CIA official Asif Rahman arrested in leak of secret files on Israel – The Washington Post

  1. CIA official Asif Rahman arrested in leak of secret files on Israel  The Washington Post
  2. CIA official charged with leaking classified documents about Israeli strike on Iran  USA TODAY
  3. FBI arrests alleged leaker of US intelligence documents related to Israel’s attack plans against Iran  CNN
  4. C.I.A. Official Charged in Leak of Classified Documents About Israeli Military Plans  The New York Times
  5. US government worker charged with leaking classified documents on Israel's plans to strike Iran  The Associated Press
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‘I have lost everything’: southern Africa battles hunger amid historic drought

Crops have failed in several countries, with 27m people at risk of hunger according to World Food Programme

Emmanuel Himoonga paced his dry field, picking up stalks of maize that had been bleached almost to bone white.

The 61-year-old chief of Shakumbila, a mainly agricultural community of about 7,000 people roughly 70 miles west of Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, had seen droughts before.

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Israel accused of crimes against humanity over forced displacement in Gaza

Human Rights Watch says it has evidence that suggests ‘the war crime of forcible transfer’ of civilians

Israel is using evacuation orders to pursue the “deliberate and massive forced displacement” of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, according to a report by Human Rights Watch, which says the policy amounts to crimes against humanity.

The US-based group added it had collected evidence that suggested “the war crime of forcible transfer [of the civilian population]”, describing it as “a grave breach of the Geneva conventions and a crime under the Rome statute of the international criminal court”.

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Dead drops, PR stunts and punishment beatings: the rapid rise of Russia’s powerful darknet drug industry

Tech-savvy organised crime groups profiting from billion-dollar enterprise that is spreading beyond Russian borders

At any one moment in towns and cities across Russia, thousands of drug packages lie buried in the ground, attached by magnets to lamp-posts or taped underneath window sills, waiting to be picked up by their intended customers.

From the streets of Moscow to remote towns in Siberia, hand-to-hand buying of illegal drugs – as is the norm in most of the world – is on the wane. Instead, retail-size bags of drugs are secreted using spycraft by an army of young kladmen (stash men) who upload dead-drop locations, which are unlocked when customers make an online purchase.

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Israel prepares Lebanon cease-fire plan as ‘gift’ to Trump, officials say – The Washington Post

  1. Israel prepares Lebanon cease-fire plan as ‘gift’ to Trump, officials say  The Washington Post
  2. Israeli Forces Push Deeper Into Lebanon in Widening War Campaign  The Wall Street Journal
  3. Netanyahu Plans a Big Gift for Trump—Two Months From Now  The New Republic
  4. Lebanese ceasefire efforts inch ahead as Israel keeps up fierce bombardment  Reuters
  5. Israel’s maximalist demands unlikely to lead to ceasefire with Hezbollah  Al Jazeera English
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China Silences Car Attack Mourners, Vows Tighter Grip on Society – Bloomberg

  1. China Silences Car Attack Mourners, Vows Tighter Grip on Society  Bloomberg
  2. After Deadly Car Rampage, Chinese Officials Try to Erase Any Hint of It  The New York Times
  3. Driver Kills 35 in China’s Deadliest Attack in at Least a Decade  Bloomberg
  4. Hit and Run Driver Kills 35 People Before Airshow in China  Newsweek
  5. Silence descends around China’s deadliest mass killing in years as flowers cleared away  The Associated Press
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‘Nowhere is safe’: Concerns grow as Israel strikes new areas of Lebanon – BBC.com

  1. 'Nowhere is safe': Concerns grow as Israel strikes new areas of Lebanon  BBC.com
  2. Aid groups say Israel killed 20 workers in Gaza in the past month  Al Jazeera English
  3. Israel Intensifies Strikes in Lebanon Amid Push for Cease-Fire  The New York Times
  4. Israeli strikes kill dozens in Lebanon and isolated northern Gaza while Netanyahu and Trump speak  The Associated Press
  5. IDF strikes Beirut’s southern suburbs; Israeli ministers welcome Trump Cabinet picks  The Washington Post
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Judge investigating 2023 coup was court bomb target, say Brazilian police

Police name 59-year-old with explosive devices said to have killed himself after trying to enter court in Brasília

The main target of a bomber who killed himself while attempting to attack Brazil’s supreme court was the justice leading the key investigations into the attempted coup of 8 January last year, when supporters of the former president Jair Bolsonaro ransacked the buildings to protest against his election defeat, police have said.

The explosions outside the court on Wednesday took place just five days before the G20 heads of state are due to meet in Rio de Janeiro, which will be followed by a state visit to Brasília, the capital, by the Chinese president, Xi Jinping.

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China arms itself for potential trade war with Donald Trump – Financial Times

  1. China arms itself for potential trade war with Donald Trump  Financial Times
  2. China Tariffs Are Coming. Beijing’s Response Could Be a New Currency War.  Barron's
  3. Trump tariff threat looms large on several Asian countries — not just China — says Goldman Sachs  CNBC
  4. China Trade War Is One Trump Doesn’t Have to Fight  Bloomberg
  5. Experts say Trump's threatened China tariffs could actually help Beijing weather an economic storm  CBS News
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Typhoon Usagi rapidly intensifies to Category 4, on track toward Philippines – The Washington Post

  1. Typhoon Usagi rapidly intensifies to Category 4, on track toward Philippines  The Washington Post
  2. Map: Tracking Super Typhoon Usagi  The New York Times
  3. Typhoon Usagi to Hit the Philippines, Latest in String of Storms  Bloomberg
  4. An overwhelmed Philippines braces for another typhoon, the fifth major storm to hit in three weeks  Yahoo! Voices
  5. LIVE UPDATES: Super Typhoon Ofel  INQUIRER.net
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Pint-sized crustacean named after New Zealand brewery to boost interest in marine life

Tiny isopod is dubbed Pentaceration forkandbrewer in push to engage community with climate-threatened life in local waters

New Zealand scientists have named a tiny snowflake-like crustacean after a Wellington brewery, in an attempt to boost the public’s interest in local marine life.

The roughly 1.5mm marine isopod was found in the silty depths off New Zealand’s southern east coast. It helps decompose organic material that drifts to the seabed.

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Biden to meet Saturday with China’s Xi Jinping – The Washington Post

  1. Biden to meet Saturday with China’s Xi Jinping  The Washington Post
  2. Biden, Xi to Meet as World Leaders Shift Focus to Trump  Bloomberg
  3. Biden to Meet With President Xi Jinping of China During Summit This Weekend  The New York Times
  4. A diminished Biden heads to APEC summit in Peru, overshadowed by China’s Xi  The Associated Press
  5. Quinoa, ceviche and Chinese fusion on menu as Peru hosts Biden, Xi  Reuters
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