UN chief calls Middle East crisis ‘nightmare’ amid push for Lebanon ceasefire

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António Guterres says violence puts region at risk as Hezbollah and Israel seem unwilling to dial down fighting

The UN secretary general has told world leaders that Lebanon is on the brink of becoming a second Gaza, adding that the crisis has “become a non-stop nightmare that threatens to take the whole region down”.

António Guterres made his warning as diplomats meeting in New York for the UN general assembly battled to impose a ceasefire in Lebanon and to hold Israel back from a possible ground invasion.

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Outrage as Hungary presides over EU talks on democratic standards

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Country held chair due to rotating presidency despite Orbán government being under EU sanctions procedure

Hungary’s government has presided over EU talks on upholding democratic standards across the continent, in a development one prominent MEP described as “outrageous”.

Viktor Orbán’s government has been under an EU sanctions procedure since 2018 for posing a “systemic threat” to democracy and the rule of law.

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Keir Starmer calls for release of Israeli … sausages? – POLITICO Europe

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  1. Keir Starmer calls for release of Israeli … sausages?  POLITICO Europe
  2. The Austerity Economic Philosophy of Keir Starmer Is Crashing Against Britain's Reality  Foreign Policy
  3. British PM makes unfortunate ‘return of the sausages’ gaffe during serious speech  Fox News
  4. U.K.’s Labour Party is back in power, but the celebration is muted  The Washington Post
  5. The Guardian view on Keir Starmer’s speech: serving working people, but what about others?  The Guardian
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Airlines suspend more Lebanon flights amid Israeli airstrikes

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Emirates, Qatar Airways, Air France and Lufthansa among carriers pausing services to and from Beirut

International airlines have suspended more flights to Lebanon amid an Israeli bombardment that authorities said had killed almost 560 people since Monday.

The United Arab Emirates-based airline Emirates announced the temporary suspension of its flights to Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday. Its sister airline flydubai also cancelled flights to Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday.

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Canada’s Tories target Trudeau as they seek seismic shift in political landscape

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Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre to introduce motion of non-confidence in long-shot bid to force an election

Canada’s Conservative party will make its first bid to unseat prime minister Justin Trudeau this week, the latest attempt in its decade-long aim of restoring the Tories to power.

Buoyed by favourable polls, a cost of living crisis and an increasingly unpopular prime minister, the Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, will introduce a motion of non-confidence in the minority government: a long-shot bid to force the government to call an election.

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Gambling lobby pushes Labor to consider age verification to block minors from betting

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Meanwhile anti-gambling campaigner Tim Costello fears Albanese government will ‘squib’ on broad reform

Opponents of a gambling ad ban are pushing the federal government to instead consider using age verification to block minors from sports betting content.

Earlier this month the government announced plans to ban young children from accessing social media using age verification technology.

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Campaign demanding University of Sydney vice-chancellor resigns is ‘dangerous’, Jewish Council warns

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JCA’s Sarah Schwartz says targeting Mark Scott’s handling of pro-Palestinian encampment risks conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism

A “concerted campaign” calling for University of Sydney vice-chancellor Mark Scott’s resignation is “dangerous” and conflates criticism of Israel with antisemitism, the Jewish Council of Australia says.

Scott is facing calls to resign over the university’s handling of a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus. He has apologised and conceded the university must do better.

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A police strip-search left Mysa feeling dehumanised. New data reveals the extent of the practice in NSW

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Exclusive: Figures made public for the first time expose ‘problem with police accountability’, lawyer says

Mysa Le felt “vulnerable and completely helpless” when she was ordered by police to undress in front of them so they could search her body for drugs.

Le was strip-searched at Sydney’s Midnight Mafia music festival in May 2018, where she said two female police officers took her into a booth and told her to take off her clothes without explaining what was happening.

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Firm disclosed phone data of shot Tanzanian politician, UK tribunal hears

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Tigo’s former investigator claims he was unfairly dismissed for raising concerns over 2017 attack on Tundu Lissu

Gunmen tried to assassinate a Tanzanian opposition politician after a telecoms company secretly passed his mobile phone data to the government, according to evidence heard in a London tribunal.

The mobile phone company Tigo provided 24/7 phone call and location data belonging to Tundu Lissu to Tanzanian authorities in the weeks before the attempt on his life in September 2017.

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Thousands of lives will be lost if Kyiv denied permission to use western weapons in Russia, Zelenskyy says – as it happened

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Ukraine president expected to reiterate plea to use western weapons deep inside Russia when he meets Joe Biden. This live blog is closed

Russia plans to maintain defence spending at an historic high in 2025, Bloomberg News reports, suggesting that the Kremlin intend to continue its invasion of Ukraine for the foreseeable future.

The Kremlin is increasing up the spending as its forces slowly advance in eastern Ukraine. The Russian government has raised personal and corporate taxes to plug holes in the budget.

Draft three-year budget proposals seen by Bloomberg News show the government intends to increase defense spending to 13.2tn rubles ($142bn) in 2025 from 10.4tn rubles projected for this year, putting it at 6.2% of gross domestic product.

Military expenditure is planned to decline to 5.6% of GDP in 2026 and 5.1% in 2027, according to Bloomberg calculations based on the draft data.

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Two die in mudslide as Hurricane John makes landfall in Mexico

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Tropical storm intensified to category 3 hurricane before weakening as slow pace threatens severe flash flooding

Two people have died after former hurricane John barreled into Mexico’s southern Pacific coast, blowing tin roofs off houses, triggering mudslides and toppling scores of trees.

It came ashore near the town of Punta Maldonado late on Monday as a category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 120mph (190km/h). It weakened back to tropical storm status early on Tuesday with maximum sustained wind speeds of 50mph (85km/h) and was expected to weaken rapidly.

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