Category Archives: World News

About 180 Rohingya refugees feared dead after boat goes missing

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Contact lost for weeks with vessel that left camps in Bangladesh and was crossing Andaman Sea bound for Malaysia

About 180 Rohingya refugees are feared to have died after their boat went missing in the Andaman Sea, making 2022 one of the deadliest years for the refugees trying to flee the camps in Bangladesh.

In a statement on Sunday, the United Nations said it was concerned that a boat carrying the refugees, which had left the camps in the Bangladeshi city of Cox’s Bazar on 2 December bound for Malaysia, had sunk with no survivors, which would make it one of the worst disasters for Rohingya sea crossings this year.

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Israeli politician suggests doctors could refuse to treat gay patients

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President condemns anti-LGBTQ rhetoric after comment by Orit Strook, which she later said referred to certain procedures

A suggestion by one of Benjamin Netanyahu’s incoming ministers that Israeli doctors should be allowed to refuse treatment to LGBTQ patients on religious grounds has heightened fears that the new government poses an unprecedented threat to gay rights.

The Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, has weighed in to condemn the growing anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, saying: “The racist pronouncements of recent days against the LGBTQ community and other sectors of the public make me extremely worried and concerned.” The president, whose post is largely ceremonial but who commands a degree of authority, added that such rhetoric undermined Israeli “democratic and moral values”.

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Three Russian servicemen dead after Ukrainian drone attack, Moscow says

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Defence ministry says drone was shot down on approach to Engels airbase but falling debris killed three

Three Russian servicemen have died after a Ukrainian drone attack on a crucial airbase deep inside Russian territory, Moscow has said.

According to the defence ministry, a Ukrainian drone was shot down on the approach to Engels base early on Monday morning but falling debris killed three service personnel.

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Woman, 73, becomes 10th person to die after Jersey explosion

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Kathy McGinness, who lived adjacent to flats that collapsed, died in hospital on Christmas Day

A woman injured in an explosion at a block of flats in Jersey earlier this month died on Christmas Day, taking the death toll to 10.

Kathleen (Kathy) McGinness, 73, who lived at Haut du Mont adjacent to the building that collapsed, died at Jersey general hospital.

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The revenge of history in Ukraine: year of war has shaken up world order

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A shared sense of national history is proving to be a crucial weapon, spurring on Ukraine resistance and Russian soldiers

The Ukrainian writer Oksana Zabuzhko recalls a quote attributed to Otto von Bismarck: “Wars are not won by generals, but by schoolteachers and parish priests.” It’s a country’s taught collective memory, its shared sense of its own history, that are the decisive instruments for mobilisation, and are as important on the battlefield as weaponry.

Few conflicts have been so shaped by the chief actors’ sense of their own national story as the Ukrainian war that began in February. It is the competing grand narratives of the past, not just in Russia and Ukraine, but in Germany, France, Poland, the Baltics, the UK, the US, and even the global south, that make this war so hard to resolve.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: Ukraine aiming for peace summit in February, says foreign minister

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‘Every war ends in a diplomatic way,’ says Dmytro Kuleba

Christo Grozev, from the investigative journalism organisation Bellingcat, describes the announcement by Russia’s defence ministry that a Ukrainian drone attacked a base in Russia’s Saratov region as “mind boggling”.

Here are some of the latest images we have received from Ukraine.

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South Korea scrambles jets as North Korean drones ‘violate airspace’

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Warning shots fired after drones crossed military demarcation line from north, South Korea military says

South Korea scrambled warplanes and attack helicopters and fired warning shots on Monday after North Korean drones violated its airspace, the South Korean military said.

South Korea tracked the drones crossing from North Korea over what is known as the military demarcation line between the two countries after detecting them in the skies of the western city of Gimpo at about 10.25am (0125 GMT), the military said.

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‘Planting seeds of peace’: Bosnian war stories are brought to the stage

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Susan Moffat and Aida Haughton explain how their play My Thousand Year Old Land was given a universal humanity by using raw, real-life testimony

Three women – Pravda (meaning “justice”), Istina (“truth”), and Nada (“hope”) – sit around a table, grinding coffee and telling stories. Around them on stage are men’s boots, belts and a hat. The men are no longer here but killed in war.

It’s what writer and director Susan Moffat calls “the presence of absence”. In the play My Thousand Year Old Land (A Song for BiH), which Moffat wrote alongside Bosnian war survivor Aida Haughton, we follow three women whose lives are changed by the deaths of their communities’ men in the 1990s conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They find themselves taking on the typically male roles in the family, from tilling the fields to feeding cockerels.

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At least 48 people dead in US winter storm as freezing conditions to continue

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Buffalo and surrounding area in western New York hit especially hard as power knocked out and many travelers stranded

Freezing conditions from a deadly winter storm in the United States will continue into the week as western New York deals with massive snowdrifts that have snarled emergency vehicles, and travelers across the country see cancelled flights and dangerous roads.

The storm has killed at least 48 people and is expected to claim more lives after trapping some residents inside houses and knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses.

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Dozens of Chinese warplanes cross Taiwan median line

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Beijing says drills also involving navy ships are a ‘firm response’ after US defence spending bill prioritised support for Taiwan

Seventy-one Chinese air force aircraft including fighter jets and drones entered Taiwan’s air defence identification zone in the past 24 hours, the island’s government said on Monday, the largest reported incursion to date.

The incursion included 43 Chinese aircraft that crossed the Taiwan Strait’s median line, an unofficial buffer between the two sides that lies within the defence zone, Taiwan’s defence ministry said in a report, as Beijing continues military activities close to the island.

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UN Afghanistan head meets Taliban over ban on female aid workers

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At least seven international NGOs have suspended aid, saying they cannot work without female staff

The acting head of the UN mission in Afghanistan met Taliban leaders on Monday in a bid to persuade them to withdraw their ban on all women working for aid agencies.

Ramiz Alakbarov met the Taliban’s economy minister, Din Mohammad Hanif, in Kabul, telling him that millions of Afghans need “humanitarian assistance and removing barriers is vital”.

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Austria avalanche: 10 missing skiers found alive, four of them injured

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Up to 10 people had been feared buried after incident between Zuers and Lech am Arlberg on Sunday

Ten people initially feared buried under snow after an avalanche swept across ski trails in western Austria have been found, according to authorities.

Just before 1am on Monday, police confirmed all the missing had been accounted for, the Austria Press Agency reported.

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Seven people with British links arrested in Iran over protests

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UK Foreign Office is seeking further information about detainees, who include several dual nationals

Seven people with links to Britain have been arrested by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards over anti-government protests that have snowballed across the country in recent months, according to reports.

The people arrested, some of whom are dual nationals, were detained while trying to leave Iran, according to Reuters, citing a statement published by state media.

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Suspect in Paris shooting ‘had pathological hatred of foreigners’

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The man, 69, was held on Friday after killing three people at a Kurdish cultural centre and nearby cafe

The French man detained over the killing of three Kurdish people in Paris last week has told investigators he had a “pathological” hatred of foreigners, the city’s prosecutor said on Sunday.

The 69-year-old man was arrested on Friday after shooting dead two men and a woman in a Kurdish cultural centre and nearby Kurdish cafe in the 10th district of Paris, which the French president, Emmanuel Macron, described as a “vile” attack on the Kurds of France.

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Svalbard reindeer thrive as they shift diet towards ‘popsicle-like’ grasses

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Increased plant growth due to warmer climate appears to be prompting change in eating habits

As the Arctic warms, concern for the plight of Santa’s favourite sleigh pullers is mounting. But in one small corner of the far flung north – Svalbard – Rudolph and his friends are thriving.

Warmer temperatures are boosting plant growth and giving Svalbard reindeer more time to build up fat reserves; they also appear to be shifting their diets towards “popsicle-like” grasses that poke up through the ice and snow, data suggests.

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Putin says Russia ‘ready to negotiate’ over Ukraine as Zelenskiy gives defiant Christmas message – as it happened

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Ukraine’s president says Ukrainians are creating their own ‘miracle’ in Christmas address as Russian president accuses Kyiv and western allies of ‘refusing to negotiate’

At least 16 people were killed and 64 injured in Russia’s shelling of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine on Saturday, the region’s governor Yaroslav Yanushevych said.

Russian forces “opened fire on the Kherson region 71 times” with artillery, multiple launch rocket systems and mortars, Yanushevych said in an update posted on social media this morning.

The enemy attacked the regional centre 41 times. Downtown Kherson came under extensive enemy fire: civilians were killed and buildings destroyed. The enemy shelling also affected industrial premises, health facilities, detached houses and apartment blocks.

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Gibraltar: UK police asked to help with inquiry into alleged government corruption

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Royal Gibraltar police ask British counterparts to investigate alleged data breach in interests of ‘transparency’

UK police have been called in to lead an investigation into a data breach in a public inquiry concerning alleged corruption at the top of Gibraltar’s government.

The development is the latest twist in the inquiry, which is to hear explosive allegations by the British overseas territory’s former police chief, Ian McGrail.

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Mafia-themed food items sold abroad unacceptable, say Italian farmers

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Investigation takes aim at everything from Cosa Nostra whiskey to El Padrino restaurant in Spain and Nasi Goreng Mafia eaterie in Indonesia

Italy’s biggest farmers’ association is waging a battle against the “scandalous” use of mafia terms to sell a variety of food and drink products around the world, from Cosa Nostra whiskey to Chilli Mafia tomato sauce.

Coldiretti undertook an extensive investigation and also discovered that almost 300 restaurants beyond Italy have mafia-themed names, including El Padrino in Spain, Don Corleone in Finland, Burger Mafia in Germany, Falafel Mafia in the US and Nasi Goreng Mafia in Indonesia.

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Archbishop of Canterbury and Pope Francis call for end to war in Ukraine

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Pontiff says world suffering from ‘famine of peace’ as Justin Welby praises example of late monarch

The archbishop of Canterbury and Pope Francis have used their Christmas addresses to call for an end to the war in Ukraine.

During his sermon, Justin Welby also spoke of those suffering “immense anxiety and hardship” during the cost of living crisis and made reference to the “desperate struggles of hospital wards”.

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