Category Archives: World News

Unseen Kristallnacht photos published 84 years after Nazi pogrom

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Images released by Israeli Holocaust memorial show Hitler’s regime clearly orchestrating 1938 atrocity

Harrowing, previously unseen images from 1938’s Kristallnacht pogrom against German and Austrian Jews have surfaced in a photograph collection donated to Israel’s Yad Vashem memorial, the organisation said on Wednesday.

One shows a crowd of smiling, well-dressed middle-aged German men and women standing casually as a Nazi officer smashes a storefront window. In another, brownshirts carry heaps of Jewish books, presumably for burning. Another image shows a Nazi officer splashing petrol on the pews of a synagogue before it is set alight.

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Gal Costa, influential Brazilian singer, dies aged 77

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The singer, who was a main part of the Tropicália movement, had recently canceled an appearance at a music festival after surgery

Gal Costa, the influential Brazilian singer who was one of the principal figures in the Tropicália movement of the 1960s, died on Wednesday, her public relations agency confirmed. She was 77.

No cause of death was immediately provided. The singer, who lived in São Paulo, had recently canceled a concert at a local music festival on advice from her doctor, after surgery in September to remove a nodule from her right nasal cavity. She had been expected to return to the stage in São Paulo in December, according to tour dates listed on her website.

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China’s top climate official urges US to ‘clear barriers’ to talks

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US-China relations hit new low this year after Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, over which China claims sovereignty

• Cop27 live – latest news updates

China’s top climate official has said the US must take responsibility for any reconciliation between the two countries at the Cop27 climate summit, calling on the US to “clear the barriers” to talks.

Xie Zhenhua, the climate envoy for China, said he had met John Kerry, the US special presidential envoy for climate, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, where governments and world leaders have gathered for a fortnight of talks on the climate crisis.

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Indian police investigating film that portrays Kerala as Islamic terrorism hub

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Makers of Bollywood film say it is based on real information and events but have not provided any evidence

Police in Kerala are investigating a controversial Bollywood film that portrays the southern Indian state as a hub of Islamic terrorism and forced conversion.

The Kerala Story, directed by Sudipto Sen, has come under criticism for its fictional depiction of tens of thousands of women from Kerala who it claims were converted to Islam and became terrorists for Islamic State in Afghanistan, Yemen and Syria.

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‘Significant’ moves on climate disaster funds lift Cop27 hopes

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Small but symbolic moves at summit where finance is critical include new loss and damage money and debt relief

A series of symbolic moves on climate finance at Cop27 suggests positive momentum could be starting to build on a pivotal issue at the UN summit in Egypt.

The UK said it would allow some debt payment deferrals for countries hit by climate disasters, while Austria and New Zealand put forward funding for loss and damage, which is the cost of rebuilding in poorer nations after unavoidable climate impacts.

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‘It was giving me a hug’: video captures rare giant octopus encounter

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Canadian diver captures footage of the cephalopod drawing closer and closer until it fully embraces her

For outsiders, scuba diving in the frigid waters of the northern Pacific can seem daunting: limbs quickly go numb without the right equipment, and unlike the sparkling blue of the tropics, the water has a gloomy, greenish tint.

But a recent viral encounter between a diver and an octopus has highlighted the particular magic of the sunken kelp forests off the coast of British Columbia.

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Cop27: ‘It’s humiliating’ – Indigenous voices say they are being ignored at climate summit – as it happened

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A Kulkalgal activist from the Torres Strait Islands has said Indigenous people are ‘fighting for their homes’ as conference discussions focus on climate finance

This live blog is closed

More photos from today:

Xie Zhenhua continues to say that Beijing is willing to contribute to a mechanism for compensating poorer countries for loss and damage caused by the climate crisis.

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Midterm elections 2022: Democrats beating expectations as John Fetterman wins crucial US Senate race – live

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Latest updates and results as millions across the US cast votes in what is largely seen as a referendum on Biden’s presidency

The Republican candidate for governor in Arizona, Kari Lake, told reporters earlier she will be their “worst fricking nightmare for eight years” if she defeats the Democrat Katie Hobbs.

Lake has been talked up as a running mate for Donald Trump in his widely expected run for the Republican presidential nomination.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: Russia orders troops to leave key Ukrainian city of Kherson

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Move will be widely seen as significant blow to Vladimir Putin weeks after he announced the ‘forever’ annexation of Kherson

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, is in Cambodia today, meeting prime minister Hun Sen at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh. Kuleba wrote on Twitter: “We focused on bilateral cooperation and global food security. I also congratulated prime minister Sen on Happy Cambodian Independence Day.”

Eastern European countries are preparing to reopen reception centres and are restocking food supplies in anticipation of a possible fresh surge in Ukrainian refugees as winter looms and Russia targets Ukraine’s power grid and heating plants.

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Police allege Sydney woman was choked, sexually assaulted by Sri Lankan cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka after meeting on Tinder

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NSW police facts sheet filed with Downing Centre local court alleges woman feared for her life during alleged attack in Rose Bay home

A Sydney woman has said she feared for her life on a date after meeting Sri Lankan cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka on Tinder.

The woman, who cannot be identified, was allegedly sexually assaulted four times in her Rose Bay home on 2 November after going out for drinks and pizza with the international sports star.

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Oldest known written sentence discovered – on a head-lice comb

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Timeless fret over hygiene picked out on engraved Bronze age comb from ancient kingdom of Judah

It’s a simple sentence that captures the hopes and fears of modern-day parents as much as the bronze age Canaanite who owned the doubled-edged ivory comb on which the words appear.

Believed to be the oldest known sentence written in the earliest alphabet, the inscription on the luxury item reads: “May this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard.”

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Climate crisis will have huge impact on Africa’s economies, study says

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As Cop27 discusses climate finance, report says continent’s GDP growth could fall by two-thirds this century

African countries, which are the least responsible for the global climate crisis, face seeing their GDP growth rate fall by up to 64% by the end of the century, according to research – even if the world succeeds in limiting global heating to 1.5C.

As world leaders hustle over climate action at the UN summit in Egypt, a study commissioned by Christian Aid has found that burning fossil fuels at the current rate will have a huge impact on the finances of African countries. The average hit to GDP per capita could be as much as 34%, finds the report, while the effect on GDP growth will lead to an average 20% reduction in rates by 2050 and a huge 64% on average by 2100.

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Serious concerns raised in NZ about environmental impact of major productions including Amazon’s Rings of Power

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In response to workers’ claims of high emissions and waste, Amazon says it complied with all laws and ‘either met or exceeded industry standards’

Picture three scenes: in a sheltered clearing, a stand of trees stretches skyward, trunks pale against the dark soil, leaves dappling the ground like golden dollar coins. In another, a maelstrom of white flakes is carried in eddies by the wind. In a third, sheer cliffs are slick with snow, icicles hanging like shards of glass.

Scenes like these have formed the visual signature for onscreen adaptations of the Lord of the Rings, including Amazon’s latest, monster-budget offering, The Rings of Power. That association has helped form the bedrock of a decade of New Zealand tourism campaigns, showcasing the country’s pristine environments to the world.

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Midterm elections 2022: US voters head to polls as Republicans fight to take Senate control – live

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Millions across the country vote while Florida state department tells DoJ that federal election monitors won’t be permitted

Andrew Gawthorpe is a historian of the United States at Leiden University and host of the podcast America Explained, and he writes for the Guardian today to argue that the future of American democracy is at stake in the midterm elections:

Never before in American history has there been an organized movement which was only one vote away from having the motivation and opportunity to make that election America’s last. Never that is, until now. Today’s anti-democratic movement is propelled not by genuine controversy or scandal, but rather by their commitment to ending competitive elections in the United States. There is no other way to interpret their belief that only one side, the Republicans, can legitimately be considered to win, and the plans that they hold to make this belief a reality.

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Cop27: Ukraine president says peace is vital for saving climate; US called out for blocking ‘loss and damage’ funds – live

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Volodymyr Zelenskiy appears at climate summit via video link; climate experts say US has acted ‘in bad faith’ for decades

I’ve been looking at what some climate scientists on Twitter have been saying about Cop27. Here is a small selection:

Dr Chandni Singh has been checking out the displays at different country pavilions, including one from Pakistan.

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Dutch MEP says illegal spyware ‘a grave threat to democracy’

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European Commission wears ‘velvet gloves’ when dealing with spyware used on citizens, says chief of inquiry on hacking software, including Pegasus

The senior MEP leading an inquiry into spyware has accused the EU commission of ignoring the “grave threat to democracy” posed by the use of the technology, and national governments of failing to co-operate with her investigation.

The Dutch liberal MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld said there was illegal use of spyware in Poland, Hungary, Greece and Spain and suspicions about Cyprus, while other EU member states made it easy for the “shady” industry to operate.

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Cop27: ending war in Ukraine necessary to tackle climate crisis, Zelenskiy says

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Ukrainian president says Russia’s invasion has forced dozens of countries to resume coal-fired power to alleviate energy costs

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has told world leaders they will not be able to tackle the climate crisis unless Russia’s invasion of his country ends.

“There can be no effective climate policy without the peace,” he said in a video address at the Cop27 UN climate summit in Egypt on Tuesday. “The Russian war has brought about an energy crisis that has forced dozens of countries to resume coal-fired power generation in order to lower energy prices for their people, to lower prices that are shockingly rising due to deliberate Russian actions.”

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Ukraine urges US to ‘stay united’ as potential Republican win threatens aid

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Prominent Republican party figures have signalled they would aim to reduce military support for Ukraine

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has urged the US to stay united in its support amid worries about the consequences of a Republican win in Tuesday’s midterm elections.

If the US Democrats lose control of the House of Representatives and the Senate, the colossal financial and military support provided to Ukraine under the Democrats could falter.

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Macron and Sunak ‘bromance’ signals intent to reset Franco-British ties

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Clear wish in Paris to thaw relations that plummeted to their worst state in decades under Boris Johnson

When Emmanuel Macron rushed to hug the new UK prime minister at their first meeting in Egypt this week, some called it a “bromance”.

Even though the French president’s hands-on embrace of world leaders is almost always called a “bromance” – from Justin Trudeau to Mohammed bin Salman and Donald Trump (a relationship which eventually soured), Macron and Rishi Sunak’s grinning and back-slapping stood out as symbolic.

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Chinese authorities ‘drop EU council chief’s speech criticising war in Ukraine’

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European diplomats say Charles Michel video referring to Russia’s ‘illegal’ and ‘brutal’ invasion was withdrawn from trade fair

Chinese authorities dropped a trade fair speech by the European Council president, Charles Michel, that was critical of Russia’s war in Ukraine, diplomats have said.

The recorded message by Michel was meant to be one of several from world leaders and heads of international bodies played at the opening on Friday last week of China’s International Import Expo in Shanghai. Three European diplomats said Michel’s speech, which was to have been heavily critical of Russia’s “illegal” war in Ukraine, had been removed, according to Reuters, which first reported the incident.

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