Category Archives: World News

Ukraine forces shoot down drones as Kyiv hit by multiple explosions

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Officials say 13 Iranian-made drones shot down as air raid sirens sound in capital and surrounding area

The Ukrainian military shot down 13 Iranian-made drones over Kyiv and the surrounding region early on Wednesday as a series of explosions hit the capital in what authorities described as a continuation of Russia’s “energy terror” against the country.

Kyiv’s city administration said two of its administrative buildings had been damaged by the falling debris of a drone. There were no victims, the spokesperson for Kyiv’s rescue services, Svitlana Vodolaga, told Ukraine’s Suspline news.

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UN to investigate use of ‘parental alienation’ tactic in custody cases

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Fears an increase in allegations, particularly against mothers, of deliberately alienating a child against the other parent in domestic abuse cases may put victims at further risk

The UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls is to investigate how family courts around the world approach “parental alienation” (PA) and how this may lead to the double victimisation of those who have suffered domestic abuse.

There is no single agreed definition of parental alienation but a generally accepted description is a child’s rejection of one parent as a result of psychological manipulation by their preferred parent.

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‘Road sleeping’ deaths soar in Tokyo as socialising returns to pre-Covid levels

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Authorities concerned that death toll from people being hit by cars while sleeping on roads will increase further as end-of-year party season begins

The end of Covid-19 restrictions on Japan’s nighttime economy has brought more people out on to the streets of Tokyo – but it could also be contributing to a spate of deaths among people who are struck by cars as they sleep on the road.

The number of deaths among people who sleep where they drop on the capital’s roads has nearly doubled from last year, from seven to 13, according to police.

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China says spread of Covid ‘impossible’ to track as infections soar in Beijing

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Health officials cease recording asymptomatic cases as shortages of medical supplies and testing kits reported in wake of sudden end to strict Covid policy

The spread of Covid-19 in China is now “impossible” to track, the country’s health authorities have said, announcing they have stopped recording asymptomatic cases in their daily tallies.

The admission comes amid soaring presentations to hospitals and clinics as Covid-19 spreads rapidly through the population in the wake of the sudden removal of strict pandemic measures. Authorities have urged people not to seek emergency healthcare unless necessary, and announced the rollout of second boosters to elderly and vulnerable people.

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Ron DeSantis leads Donald Trump by 23 points in Republican poll

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Florida governor takes enormous lead over embattled ex-president for 2024 race as Mike Pence nears a run of his own

In a new poll regarding potential Republican nominees for president in 2024, the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, led Donald Trump by a whopping 23 points.

Republican and Republican-leaning voters dealt the significant blow to the former president’s ego in a survey carried out by USA Today and Suffolk University and released on Tuesday.

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Trinity College Dublin considers returning Inishbofin skulls

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Skulls’ removal from island in 1890s was colonial-era violation, say campaigners

Under cover of darkness in 1890, two headhunters climbed over a gate and crept into a graveyard on Inishbofin, a remote County Galway island on Ireland’s Atlantic coast. In the ruins of a medieval monastery they found dozens of skulls. They selected 13.

“When the coast was clear we put our spoils in the sack and cautiously made our way back to the road,” Alfred Haddon later wrote in his diary. He and his accomplice, Andrew Dixon, smuggled the skulls on to a boat and sailed away.

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Mother charged in New Zealand ‘suitcase murders’ of two children pleads not guilty

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The 42-year-old accused of the murder is the children’s mother, and was extradited from South Korea in November

A woman charged with the murder of two children whose bodies were found in suitcases in New Zealand has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The 42-year-old woman accused of their murder is the children’s mother, and was extradited from South Korea on murder charges in late November.

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Greece: thousands march after death of Roma boy shot in police chase

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The 16-year-old was shot in the head after reportedly driving from service station without paying for 20 euros of petrol

Thousands of protesters have marched through Thessaloniki and Athens, as Roma community leaders appealed for calm after the death of a teenager shot in the head last week during a police chase.

The 16-year-old boy, who has not been officially named, died on Tuesday, eight days after he was shot by a police motorcyclist after reportedly driving away from a service station without paying for 20 euros of petrol.

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Cop15 half-time report: China prompts fears of new ‘Copenhagen moment’

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Negotiators say divisions mean risk is growing of a weak final agreement similar to Denmark summit in 2009

Talks to halt the destruction of nature “very much hang in the balance”, sources have said, as environment ministers from around the world begin to arrive in Montreal amid concerns about a lack of Chinese leadership of the Cop15 talks.

At the halfway stage of the summit in Canada, negotiators at the UN biodiversity summit have said divisions are contributing to the growing risk of a “Copenhagen moment”, referring to the 2009 UN climate summit when talks ended with a weak final agreement in the Danish capital, not the “Paris moment for nature” leading environmental figures had been calling for.

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South Africa’s parliament votes against motion to impeach Cyril Ramaphosa

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Result boosts president’s effort to win second term as leader of the ruling African National Congress

South Africa’s parliament has voted against launching an impeachment process against embattled president Cyril Ramaphosa, boosting the veteran politician’s effort to win a second term as leader of the ruling African National Congress at a key elective conference that opens later this week.

The motion to impeach Ramaphosa followed a report by an independent panel appointed by parliament that accused the veteran politician of serious misconduct after the theft from his private game ranch of somewhere between $500,000 (£410,000) and $5m in cash almost three years ago.

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African leaders gather in US as Joe Biden aims to reboot rocky relations

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President and Antony Blinken woo nations at summit in Washington in hope they will align with west rather than Russia or China

Dozens of African leaders have assembled in Washington for a summit aimed at rebooting US relations on the continent, which have languished in recent years.

The US-Africa summit, the first since 2014, will be the biggest international gathering in Washington since the pandemic and the most substantial commitment by a US administration to boosting its influence in the region for almost a decade.

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Iran sentences 400 people to jail terms of up to 10 years over protests

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Figures from Tehran province indicate extent of clampdown on protests sparked by killing of Mahsa Amini

Courts in and around the Iranian capital have jailed 400 people on charges related to recent protests, for terms of up to 10 years.

Ali Alghasi-Mehr, the judiciary chief for Tehran province, said judges had handed down the rulings to “rioters” – a term officials use for all demonstrators who defy Iran’s hardline theocratic rule.

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Floods and landslides kill scores of people in Kinshasa

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Dozens of people injured after heavy rain destroys houses and ruins roads in DRC’s capital

At least 100 people have been killed and dozens injured in widespread floods and landslides caused by heavy rain in the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kinshasa.

The prime minister, Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde, said officials were still searching for more bodies.

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Barbados’ top court strikes down laws that criminalize gay sex

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Third nation in conservative Caribbean region to do so this year, in pivotal moment for those who have long fought against such laws

A top court in Barbados has struck down colonial-era laws that criminalize gay sex, becoming the third nation in the conservative Caribbean region to do so this year.

The ruling issued Monday by the Barbados high court is a pivotal moment for activists and non-profit organizations who have long fought against such laws on the eastern Caribbean island, including one that demands up to a life sentence for gay men found guilty of having sex.

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Canada court rejects mother’s lawsuit to ban Indigenous ceremony at children’s school

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Candice Servatius, an evangelical Protestant, claimed ceremony infringes on her children’s religious freedoms

A Canadian court has again rejected claims from a mother that Indigenous cultural events at her children’s school infringed on their religious freedoms, ordering her to pay costs after revelations her lawsuit was secretly funded by a Christian activist organization.

Candice Servatius, an evangelical Protestant, complained in 2016 after an Elder performed a smudging demonstration at her children’s school in the western British Columbia town of Port Alberni. A hoop dancer also said a prayer while performing at a school assembly.

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Argentinian court clears woman of killing her baby after obstetric emergency

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Accused had a gynaecological condition and was unaware she was pregnant, court told, as verdict hailed a victory by women’s rights activists

A woman in Argentina accused of killing her baby after suffering an obstetric emergency has had her case dismissed.

A court in Buenos Aires, cleared La China*, 43, after the prosecution withdrew its charge of aggravated homicide.

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Russia-Ukraine war: US finalising plans to send Patriot missile defence system to Ukraine, reports say – as it happened

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European Union countries’ energy ministers must decide on Tuesday if they are ready to reach a deal on an EU-wide gas price cap, the Czech Republic’s industry minister, Jozef Sikela, said.

“This is now purely up to the ministers to show if they are ready to reach an agreement or not,” Sikela said on his arrival to a meeting of EU energy ministers in Brussels, where they aim to agree on the price cap.

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Lingerie firm Agent Provocateur under pressure over Moscow franchise stores

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Retailer among companies listed by Leave Russia project but says it does not itself operate there

In its three decades in British retail, the lingerie brand Agent Provocateur, the 1990s brainchild of Dame Vivienne Westwood’s son, has rarely shied away from controversy.

Whether it be its daring window displays or that 2001 TV advert featuring Kylie Minogue riding a velvet bucking bronco, the brand has stirred up some strong emotions. But it had not, until now, been accused of inadvertently helping to finance a war in Europe.

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Abduction of Lockerbie bomb suspect undermines rule of law, analysts say

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Mohammed Abouagela Masud, who has appeared in US court, was seized by notorious Libyan militia from Tripoli home

The abduction of a former Libyan intelligence operative accused of preparing the bomb that brought down Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 and his transfer into US custody was agreed about three months ago after conversations between US government and Libyan officials, the Guardian has been told.

Mohammed Abouagela Masud appeared briefly in court in Washington DC on Monday, accused of having set the timer for the bomb that destroyed the Boeing 747, killing 270 people in the most deadly terrorist attack to have taken place on British soil.

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Greek MEP stripped of EU vice-president role amid Qatar scandal

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MEPs vote to remove role from Eva Kaili, one of four charged in corruption and bribery investigation

The European parliament has voted to strip a Greek MEP implicated in a bribery and corruption scandal of her role as one of the body’s vice-presidents.

MEPs voted by 625 votes to one, with two abstentions, to remove Eva Kaili as one of the parliament’s 14 vice-presidents, following a decision in favour of the move by the assembly’s senior leaders.

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