Sudan says plan for first Russian naval base in Africa will go ahead

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Two countries’ foreign ministers meet in Moscow and agree there are no obstacles to long-delayed plan

A plan for Russia to establish its first naval base in Africa will go ahead, Sudan’s foreign minister has confirmed, after years of delays over the Red Sea military port.

If the agreement is implemented, Russia would join the US and China in the region; they have bases to the south in Djibouti.

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Khaled Sabsabi dropped as Australia’s representative to Venice Biennale

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Amid political pressure, Creative Australia says deselecting the Lebanese-born artist will avoid ‘divisive debate’

Khaled Sabsabi, the western Sydney artist who fled Lebanon’s civil war as a child, has been dropped from representing Australia at the 61st Venice Biennale – just five days after being selected to do so.

Sabsabi selection for the 2026 showcase had caused controversy due to some of the artist’s previous works, including a 2007 depiction of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was assassinated last year, and a 2006 video rendering of the 9/11 attacks called Thank You Very Much. Shortly after the announcement, Sabsabi admitted to being shocked at being chosen, telling the Guardian: “I felt that, in this time and in this space, this wouldn’t happen because of who I am.”

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Referendum needed for Dutton’s call to toughen citizenship-stripping laws, expert says

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Constitutional law expert Helen Irving says such a change appears to be a distraction from serious nature of anti-Israeli comments from NSW nurses

Peter Dutton’s proposal to toughen citizenship-stripping laws in response to comments made by two New South Wales nurses would probably require a referendum, a constitutional lawyer says.

Both major party leaders have been accused of a “bidding war” on who can look tougher on the issue, with Abul Rizvi, a former senior immigration official, urging politicians not to throw more petrol on the fire amid social tensions.

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NSW Labor accused of trying to ‘redesign’ a mental health system with no psychiatrists

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Patient care compromised by closing beds and shifting workload to less qualified staff, motion claims

The New South Wales Labor government is seeking to “redesign” the state’s mental health system without psychiatrists, despite the risks to patient care, its political rivals claim.

In a NSW legislative council meeting on Wednesday, the shadow assistant minister Susan Carter and the Greens’ health spokesperson, Dr Amanda Cohn, lambasted the Minns government’s handling of psychiatrists’ mass resignations, with Carter accusing the responsible ministers of having “sought to redesign our mental health system to work without specialist psychiatrists”.

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Climate crisis contributing to chocolate market meltdown, research finds

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Scientists say more-frequent hotter temperatures in west African region are part of reason for reduced harvests and price rises

The climate crisis drove weeks of high temperatures in the west African region responsible for about 70% of global cacao production, hitting harvests and probably causing further record chocolate prices, researchers have said.

Farmers in the region have struggled with heat, disease and unusual rainfall in recent years, which have contributed to falling production.

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Trump kept Germany’s Scholz in the dark about his Ukraine peace plan – POLITICO Europe

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  1. Trump kept Germany’s Scholz in the dark about his Ukraine peace plan  POLITICO Europe
  2. Scholz rejects ‘dictated peace’ for Ukraine as Europe reels after Trump-Putin call  FRANCE 24 English
  3. ‘We will soon be next’: German leaders sound alarm on Trump’s Ukraine plan  POLITICO Europe
  4. Can European ‘Boots on the Ground’ Help Protect Ukraine’s Security?  The New York Times
  5. The Global South, Not Europe, Should Play Peacekeeper in Ukraine  Foreign Policy
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UK shipping firm used enslaved workers in Caribbean after abolition, study finds

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Postal Museum says research featured in new exhibition shows how global postal service was ‘tool of empire’

A British shipping company that became the largest in the world at the height of empire continued to use the labour of enslaved people after the abolition of slavery, research has found.

The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company (RMSPC), which received a royal charter from Queen Victoria in 1839, used enslaved workers on the tiny island of St Thomas, which was a Danish colony at the time and is now part of the US Virgin Islands.

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As the DRC battles Rwanda-backed M23, what’s needed to stop the fighting? – Al Jazeera English

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  1. As the DRC battles Rwanda-backed M23, what’s needed to stop the fighting?  Al Jazeera English
  2. Humanitarian catastrophe looms in east Congo as rebels push south, official says  Reuters
  3. Fighting in Africa’s mineral-rich DRC killed over 3,000 in less than 2 weeks. Here’s how your phone plays a part  CNN
  4. Pressure points: How Europeans could help avert a Third Congo War  European Council on Foreign Relations
  5. DR Congo: M23 Drives Displaced People From Goma Camps  Human Rights Watch
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A far-right party is heading for its strongest result yet in Germany’s election – The Associated Press

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  1. A far-right party is heading for its strongest result yet in Germany’s election  The Associated Press
  2. By courting the far right, the man tipped to be Germany’s next chancellor may have sealed his own downfall  The Guardian
  3. No Good Alternatives in Germany's Elections  Bloomberg
  4. East Germany is a far-right stronghold — and economic concerns helped make it happen  CNBC
  5. How the far right is expanding its international network  DW (English)
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