World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk

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World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk


Burkina Faso’s ex-president guilty of complicity in murder of predecessor

Posted: 06 Apr 2022 07:45 AM PDT

Blaise Compaoré sentenced to life imprisonment at military tribunal over role in 1987 killing of Thomas Sankara

Burkina Faso's former president Blaise Compaoré has been sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of complicity in the 1987 murder of his predecessor Thomas Sankara, concluding a landmark trial and a decades-long quest for justice.

Sankara, a Marxist icon of pan-Africanism hailed across Africa and beyond, was gunned down along with 12 colleagues in the west African nation's capital, Ouagadougou, at the age of 37, four years after he took power in a coup.

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Médecins Sans Frontières suspends operations in parts of Cameroon over detained staff

Posted: 06 Apr 2022 04:18 AM PDT

Health charity in an 'untenable position' in anglophone parts of the country as it is accused of taking sides in internal strife

Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has suspended its work in Cameroon's south-west region and demanded the release of four staff members who have been detained for months, accused of helping secessionists.

Two MSF staff were detained at a checkpoint in December when they were transferring a patient with gunshot wounds. Another two were held by Cameroonian gendarmerie in January.

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Tigray has been the scene of ‘ethnic cleansing’, say human rights groups

Posted: 05 Apr 2022 10:15 PM PDT

Human Rights Watch-Amnesty report accuses Ethiopian paramilitaries of war crimes and crimes against humanity

Ethiopian paramilitaries have carried out a campaign of ethnic cleansing in Tigray, forcing hundreds of thousands of people from their homes using threats, killings and sexual violence, according to a joint report by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

The rights groups accuse officials and paramilitaries from the neighbouring Amhara region of war crimes and crimes against humanity in western Tigray, in northern Ethiopia.

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Canada bans foreign homebuyers for two years in effort to cool market

Posted: 08 Apr 2022 06:43 AM PDT

Government under pressure after prices climbed by more than 20% last year, while rental rates have also been rising

Justin Trudeau's government has announced it will ban foreign investors from buying homes in Canada for two years, in a bid to cool off a hot housing market.

The finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, took a number of measures to tamp down speculation and demand amid record home prices in announcing the federal budget for the year.

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Stay or go? Mexicans vote on Amlo’s performance in historic recall election

Posted: 08 Apr 2022 02:30 AM PDT

Despite Covid deaths and enduring drug violence, voters look poised to keep president in office in referendum he supports

Maria de Lourdes loves her leader and is desperate for him to stay.

"He's the best president we've had in 70 years," the retiree enthused this week as she prepared to bombard her phone contacts with calls urging them to back him on Sunday, when Mexico goes to the polls.

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DHL cargo plane splits in two after crash landing at Costa Rica airport

Posted: 07 Apr 2022 05:47 PM PDT

Mechanical failure prompted pilot to request emergency landing shortly after plane took off from Juan Santamaria airport

A Boeing 757-200 cargo aircraft operated by DHL has made a dramatic emergency landing at Costa Rica's Juan Santamaria international airport, skidded off the runway and broke in two, losing its tail.

DHL, part of Deutsche Post AG, said the crew was unharmed and that one member was undergoing a medical review as a precaution.

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Peruvian prime minister’s praise of Hitler sparks wave of protest

Posted: 07 Apr 2022 03:26 PM PDT

Aníbal Torres said his words were misunderstood but offered to apologize in person to Israeli ambassador Asaf Ichilevich

The Israeli embassy in Lima has led a wave of protest after Peru's prime minister Aníbal Torres praised Adolf Hitler, on the grounds that the fascist dictator turned Germany into the "first economic power in the world".

In a week in which the government of Pedro Castillo has been engulfed in a political crisis caused by rising fuel and fertiliser prices triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine – and the president's own blundering efforts to calm the unrest – Torres' inopportune remark on Thursday drew opprobrium from all quarters.

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Brazil military ‘posed as NGOs on social media’ to play down deforestation

Posted: 07 Apr 2022 10:23 AM PDT

Facebook owner Meta removes network from social media in move which could damage President Jair Bolsonaro

Facebook owner Meta Platforms has removed a network of social media accounts with ties to the Brazilian military that posed as fake non-profits to play down the dangers of deforestation.

The comments by Meta, published in a quarterly report, pose a reputational risk to Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro. The far-right former army captain is a longtime sceptic of environmentalism.

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Puerto Rico power outage plunges over 1 million into darkness

Posted: 07 Apr 2022 07:53 AM PDT

Fire at a main power plant causes biggest blackout so far this year on island, forcing it to cancel classes and close government offices

More than 1 million customers in Puerto Rico remained without electricity on Thursday after a fire at a main power plant caused the biggest blackout so far this year across the US territory, forcing it to cancel classes and shutter government offices.

The blackout also left some 160,000 customers without water and snarled traffic across the island of 3.2 million people, where the roar of generators and smell of diesel filled the air.

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Two divers from UK and France found adrift off Malaysia but boy, 14, still missing

Posted: 08 Apr 2022 11:34 PM PDT

Three divers and their instructor had been unable to find their boat after surfacing

A British man and a French woman were rescued in Malaysia on Saturday three days after going missing while diving, but the Briton's son was still missing, police said.

The trio and their instructor got into trouble on Wednesday after they surfaced from a dive near a southern island but could not find their boat.

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Ex-Goldman banker Roger Ng found guilty in billion-dollar 1MDB scandal

Posted: 08 Apr 2022 09:24 AM PDT

Ng, 49, found guilty of helping to embezzle money earmarked for development in one of biggest frauds in financial history

The former Goldman Sachs executive Roger Ng has been found guilty of helping to steal billions of dollars from Malaysia's 1MDB sovereign wealth fund after a lengthy trial brought by US prosecutors, who described the fraud as one the largest financial scandals in history and who hoped to show that individuals are always at the center of corporate wrongdoing.

A New York jury found Ng, 49, once Goldman's top investment banker in Malaysia, guilty of helping his former boss Tim Leissner embezzle money intended for development to benefit Malaysia's poor from a fund connected to Malaysia's then prime minister, Najib Razak, and then to launder the proceeds while bribing officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi.

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Desperation amid food shortages in Shanghai as Covid lockdown bites

Posted: 08 Apr 2022 04:07 AM PDT

Lockdown had been due to end on Tuesday, leaving residents unprepared to be indefinitely housebound

Stories of desperation are emerging in Shanghai as the city enters its third day of strict lockdown, with increasingly widespread reports of residents being unable to access food, medicine and other essentials.

The city's Covid lockdown was extended indefinitely earlier this week after staggered restrictions failed to contain infections. City officials had promised the staggered lockdown would end on 5 April, leaving many residents of the Chinese megacity unprepared to be indefinitely housebound.

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US arrests Japanese yakuza leader over alleged missiles-for-heroin plot

Posted: 07 Apr 2022 03:20 PM PDT

Takeshi Ebisawa accused of planning to purchase surface-to-air missiles for rebel groups in Myanmar and distribute drugs in US

US authorities have arrested a leader of a Japanese crime syndicate on charges of plotting to distribute drugs in the United States and purchase weapons including US-made surface-to-air missiles.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said Takeshi Ebisawa, who they described as a leader in a network of Japanese crime families known as yakuza, and a co-conspirator agreed to buy the missiles for rebel groups in Myanmar during conversations with an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agent.

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Caroline Kennedy praises Australia’s bipartisan foreign policy despite PM’s claims on Labor and China

Posted: 07 Apr 2022 02:21 PM PDT

Nominee as US ambassador says there's a lot more to the Aukus deal than just submarines as she faces US Senate foreign relations committee hearing

Caroline Kennedy, the nominee for US ambassador to Australia, has said the Aukus security deal will provide "a lot of deterrence" in the Indo-Pacific even before the nuclear-powered submarines are ready.

With Australia set to enter a federal election campaign within days, Kennedy praised the country for standing firm with "a bipartisan foreign policy" in the face of "Chinese economic coercion".

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Two Britons are among four tourists missing after diving trip in Malaysia

Posted: 06 Apr 2022 09:29 PM PDT

The group, which also includes a French woman and a Norwegian woman, disappeared during diving training off the southern town of Mersing

Malaysian authorities were searching on Thursday for four Europeans, including two Britons, who disappeared during diving training off a southern island.

The divers are a 46-year-old British man, a 14-year-old British boy, an 18-year-old French woman and a 35-year-old woman from Norway.

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British-born man dies after being caught in New South Wales floods

Posted: 09 Apr 2022 01:31 AM PDT

Tony Ikin, a dog breeder, had been travelling to Royal Easter Show when his car was submerged at Cobbity

A UK-born man has died after being caught in flood water on the outskirts of Sydney.

The body of the 68-year-old was found in his van on Friday morning at Cobbity about 43 miles south-west of Sydney's central business district, New South Wales police said in a statement.

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Australia live news updates: Scott Morrison takes credit for saving 40,000 lives from Covid in social media video; NSW records 10 Covid deaths, Vic seven and Qld two

Posted: 09 Apr 2022 12:58 AM PDT

Scott Morrison takes credit for saving 40,000 lives from Covid in social media video; prime minister expected to call federal election this weekend; hundreds of NSW residents still under evacuation orders; NSW records 10 Covid deaths; seven Covid deaths in Victoria; Queensland reports two virus deaths; police officer and driver killed in Victoria crash. This blog is now closed

Exclusive: Schools chaplaincy provider bans cohabitation and 'sexually intrusive' behaviour in staff's private life

In the space of an hour on Thursday night, two Queensland Liberal National stalwarts made announcements that shook the party from the right, and then the left.

First, George Christensen announced he had formally left the LNP – ending a political farce that has seen the retiring federal MP for Dawson slide deeper into far-rightwing anti-government conspiracy, all the while remaining a member of the government.

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Scott Morrison takes credit for saving 40,000 lives from Covid in social media pitch for re-election

Posted: 09 Apr 2022 12:39 AM PDT

Anthony Albanese says Labor the underdog and prime minister treating the election as a 'game'

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has taken the credit for saving the lives of 40,000 Australians from Covid-19 in a social media pitch for re-election.

Morrison on Saturday released an atmospheric video titled "Scott Morrison: Why I love Australia", attempting to cast himself as a safe pair of hands in uncertain times. He is expected to call the federal election on Sunday.

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Sydney airport warns delays could last weeks on third day of travel chaos

Posted: 08 Apr 2022 11:21 PM PDT

Qantas apologises to family who missed international trip because of domestic flight delays

Long queues at Sydney airport's domestic terminals have continued for a third day, with some passengers missing international connections, as the airport warns delays resulting from a surge in travellers and a shortfall in security staff could continue for weeks.

Chaotic scenes were reported in the departure halls as early as 4.30am on Saturday, with some frustrated travellers, many of whom heeded the pleas of airport chiefs to arrive at least two hours before their domestic flight was due to take off, claiming only one security line was operating.

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Hillsong founder Brian Houston says megachurch ‘losing its soul’ after it makes his wife redundant

Posted: 08 Apr 2022 07:50 PM PDT

Houston, who resigned as global senior pastor last month, attacks church he founded in online post

The founder of Hillsong, Brian Houston, has accused the megachurch of "losing its soul" and says his wife has been made redundant by the church's board "through no choice of her own".

Houston resigned last month from the megachurch he founded in Sydney two decades ago after internal investigations found he had engaged in inappropriate conduct of "serious concern" with two women.

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Schools chaplaincy provider bans cohabitation and ‘sexually intrusive’ behaviour in staff’s private life

Posted: 08 Apr 2022 01:00 PM PDT

Exclusive: whistleblower says code of Schools Ministry Group, Australia's second biggest provider, could discriminate against workers

Australia's second biggest schools chaplaincy provider imposes a code that discriminates against staff based on relationship status and sexual conduct, a whistleblower has alleged.

Caragh Larsen, a former Schools Ministry Group chaplain at two Adelaide public primary schools, said the code banning "cohabitation" and "sexually intrusive" behaviour left unmarried and LGBTQ+ staff vulnerable.

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Russia-Ukraine war latest: Kyiv calls for global response to Kramatorsk ‘war crime’; reports of Russian military shake-up – live

Posted: 09 Apr 2022 08:45 AM PDT

US officials warn Putin may cite Ukraine war to interfere in American politics

Posted: 09 Apr 2022 08:05 AM PDT

Intelligence believes Russia's president may see US backing of Ukraine as direct affront, giving him further incentive to meddle

Vladimir Putin may use the Biden administration's support for Ukraine as a pretext to order a new campaign to interfere in American politics, US intelligence officials have assessed.

Intelligence agencies have not found any evidence Putin has authorized measures like the ones Russia is believed to have undertaken in the 2016 and 2020 elections in support of Donald Trump, according to several people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.

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Rise of the far right: will there be an election bonanza for Europe’s populists?

Posted: 09 Apr 2022 07:00 AM PDT

Soaring energy and food prices caused by war in Ukraine could hand the EU's 'illiberal' leaders a major boost

For a brief moment, it looked like the longstanding love affair between most of Europe's rightwing, nationalist, anti-immigration and EU-critical politicians with Vladimir Putin's Kremlin would prove a fatal mistake. Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine has certainly embarrassed them. But so far at least, it does not appear to have done them terminal harm.

A newcomer to the scene, France's Eric Zémmour, whose extreme Islamophobic rhetoric has done much to make Marine Le Pen seem reasonable, has seen his poll ratings plunge in part because of his previous avowed admiration for Moscow. But Le Pen, despite extensive cosying-up to Putin (including at least one Kremlin meeting with the Russian president, support for his annexation of Crimea, and campaign loans from Moscow banks) has barely been affected by it at all.

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‘Putin is killing civilians’: the train station where Russians are greeted with images of war

Posted: 09 Apr 2022 07:00 AM PDT

In Lithuania, Russians commuting to Kaliningrad come face-to-face with photographs of bombed Ukrainian cities and bloodied bodies

As the night train from Moscow pulled into Vilnius central station for its scheduled 10-minute stop, a curious pair of eyes peeked through one of its windows – only to disappear behind a hastily closed curtain.

The passengers on the train were heading to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, which can be accessed via rail only by crossing through Lithuania, and on the platform outside they were faced with images of war and destruction.

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Why the battle for Donbas will be very different from the assault on Kyiv

Posted: 09 Apr 2022 06:00 AM PDT

Now that Russia has its sights on the east, with a major offensive imminent, the next month will be potentially decisive for Ukraine

The tragedy discovered amid the rubble of Bucha and Borodianka overshadowed any jubilation that Kyiv had defeated Russian forces that had spent a month trying to envelop the capital and snuff out the Ukrainian nation. Nevertheless, the defeat of Russian forces in the north marks a turning point in the war. For the medium term, Ukraine will now survive. But for its soldiers there is no respite, for having had its first objective denied Moscow has turned its gaze on the Donbas, where a major offensive is imminent.

The Donbas has been at war for eight years. More than 90 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in 2021 defending the line of contact. Since late February Ukrainian positions have come under regular artillery fire, with mobilised civilians from Russian-occupied Donetsk and Luhansk pushed into attacks on the Ukrainian trenches. The aim of this Russian activity was to fix the 40,000 Ukrainian troops in the Joint Forces Operations (JFO) area, preventing them from impacting the fights for Mariupol, Kharkiv or Kyiv.

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Luhansk residents told to evacuate as Russia moves focus to east Ukraine

Posted: 09 Apr 2022 04:04 AM PDT

Governor issues warning as US says Moscow likely planning to deploy tens of thousands of soldiers in east

Residents remaining in eastern Ukraine's embattled city of Luhansk must evacuate, the governor has said as shelling intensifies and Russia bolsters its forces.

Ukraine has been warning that Moscow is withdrawing from areas to the north of Kyiv in order to focus its offensive military operations on the country's east. Moscow, which initially justified its invasion by claiming to need to protect Russian-speaking civilians in the self-proclaimed republics in Donbas, has confirmed the change in strategy.

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Third Israeli dies after Palestinian opened fire at Tel Aviv bar

Posted: 08 Apr 2022 09:48 AM PDT

Security forces say 28-year-old Palestinian suspect was killed after being tracked down in Jaffa

A third Israeli has died after an attack by a Palestinian man who opened fire into a crowded bar in central Tel Aviv, after Israeli security forces said they hunted down and killed the attacker early on Friday.

The shooting on Thursday evening in a downtown area packed with people in bars and restaurants caused scenes of mass panic in the heart of the bustling city. Two people were instantly killed and more than 10 people were wounded.

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Tel Aviv shooting prompts fears of wider cycle of violence

Posted: 08 Apr 2022 09:16 AM PDT

Latest in series of attacks by Palestinians heightens sense of reduced personal security in Israel

As Israelis reel from a Palestinian shooting at a Tel Aviv pub that killed three people, the government has threatened to strike back amid concerns of a broader escalation.

Security forces shot dead the lone attacker in the early hours of Friday after a manhunt by army troops, police and intelligence personnel. Residents of the city – Israel's commercial and entertainment capital – stayed off the streets in the aftermath of the attack, which has heightened a sense of reduced personal security across the country after three other attacks in the last two weeks.

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Woman who drew up Schindler’s lists during Holocaust dies at 107

Posted: 08 Apr 2022 07:38 AM PDT

Mimi Reinhardt was in charge of compiling names of Jews to work in German industrialist's factory

The woman who drew up lists of people for the German industrialist Oskar Schindler that helped save hundreds of Jews during the Holocaust has died aged 107.

Mimi Reinhardt, who was employed as Schindler's secretary, was in charge of drawing up the lists of Jewish workers from the ghetto of the Polish city of Kraków who were recruited to work at his factory, saving them from deportation to Nazi death camps.

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Syria’s $1.5bn seizure of protesters’ property ‘akin to scare tactic’

Posted: 07 Apr 2022 11:15 PM PDT

Human rights group accuses Assad regime of profiting from detainees forced to sign away their rights, some while blindfolded

More than $1.5bn (£1.2bn) worth of personal property including cars, olive groves, shops, houses, electronics and jewellery has been seized by the Syrian government from citizens accused of joining anti-government protests, according to a rights group.

The Association of Detainees and the Missing in Sednaya Prison (ADMSP) estimates that almost 40% of those detained after the Syrian uprising of 2011 were subject to property seizures.

It alleges the Syrian regime has attempted to circumvent international sanctions through this revenue, while ensuring that former detainees in exile have nothing to return to as the country struggles to rebuild.

"The regime did this, they took everything so that we don't go back," said Hassan Al Haj, remembering his family's land in a village near Aleppo. "We used to have lands with olive and pistachio trees. I'd built a house there but never moved in. The government seized it before I was able to."

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Turkey to send case against Khashoggi’s alleged killers to Saudi Arabia

Posted: 07 Apr 2022 10:27 AM PDT

Suspension of trial reflects President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's desire to strengthen trade and political links with Middle East

A Turkish court has confirmed a request from prosecutors to transfer the case against the alleged assassins of Jamal Khashoggi to Saudi Arabia, shutting down a trial that had been a centrepiece of attempts to cast light on the plot and expose the hit squad's ultimate leader.

The move ends any meaningful hope of securing justice and paves the way for a political reset between the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de facto ruler whose security aides were on trial in Istanbul and who is widely believed to have ordered the murder.

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Exiled Yemen president steps aside as truce raises hopes of end to war

Posted: 07 Apr 2022 01:43 AM PDT

Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi says a newly established council will lead negotiations with Iranian-backed Houthis

Yemen's exiled president has stepped aside and transferred his powers to a presidential council as international and regional efforts to end the country's long-running civil war gained momentum with a two-month truce.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, major players in the conflict, appear to have had a role in Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi's decision, quickly welcoming it with a pledge of $3bn (£2.3bn) in aid. The head of the new council has close ties to Riyadh.

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‘We’re finished’: Sri Lankans pushed to the brink by financial crisis

Posted: 09 Apr 2022 06:50 AM PDT

Thousands take to the streets to call for the resignation of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa

As thousands of angry cries and anti-government slogans filled the streets of the Sri Lankan city Colombo on Saturday, Chanda Upul stood quietly nearby, desperately pushing his wares of soft drinks and bottled water on protesters. But in his heart he was chanting along with them.

As Sri Lanka has descended into its worst financial crisis since independence, with food, fuel, medicine and electricity becoming increasingly scarce, and calls for the president Gotabaya Rajapaksa – frequently referred to as Gota – to step down, 50-year-old Upul, who lives in a poor northern suburb of the city, is among those who have been pushed to the brink of survival.

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‘Fake’ US federal agent claimed ties to Pakistani intelligence, prosecutors say

Posted: 08 Apr 2022 07:21 AM PDT

Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Ali, 35, accused of posing as homeland security officials and cultivating Secret Service access

One of two American men arrested in Washington for posing as US federal security officials and cultivating access to the Secret Service, which protects Joe Biden, claimed ties to Pakistani intelligence, a federal prosecutor told a judge.

Justice department assistant attorney Joshua Rothstein asked a judge not to release Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Ali, 35, the men arrested on Wednesday for posing as Department of Homeland Security investigators.

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MEPs voice fury as Greek judges again postpone refugees’ smuggling appeal

Posted: 08 Apr 2022 03:35 AM PDT

Second adjournment prolongs agony of Afghans Amir Zahiri and Akif Rasuli, serving 50-year sentences for piloting a migrant boat

MEPs appalled by "shocking" legal proceedings against two Afghans convicted of people smuggling in Greece have vowed to raise the issue with the European parliament.

Lawmakers who had flown into Lesbos for a scheduled appeals court hearing of the asylum seekers on Thursday – the second in three weeks – were outraged when judges again adjourned the case, prolonging the agony of the refugees, who are currently serving 50-year prison terms.

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Pakistan court orders Imran Khan confidence vote to go ahead

Posted: 07 Apr 2022 11:23 AM PDT

Supreme court rules PM acted unconstitutionally in dissolving parliament before confidence vote

Pakistan's supreme court has dealt a devastating blow to the prime minister, Imran Khan, by ruling that he acted unconstitutionally in dissolving parliament prior to a confidence vote he was expected to lose, and ordering the vote to go ahead this weekend.

In the conclusion to a hearing that has gripped Pakistan for the past four days, the chief justice of Pakistan, Umar Ata Bandial, said Khan had violated the law in his attempt to stop the vote, which was widely expected to oust him.

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Extinction Rebellion stages mass protest in central London

Posted: 09 Apr 2022 07:59 AM PDT

Activists call for end to fossil fuel investment at sit-down demonstration in Regent Street and Oxford Circus

Supporters of the environmental activist group Extinction Rebellion have taken part in a mass sit-down protest in the heart of London's shopping district.

Several thousand demonstrators with multicoloured flags bearing the group's "extinction" symbol gathered near Marble Arch on Saturday morning as samba bands warmed up.

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Boris Johnson meets Volodymyr Zelenskiy in unannounced visit to Kyiv

Posted: 09 Apr 2022 07:50 AM PDT

Two leaders will 'discuss UK's long-term support to Ukraine' and Johnson will set out new aid package, says No 10

Boris Johnson is meeting the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy during an unannounced visit to Kyiv, Ukrainian officials have said.

A picture posted on Twitter by the embassy of Ukraine to the UK showed the two leaders sitting across a table in the capital, with their respective flags in the background.

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Scottish Labour sees chance of revival as polls show voters turn from Tories

Posted: 09 Apr 2022 07:00 AM PDT

Leader Anas Sarwar is confident of gains in May elections, amid predictions the party could come second to SNP

With a brisk and bracingly cold sea breeze buffeting the red, green and yellow trade union flags in bright sunshine, the protest at P&O's Scottish ferry port had the air of a labour movement revivalist rally.

Union leaders railed against P&O's bosses and the Conservative government in Westminster, demanding legal action and boycotts, applauded by Labour's leader in Scotland, Anas Sarwar, who then led the march to the shuttered P&O terminal at Cairnryan on the Irish Sea.

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Want to avoid card fees for cash withdrawals abroad? Here’s how …

Posted: 09 Apr 2022 05:00 AM PDT

Charges for taking out £250 at an overseas ATM can be as high as £15, but there are ways to avoid them

Using a typical credit or debit card to withdraw cash on an overseas break could mean paying costly and unnecessary fees. But shop around before you go and you could avoid paying over the odds.

The financial firm Moneyfacts say a holidaymaker taking out £250 from an overseas ATM will typically face charges of £11.88. The same withdrawal on a credit card would typically attract £14.95 in fees, before interest.

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UK holidaymakers face cancelled flights and ferry delays in Easter travel chaos

Posted: 09 Apr 2022 04:36 AM PDT

High rates of staff absences due to Covid and fallout from P&O Ferries scandal contribute to disruption over busy spring break

Holidaymakers looking to get away for Easter are facing major disruption to travel, as airlines cancel more than 100 flights a day because of staff shortages and ferry operators struggle to meet demand following the suspension of P&O Ferries services.

The rise in passenger numbers over the spring break has coincided with high rates of staff absences due to the latest wave of Covid infections.

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Strong winds in north Wales were a tornado, experts confirm

Posted: 09 Apr 2022 02:52 AM PDT

Tornado with speeds of up to 114mph swept up sheep and caused extensive damage to farm in Pennal

Strong winds that caused "at least £100,000" of damage to a farm in north Wales have been confirmed as a tornado by experts.

The extreme weather struck Gogarth Hall Farm in Pennal on Wednesday, uprooting trees and lifting a ewe and lambs into the air.

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First all-private astronaut team arrives at International Space Station

Posted: 09 Apr 2022 08:12 AM PDT

Team rides SpaceX-launched Falcon 9 rocket on flight hailed as commercial milestone

The first all-private team of astronauts sent to the International Space Station arrived safely on Saturday to begin a week-long mission hailed as a milestone in commercial spaceflight.

The rendezvous came about 21 hours after the four-man team representing Houston-based startup company Axiom Space lifted off on Friday from Nasa's Kennedy Space Center, riding a SpaceX-launched Falcon 9 rocket.

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Kentucky governor vetoes Republican-backed 15-week abortion ban

Posted: 09 Apr 2022 06:57 AM PDT

Andy Beshear raises doubts about bill's constitutionality, criticizes omission of exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest

The Democratic governor of Kentucky, Andy Beshear, vetoed a Republican-priority measure on Friday that would ban abortions in the state after 15 weeks of pregnancy and regulate the dispensing of abortion pills.

The governor raised doubts about the constitutionality of the bill and criticized it for not including exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest.

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Amazon fights to overturn union’s historic win at New York warehouse

Posted: 09 Apr 2022 06:43 AM PDT

Tech giant wants to redo election, arguing in legal filing that National Labor Relations Board acted in way that tainted results

Amazon is seeking to overturn a historic union victory at a New York City warehouse, arguing in a legal filing union organizers and the National Labor Relations Board acted in a way that tainted the results.

The e-commerce giant wants to redo the election.

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Stacey Abrams win in Georgia will lead to ‘cold war’ with Florida, DeSantis says

Posted: 09 Apr 2022 05:13 AM PDT

Florida governor and potential Republican presidential contender says, 'I can't have Castro to my south and Abrams to my north'

The Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, predicted a "cold war" with Georgia if it elects the Democrat and voting rights campaigner Stacey Abrams as governor this year.

"If Stacey Abrams is elected governor of Georgia, I just want to be honest, that will be a cold war between Florida and Georgia," DeSantis said at a press event in the north-west of his own state.

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Unruly US airline passengers hit with record fines by FAA

Posted: 09 Apr 2022 03:48 AM PDT

Aviation authority has imposed zero-tolerance policy and says incidents have soared since 6 January Capitol attack

An American Airlines passenger who allegedly pushed a flight attendant and spat at crew members has been hit with the biggest fine ever issued by US aviation regulators, and another fine topping $75,000 (£57,500) was issued to a Delta Air Lines passenger who bit a fellow passenger after trying to hug and kiss another.

Since January 2021 when the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) imposed a zero-tolerance policy, the agency has proposed fines of about $7m for disruptive passengers. Two new fines issued on Friday were the highest yet.

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DeSantis takes on Disney in latest battle in the Republican culture war

Posted: 08 Apr 2022 11:00 PM PDT

Florida's governor is unhappy that Disney has opposed his 'don't say gay' bill – and is threatening to revoke its privileges

It took a single stroke of Ron DeSantis's pen, passing Florida's so-called "don't say gay" bill into law, to transform the self-proclaimed happiest place on earth into a scene of bitter conflict.

Disney's theme parks have become the latest battlefront in the pugnacious rightwing Republican governor's culture war on what he calls "wokeness", and on the state's LBGTQ+ community. DeSantis, a close Trump ally, and perhaps rival, is threatening sanctions on the corporate behemoth after it dared to challenge the controversial law banning discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms.

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