List of All Articles with Tag 'world'

Switzerland’s right-wing People’s Party scored one of its best results ever in national elections, reaping the rewards of

A missile strike on a mail depot in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv has killed six people and injured 16 others, officials said on Sunday. The blast was caused by a Russian S-300 rocket, Kharkiv governor Oleh Syniehubov said in a post on the Telegram messaging app. All of the victims were employees of private Ukrainian postal and courier service Nova Poshta. In a statement, the company said the air raid siren had sounded just moments before the attack, leaving those inside the depot with no time to reach shelter. It announced that Sunday would be a day of mourning for the firm. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky posted a video showing the building with destroyed windows and construction materials strewn across the floor. He described the strike as an attack on an “ordinary civilian object”. “We need to respond to Russian terror every day with results on the front line. And, even more so, we need to strengthen global unity in order to fight against this terror,” he wrote on social media. “Russia will not be able to achieve anything through terror and murder. The end result for all terrorists is the same: the need to face responsibility for what they have done.” Elsewhere in the Kharkiv region, three people were injured in Russian shelling on the city of Kupiansk, Mr Syniehubov said. The Ukrainian-held frontline city has been at the heart of fierce fighting as both Moscow and Kyiv push for battlefield breakthroughs amid the looming onset of wintry conditions. Officials in southern Ukraine said on Sunday that the Russian military had used a record number of aerial bombs over the country’s Kherson region in the past 24 hours. Natalia Humeniuk, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian military’s Operational Command South, said 36 missiles had been recorded over the area, with some villages being hit by several strikes. It comes as further south in the east, Ukraine has been trying to stop a new push by Russian forces to gain more territory there, amid Kyiv’s gruelling counteroffensive that has continued for months. Moscow’s drive to capture the town of Avdiivka encountered fierce resistance on Saturday, Ukraine’s military said, with defences bolstered by fortifications erected nearly a decade ago. “The enemy is becoming more active, but is incurring heavy losses,” General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, commander of Ukraine’s troops in the south, said on Telegram. Russia’s Defence Ministry, in its evening report, made no mention of Avdiivka, but reported strikes on areas outside Bakhmut, a town seized by Moscow’s forces in May after months of battles. Both towns are in the eastern Donetsk region. Avdiivka has withstood enemy attacks for months. Video footage shows buildings in ruins and streets barely distinguishable. The town was briefly captured in 2014 by Russian-backed separatists who seized large swathes of eastern Ukraine, but was retaken by Ukrainian forces who built solid fortifications. The Institute for the Study of War, a US think-tank, said Russian troops had “marginally advanced” near Avdiivka. Additional reporting by agencies Read More Aftermath of Russian missile strike on Ukraine mail depot that killed six Ukrainian officials say civilians were killed and wounded in Russian overnight attacks Russian attacks kill six in Ukraine as Kyiv ramps up drone counterstrikes NATO member Romania finds more drone fragments on its soil after Russian again hits southern Ukraine Russia claims `neo-Nazis' were at wake for Ukrainian soldier in village struck by missile killing 52 ‘Six killed in Kharkiv strike’ as Kherson sees ‘record’ bomb attacks - live

House Republicans set up a nine-man contest for the speaker’s post on Sunday, signaling what may be a

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said he’s fully recovered from health issues that led him to freeze in

Watch live as hundreds of Israel supporters are expected to participate in a rally at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate on Sunday 22 October. The protest, entitled “Standing up against terror, hatred and antisemitism - in solidarity and compassion with Israel,” has been organised by Germany’s Central Council of Jews, political parties, unions and civil society. Demonstrations are continuing across Europe, a day after 100,000 people marched in a pro-Palestine rally in London. The British government on Sunday said it will speak to the Metropolitan Police about its decision not to act over a video showing protesters chanting “Jihad” on the streets of the capital, a Cabinet minister has said. No offences were identified in a video of a Hizb ut-Tahrir protest showing a man chanting “Jihad”. Immigration minister Robert Jenrick said “a lot of people” will find the Met’s analysis “surprising”, adding: “That’s something that we intend to raise with them and to discuss this incident with them.” A video posted on social media shows a man speaking into a microphone in front of a banner reading “Muslim Armies! Rescue the People of Palestine”, with the name of the group “Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain” on it. Read More Chancellor Scholz voices outrage at antisemitic agitation in Germany 'of all places' Rabbi who lost family in West Bank shooting ‘feels safer in Israel than the UK’ A jury is deliberating the case of a man accused of killing a New Hampshire couple on a hiking trail

Police said Sunday that a fourth person has died in Britain during a storm that pounded the U.K. and northern Europe with gale-force winds and torrential rain. Derbyshire Police said a woman in her 80s was found dead at a home in Chesterfield, central England. Her death was being linked to flooding in the area. In nearby Derby, the River Derwent reached its highest-ever recorded level on Saturday during a storm that brought 8 inches (200 mm) of rain to parts of Britain. Since Thursday, at least five people have died in the storm -- named Babet by the U.K. Meteorological Office -- that battered Britain, northern Germany and southern Scandinavia with powerful winds, heavy rain and sea surges. In Britain, a man and a woman were killed after being swept away by floodwaters, and another man died when a tree fell on his vehicle. In Germany, a 33-year-old woman was killed when a tree fell on her car on the Baltic Sea island of Fehmarn on Friday. A search was continuing for a man reported trapped in a vehicle in floodwater in Scotland. Some of the worst flooding was in eastern Scotland, where more than 300 homes were evacuated in the town of Brechin and residents told to leave before the River South Esk breached its banks Friday, surging almost 4 meters (13 feet) above its usual level and sending water pouring into the streets. Coast guard helicopters lifted more than half the staff off a North Sea oil platform almost 150 miles (240 kilometers) east of Scotland, after four of its eight anchors came loose during the storm on Saturday. Operator Stena Drilling said the Stena Spey platform was stable. The weather calmed Sunday but flooding continued to cause disruption to road and rail travel across a large swath of central and northern Britain. The Environment Agency issued more than 200 flood warnings for parts of England and said major rivers could remain flooded until Tuesday. Read More Pacific and Atlantic hurricanes Norma and Tammy make landfall on Saturday in Mexico and Barbuda A Detroit synagogue president was fatally stabbed outside her home. Police don't have a motive Iowa woman who made fake cancer claims on social media must pay restitution but stays out of prison

Six people have been killed and at least 14 injured in a Russian missile attack that hit a postal distribution centre in the war-devastated northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials have said. Oleh Synehubov, the region’s governor said on Telegram that several of the wounded were in serious condition in hospital, adding that all those killed and injured were postal workers. “Russian missiles hit the Nova Poshta centre - an ordinary civilian object,” President Volodymyr Zelenksiy said on the Telegram messaging app. It comes as Ukrainian forces damaged and destroyed almost 50 Russian tanks in just 24 hours as Vladimir Putin’s troops launched a fresh offensive in the Donetsk region, according to a US war think tank. The Insitute for the Study of War (ISW) said Russian forces launched a renewed attack near Adviika on Friday and “marginally advanced”, indicating Moscow’s commitment to offensive operations in the area “despite heavy materiel and personnel losses”. This includes the damage and destruction of almost 50 Russian tanks and over 100 armored vehicles by Ukrainian forces during the past day of fighting, reported the Ukrainian General Staff on Friday, according to the ISW. Read More Russian fighters ‘scrambled over Black Sea to prevent British warplanes approaching Russian airspace’ Biden calls to maintain ‘American leadership’ with aid package for Ukraine and Israel Ukraine's parliament advances bill seen as targeting Orthodox church with historic ties to Moscow Putin says Russia ‘will be able to repel’ Ukraine’s new weapons used to damage Kremlin’s air assets

Diesel cars are being moved out of London and into the north of England and Scotland after a

A £1 billion ($1.2 billion) corner of the UK economy is fearing for its future as Britain and

Aid deliveries have begun moving into the besieged Gaza Strip, two weeks after the militant group Hamas rampaged through southern Israel and Israel responded with airstrikes. Israel says Hamas has freed two American hostages who had been held in Gaza since the war began Oct. 7. Israeli airstrikes continued to hit southern Gaza, an area swollen by civilians who fled there from the north on Israeli instructions. Israel’s military spokesman said the country is stepping up its attacks, coming amid growing expectations of a ground offensive. The war, in its 16th day Sunday, is the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said Saturday that the death toll has reached 4,385, while 13,561 people have been wounded. More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, mostly in the initial attack on Oct. 7 when Hamas militants stormed into Israel. In addition, 203 people were believed captured by Hamas during the incursion and taken into Gaza, the Israeli military has said. Currently: 1. The father of freed American teenage hostage Natalie Raanan, who spoke with President Joe Biden on Saturday, says she’s doing well after her release by Hamas. 2. Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators are marching in London, Barcelona, Los Angeles and other cities. 3. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is ordering further defenses for U.S. troops as tensions in the Middle East continue to grow. 4. A tent camp for displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza reawakens old traumas. Here’s what’s happening in the latest Israel-Hamas war: U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY ORDERS MORE DEFENSE SYSTEMS IN MIDDLE EAST U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced late Saturday he was sending additional air defense systems to the Middle East as well as putting more troops on prepare-to-deploy orders. Austin said the U.S. would be delivering a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, battery along with additional Patriot missile defense system batteries “to locations throughout the region to increase force protection for U.S. troops.” Bases in Iraq and Syria have been repeatedly targeted by drones in the days since hundreds were killed in a hospital blast in Gaza, and the destroyer USS Carney intercepted land attack cruise missiles in the Red Sea shot from Yemen on Thursday. Austin said he had also placed additional forces on prepare-to-deploy orders, “part of prudent contingency planning” as the U.S. and others brace for the potential of a wider regional conflict and as Israel prepares to launch a ground assault into Gaza. He said he gave the orders after detailed discussions with President Joe Biden on the recent escalations by Iran and its proxy forces across the region. ISRAEL STRIKES UNDERGROUND COMPOUND AT WEST BANK MOSQUE, MILITARY SAYS Israeli Defense Forces said a military aircraft launched a strike early Sunday on the Al-Ansar mosque at the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. The IDF said via X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants had been using an “underground terror route” beneath the mosque. One Palestinian was killed in the shelling, Palestinian Red Crescent said. Tensions have risen in the West Bank, where dozens of Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israeli troops, arrest raids and attacks by Jewish settlers. ITALIAN PREMIER GOES TO ISRAEL ROME — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni has made a trip to Israel to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, her office said. The meeting Saturday came after Meloni participated in a summit in Cairo focused on ways to de-escalate the raging Israel-Hamas war. Meloni's office said that in her meeting she reiterated “the right of Israel to defend itself under international law and to live in peace” while also underlining "the importance of guaranteeing humanitarian access to Gaza and a prospect of peace for the region.’’ Her office said she brought “a message of solidary and Italy's closeness” following Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Oct. 7. PRESIDENT BIDEN SPEAKS WITH 2 FREED HOSTAGES WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has spoken on the phone with two freed Americans who had been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. Judith Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter, Natalie, were released Friday. It was the first such hostage release from among the roughly 200 people the militant group abducted from Israel during its Oct. 7 rampage. Video of Biden speaking with them by phone was posted Saturday on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter. He told the mother and daughter that he was glad they had been released. “We’re going to get them all out, God willing,” he said. Natalie thanked Biden for his “services” to Israel. Judith said they are in good health. Hamas said it released the mother and daughter for humanitarian reasons in an agreement with the Qatari government. Family members have said Judith and Natalie had been on a trip from their home in the Chicago suburb of Evanston to Israel to celebrate Judith’s mother’s birthday and the Jewish holidays. ___ This item has been corrected to reflect that the video was posted Saturday, not that Biden spoke to them on Saturday. ISRAEL SAYS IT WILL INCREASE ATTACKS ON GAZA Israel plans to step up its attacks on the Gaza Strip starting Saturday as preparation for the next stage of its war on Hamas, Israel's military spokesman says. Asked about a possible ground invasion into Gaza, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters Saturday night that the military was trying to create optimal conditions beforehand. “We will deepen our attacks to minimize the dangers to our forces in the next stages of the war. We are going to increase the attacks, from today,” Hagari said. He repeated his call for residents of Gaza City to head south for their safety. UN AGENCIES SAY MORE AID IS NEEDED CAIRO — United Nations aid agencies said a first 20-truck convoy of assistance that reached Gaza Saturday was “only a small beginning and far from enough.” The agencies, including the World Health Organization, the World Food Program and others, said in a joint statement that more than 1.6 million people are in critical need of humanitarian aid. “Vulnerable people are at greatest risk and children are dying at an alarming rate and being denied their right to protection, food, water and health care,” they said. The agencies, which also include the U.N. population fund and UNICEF, called for a humanitarian cease-fire, along with immediate, unrestricted humanitarian access throughout Gaza. “Gaza was a desperate humanitarian situation before the most recent hostilities. It is now catastrophic. The world must do more,” they said. DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS SAYS GAZA HOSPITALS ARE OVERWHELMED CAIRO — Doctors Without Borders says Gaza’s health care system is “facing collapse.” The global medical group said Saturday that hospitals in Gaza are “overwhelmed and lacking resources” amid continued Israeli airstrikes and siege following Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Oct. 7. The group’s warning come after Medhat Abbas, an official with the Gaza health ministry, said early Saturday that five hospitals has stopped functioning and two others were partly out of service. “We recently made a large donation of medical stock, including medicines, narcotics and medical equipment to Al Shifa hospital, the main surgical facility in the strip,” the group, known by its French acronym MSF, wrote on X platform. An nurse with the aid group in Gaza, Loay Harb, said that when the supplies were delivered to the hospital, she and others “saw hundreds of people taking shelter and it was difficult to walk inside.” PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE SUMMIT CAIRO — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is calling for an international peace summit to bring about the end of the Israel-Hamas war. Speaking at a conference in Cairo on Saturday, Abbas reiterated his “complete rejection of the killing of civilians on both sides.” He also urged the “release of all civilians, prisoners, and detainees,” likely alluding to some 210 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and the Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Abbas leads the Palestinian Authority, a government exercising semi-autonomous control in the West Bank. The government is deeply loathed among Palestinians, who view it as corrupt and collaborationist with Israel. Hamas seized control of the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip in 2007 and enjoys a strong base of support in the West Bank. ISRAELI AIRSTRIKES HIT SEVERAL RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — A barrage of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis near a U.N. school struck several residential buildings, prompting a frantic rescue effort as medics rushed several dead bodies and dozens of wounded Palestinians to the hospital. At the Hamouda family home seven people were killed and 40 others were wounded, survivors told The Associated Press at the scene of the attack. CAIRO SUMMIT CAIRO — At a summit of world leaders in Cairo focused on ways to de-escalate the raging Israel-Hamas war, representatives from Arab and European nations called for more humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza and appealed for protection of civilians in the strip. Several Arab leaders, including Egypt and Jordan, took the opportunity to castigate the international community over its inaction and a double standard they said that the world displayed on the devastating Israeli bombing campaign on Gaza. The response of the world, the office of President Abdel Fatah el-Sissi said, displayed a “shortcoming in the values of the international community in addressing crises.” “While we see one place officials rushing and competing to promptly condemn the killing of innocent people, we find incomprehensible hesitation in denouncing the same act in another place,” it said in reference to fierce Western condemnation of Hamas’ attack on Israel and a weaker reaction to Palestinian suffering. The summit did not immediately produce any statements about the prospects of a cease-fire UN MONITOR SAYS MORE AID IS NEEDED JERUSALEM —- A United Nations monitor says the 20 trucks of aid delivered to Gaza are just a “tiny fraction” of what is needed by some 1.4 Palestinians who have been displaced since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Normally, 500 trucks pass through crossings into Gaza every day. The 20 trucks that arrived Saturday were the first to arrive there in two weeks. Andrea De Domenico is the head of the U.N. office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs in the occupied Palestinian Territories. He says UNWRA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, is working the World Food Program, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization to direct the aid to those most in need. But he said it will be challenging to get aid into the hands of people who are not staying at U.N. facilities. The aid consists of canned food such as tuna, basic medical supplies, medicines, and water. He said the U.N. is pushing for an “unimpeded” flow of aid into the strip through the Rafah crossing, but that discussions of further aid are mired in deliberations “between parties.” “If we don’t stabilize the supply pipeline,” Domenico said, “we head toward catastrophe. DUAL CITIZENS CAN'T GET OUT OF GAZA RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Palestinian Americans and other dual citizens rushed to southern Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt on Saturday as 20 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid entered the besieged strip that has staggered under shortages of medicine and food. Even as embassies asked their citizens in Gaza to stand ready at the border, crowds of disappointed Palestinians holding American, Canadian, German and British passports waited hours in vain for at least fifth time this week. “There is no opening of the crossing, and the suffering is the same,” said U.S. citizen Dina al- Khatib. “They communicate with us, but there is no change.” With a humanitarian disaster brewing in Gaza, al-Khatib said she and her family were desperate to get out. “It’s is not like previous wars,” she said. “There is no electricity, no water, no internet, nothing.” IDF OFFICIAL: PRIVATE HOMES CAN BE LEGITIMATE TARGETS IF HAMAS MILITANTS ARE IN THEM JERUSALEM — A senior Israel Defense Forces official says the military will try not to strike zones in Gaza where humanitarian aid is being distributed, unless rockets are fired from the area. “It’s a safe zone. We have a system which every time we decide that an area … is a safe zone, we declare no attack in this area. We won’t attack them,” he told a group of foreign journalists. He added that the definition of what constitutes a “legitimate target” has changed, because the use of civilian infrastructure by Hamas “turns a private home into a legitimate target. And anyone who supports that home is a legitimate target.” He acknowledged that the IDF has attacked houses where there are civilians living among militants. — Julia Frankel in Jerusalem. Read More Rishi Sunak: Leaders need to stop ‘contagion of conflict’ in Middle East Little light, no beds, not enough anesthesia: A view from the 'nightmare' of Gaza's hospitals Hezbollah official says his group already 'is in the heart' of Israel-Hamas war Tens of thousands take part in pro-Palestinian protests in UK cities Thousands march in Dublin in support of Palestinians What the papers say – October 21

China agreed to suspend tariffs on Australian wine following a three-year trade dispute as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese

Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party faces two special elections on Sunday, where any loss would be a fresh