Tulsi Gabbard grilled on Snowden, Assad and Putin in tense Senate hearing

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Skeptical senators ruthlessly questioned Trump’s national intelligence director nominee ahead of confirmation vote

Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump’s nominee for national intelligence director, refused to call the whistleblower Edward Snowden a “traitor” but sought to rein in her unorthodox views on foreign dictators and opposition to electronic surveillance during a tense confirmation hearing that could sink her nomination to oversee the country’s sprawling intelligence community.

In a three-hour hearing before the Senate intelligence committee, Gabbard, a former congresswoman and member of the Hawaii army national guard, partially recanted her views that Russia was provoked into invading Ukraine, said she had “no love” for the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and denied meeting with Hezbollah representatives during a trip to Lebanon in 2017.

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Planned UK people-smuggling laws risk ‘criminalising’ asylum seekers, charities say

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Bill could mean asylum seekers crossing the Channel who refuse rescue may face five years in prison

Keir Starmer’s planned people-smuggling laws risk “criminalising” hundreds of asylum seekers, refugee charities have said, after it emerged that people who refuse to be rescued by the French authorities could be jailed for five years.

Some parents who bring their children to the UK in small boats could also face prosecution, which could ultimately split their families, a human rights assessment of the border security, asylum and immigration bill has concluded.

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‘Did they learn nothing?’: Auschwitz survivor to return German honour over AfD vote role

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Albrecht Weinberg ‘horrified’ that MPs relied on far-right party to pass anti-immigration motion

A 99-year-old Holocaust survivor has said he will return his federal order of merit to the German president in protest over MPs passing an anti-immigration motion in parliament with the support of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland.

Albrecht Weinberg, whose parents were murdered in Auschwitz, told the Guardian he was “horrified” on learning that a proposal submitted by the conservative parties had relied on the anti-immigrant, xenophobic AfD to get it over the line.

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Crowds greet militant leader Zakaria Zubeidi among prisoners released in Ramallah

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Israel freed 110 Palestinians in exchange for three Israelis and five Thai nationals held in Gaza

As the line of white buses drew closer to the West Bank city of Ramallah at dusk, their most notorious passenger stood at the window of one of the buses and waved. Skinny in his grey Israeli prison tracksuit, his head shaved, Zakaria Zubeidi lifted two fingers to make a peace sign and gestured at jubilant crowds.

The 49-year-old, a former leader of a Palestinian militant group jailed for attacks that killed several Israelis, was among 110 Palestinian prisoners freed in exchange for three Israelis and five Thai nationals held by Palestinian militants in Gaza. The prisoners’ release was delayed by Israeli officials, who expressed dismay at the chaotic scenes in Gaza that accompanied the Israelis’ transfer to the custody of the Red Cross.

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Couple jailed over ‘sexual and sadistic’ murder of Sarah Mayhew in London

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Steve Samson given whole-life order and Gemma Watts at least 30 years after killing and dismembering 38-year-old

A couple who killed a woman and dumped her dismembered body in different parts of south London have been jailed for murder.

Steve Samson was out of prison on a life licence for the murder of a taxi driver in 1998 when he and his partner, Gemma Watts, killed Sarah Mayhew, 38, at his flat in Sutton last spring.

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Gaza internal checkpoint to be staffed by US private armed contractors

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Deployment of special forces veterans is unprecedented and poses risk that Americans could be drawn into fighting

A US security firm is hiring nearly 100 US special forces veterans to help run a checkpoint in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas truce, introducing armed American contractors into the heart of one of the world’s most violent conflict zones.

UG Solutions, a low-profile company founded in 2023 and based in Davidson, North Carolina, is offering a daily rate starting at $1,100 with a $10,000 advance to veterans it hires, according to a recruitment email.

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‘Disrupt or be disrupted’, mainstream parties warned as voters turn to populists

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Research shows voters losing faith in traditional centre-left and centre-right to deliver meaningful change

Voters in western democracies are turning away from mainstream political parties and towards populists because they are losing faith in their ability to implement meaningful change, a major report based on surveys of 12,000 voters has found.

The popularity of traditional centre-left and centre-right parties across major democratic countries has plummeted from 73% in 2000 to 51% today, according to research by the Tony Blair Institute.

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Dominique Pelicot questioned over murder and attempted rape during 1990s – BBC.com

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  1. Dominique Pelicot questioned over murder and attempted rape during 1990s  BBC.com
  2. Gisèle Pelicot's ex-husband, imprisoned for raping and drugging her, now caught up in other cases  ABC News
  3. Gisele Pelicot’s ex-husband now questioned over string of cold cases  The Independent
  4. French convicted rapist Dominique Pelicot questioned over 1990s cases  Le Monde
  5. France's 'Husband from Hell' Questioned in Unsolved Killings  Newsweek
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Serbia’s striking students set off on 2-day march north as their protest movement widens – The Associated Press

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  1. Serbia’s striking students set off on 2-day march north as their protest movement widens  The Associated Press
  2. Serbian protesters march ahead of their Danube bridge blockade as driver rams Belgrade demonstration  The Associated Press
  3. Why Mass Protests Are Testing Serbia’s Longtime Ruler  Bloomberg
  4. Protesting Serbian Students Set 24-Hour Belgrade Blockade, Joined By Farmers, Others  Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
  5. ‘We are done with corruption’: how the students of Serbia rose up against the system  The Guardian
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Authorities in St. Kitts and Nevis launch investigation after 19 people found dead in drifting vessel – CBS News

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  1. Authorities in St. Kitts and Nevis launch investigation after 19 people found dead in drifting vessel  CBS News
  2. St Kitts and Nevis finds 13 decomposing bodies in boat adrift in Caribbean  The Guardian
  3. Caribbean nation of St Kitts launches investigation after 19 people found dead in drifting vessel  Fox News
  4. 19 bodies found in vessel drifting in Caribbean Sea  UPI News
  5. At least 19 bodies found on ship adrift in Caribbean Sea  New York Daily News
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