of whom face severe harm at the hands of the Taliban.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: Kyiv says ‘sick’ packages sent to its embassies following letter bomb in Madrid – as it happened

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Ukraine’s foreign minister says 17 diplomatic missions have now received suspicious packages

More details have been published about attacks on Ukraine on Friday, in an update from the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces.

They said Russia continues to shell civilian infrastructure and is trying to go on the offensive in Avdiivka and Bakhmut.

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Russian army ‘came knocking’ to recruit son of slain spy Alexander Litvinenko

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The poisoned agent’s son Anatoly tells of the visit to his Moscow flat, as ITV prepares to screen a drama about the killing of his father, played by David Tennant

Anatoly Litvinenko: How the Kremlin tried to conscript me

The Moscow home of the son of Alexander Litvinenko, the defector killed with polonium-210 in London in 2006, has been visited by recruiting officers from the Russian army hoping to sign him up.

Anatoly Litvinenko, 28, has revealed that he was called up for military service in Ukraine a few weeks ago by soldiers who seemed unaware of his tragic history with Vladimir Putin’s regime.

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Greece in ‘preliminary’ talks with British Museum about Parthenon marbles

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Officials say they have met with George Osborne, and are keen to see the masterpieces back in Athens

Senior Greek officials have been in “preliminary” talks with the British Museum in what could amount to a tectonic shift in resolving the world’s longest-running cultural dispute: the repatriation of the 5th-century BC Parthenon marbles to Athens.

Revelations about the negotiations were first reported on Saturday by Ta Nea, which said that officials including the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, had met George Osborne, the chair of the British Museum, in a five-star London hotel as recently as Monday.

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G7 countries and Australia to cap price of seaborne Russian oil

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Critics including Ukraine say cap of $60 per barrel is still above market value and will not hurt Russia’s war coffers

G7 countries and Australia have agreed to cap the price of Russian seaborne oil, with the aim of reducing Moscow’s income and limiting its ability to finance its war in Ukraine.

But critics, including Ukraine, say the cap of $60 a barrel is still higher than the current market price for Russian crude oil and is unlikely to affect the Kremlin’s war coffers.

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Ukraine authorities detain eight people over theft of Banksy mural outside Kyiv

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Stencil image, which shows figure in nightgown and gas mask holding a fire extinguisher, was removed in Hostomel on Friday

Eight people have been detained over the theft of a mural painted by the elusive British street artist Banksy from a wall on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukrainian authorities said.

The stencil image of a person in a nightgown and gas mask holding a fire extinguisher, next to the charred remains of a window in the town of Hostomel, went missing on Friday, they said.

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South Africa president to mount legal action in face of impeachment threat

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Cyril Ramaphosa rejects call to stand down after accusation of ‘serious misconduct’

Cyril Ramaphosa, the embattled president of South Africa, has rejected calls to step down and said he will seek a judicial review of a report handed over last week by an independent panel appointed by parliament that accused him of “serious misconduct”, aides said.

The move may forestall looming impeachment but could plunge South Africa into a prolonged bout of political instability.

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Axl Rose promises to stop throwing mic into crowd after reports a fan was hurt

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The Guns N’ Roses singer made the announcement on Twitter after the incident at in Adelaide, Australia

Axl Rose has promised to stop throwing his microphone into the audience after a fan was reportedly hurt during a recent show in Australia.

The Guns N’ Roses singer, who celebrated his 60th birthday this year, has routinely ended their shows by offering attenders towards the front a chance to catch his mic.

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Indonesian island of Java hit by earthquake of at least 5.7 magnitude

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No immediate reports of casualties or major damage after tremor shakes town of Cianjur that was devastated last month

A 5.7-magnitude earthquake has hit Indonesia’s main island of Java, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said, shaking the same town devastated by another quake last month that left more than 330 people dead.

The quake struck on land at a depth of 112km (70 miles) and the epicentre was located 18km south-east of city of Banjar, according to the USGS. There were no immediate reports of casualties or major damage.

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Zero-Covid policy is costing China its role as the world’s workshop

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Beijing’s endless lockdowns are causing shortages for western firms such as Apple, and it may not be long before they move their supply chains elsewhere

The anti-lockdown unrest gripping China has forced the authorities in Beijing to respond by easing some restrictions in big manufacturing centres, as they map out a “new stage and mission” in the country’s deeply unpopular zero-Covid policy.

There are concerns that more freedom of movement could allow the virus to rip through a population where immunity is lower than in the west. Those health risks mean the “world’s workshop” is heading for a difficult winter, casting a shadow over the prospects for international trade.

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China’s easing of Covid curbs does not solve Xi Jinping’s dilemma

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Loosening controls further could spark a devastating outbreak, but tightening the rules again could trigger unrest

At the end of October, Xi Jinping had secured his position as China’s most powerful leader in decades, his grip on the country cemented by a norm-breaking third term in office.

At the end of November, he faced the most widespread protests China had seen in decades, mostly focused on Covid restrictions but also featuring unprecedented calls for Xi to step down.

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