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7532 articles · page 5 of 157 · The World front page
Two years after rebels led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa ousted Bashar al-Assad, many Syrians say their financial situation has worsened. Prices for fuel, bread and electricity have risen, while some people have cut meals, sold furniture and limited lighting. The United Nations Development Programme reported that 90% of Syrians were in poverty last year.
· 2 sourcesRyan Dinnage, a security operative who accompanied Nigel Farage on the Reform UK leader's local election campaign trail earlier this year, was facing a rape charge at the time and has since been sentenced to eight and a half years in prison, raising questions about a failure of vetting.
Serbia's victorious student-led movement has called for top figures in the police, intelligence and judiciary to stand down, days after ousting ex-president Aleksandar Vučić's party from power. Newly elected MPs, standing in Pioneers' Park opposite parliament, demanded the immediate dismissal of all police officers who had broken the law, singling out the heads of the police, the BIA security agency and the anti-terror unit.
· 3 sourcesNew York Governor Kathy Hochul has announced that state police will investigate all future sexual offence complaints at Cornell University, taking over a role historically held by the university's own police force, as the faculty's no-confidence vote against the administration and President Michael Kotlikoff gets under way.
· 2 sourcesAustralian Defense Minister Richard Marles said China’s military build-up, the largest conventional build-up since the Second World War, was creating a ‘condition of pressure’ in Southeast Asia, as China and the Philippines sparred over Beijing’s attendance at this week’s ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting in Cebu.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard says four oil tankers, including a supertanker carrying more than two million barrels of oil, struck mines and caught fire while travelling through the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, as Washington reportedly weighs renewed military action against Tehran after the US midterm elections.
· 5 sourcesMore than 40 journalists were detained in India over two days this month, the Committee to Protect Journalists said, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi confronts one of the biggest challenges to his leadership since taking power in 2014.
Rising illegal gold mining in the abandoned shafts around Johannesburg, alongside soaring gold prices, has led an animal charity to close its gate at midday for the first time and made illegal mining a campaign issue ahead of local elections on 4 November.
Andreas Malm, the Swedish climate academic kept out of Britain, has condemned the Home Office’s cancellation of his travel authorisation as a “drift into authoritarianism”, saying he has been “kept in the dark” and that the only plausible explanation is his scheduled appearance on a London panel with a co-founder of the proscribed group Palestine Action.
· 8 sourcesRugby Australia boss Phil Waugh says a potential overhaul of Super Rugby to create an NRL-style, open borders competition would be 'enormous' and is keen to fast-track talks with New Zealand Rugby (NZR), after NZR announced it was open to discussing a change to its eligibility policy to allow Kiwi stars to play for Super Rugby clubs in Australia while still being able to play for the All Blacks.
· 2 sourcesThe NSW Court of Appeal has quashed a decision by the Judicial Commission to refer Deputy Chief Judge Sharon Freund to a conduct division, finding the decision was affected by apprehended bias after Chief Judge Michael Allen sent a WhatsApp message about her to a commission member.
· 3 sourcesA witness whose identity is suppressed has told a court that a teen accused of murdering a boy snatched her phone and recorded a video of his bloodied hand holding a knife, as a group laughed after the attack.
Police have arrested five men and seized 250kg of cocaine with an estimated street value of $80 million after an overseas tip-off, in what they say is the second large cocaine bust in Auckland this week.
Three people have died after two helicopters collided midair near McMinnville Municipal Airport in Oregon, officials said.
· 2 sourcesElias Antonio Saca, the former president of El Salvador, has been released after serving a 10-year prison sentence for corruption. Saca, 61, arrived at court on Thursday to formally report his release, having fulfilled the terms of a plea deal in which he confessed to diverting and laundering more than $300m from state coffers during his 2004–2009 administration.
Wallabies coach Les Kiss has backed veteran Kurtley Beale to compete for the inside-centre role on the spring tour, opening the door to a potential Test comeback after a five-year absence, while playmaker Carter Gordon's fitness for Sunday's clash with England at Twickenham will be assessed in training next week.
· 2 sourcesThe US midterm elections are on track to be the most expensive in history, driven by massive donations from Elon Musk and the cryptocurrency industry. The election also puts Trump's popularity under scrutiny, alongside issues ranging from the Iran war to the explosive growth of data centres.
· 2 sourcesZachery James Hook, 19, has been given a year to pay the penalty for offensive behaviour after leaving stickers at Indigenous and Black, Indigenous and People of Colour facilities at the Australian National University, the ACT Magistrates Court heard on Friday, October 30.
Rugby League World Cup organisers are facing unrest among officials from competing nations over a gulf between the haves and have-nots, with officials from cash-strapped countries disgruntled at having to pay tens of thousands of dollars for corporate boxes while Australia's players receive higher pay and better accommodation.
· 2 sourcesOne Nation leader Pauline Hanson has remained unrepentant over her sit-down with British far-right figure Tommy Robinson, telling a crowd of supporters at the Perth electorate of Secret Harbour that she would decide who she speaks to.
· 2 sourcesPolice have found a sex offender who escaped custody, according to headlines published by three outlets on 29 October.
· 3 sourcesNearly 28 years after setting out from Punta Arenas, Chile, to walk an unbroken path home to Hull, England, former paratrooper Karl Bushby is nearing the end of his 36,000-mile journey.
· 3 sourcesFlooding from heavy rains across several Syrian provinces has killed at least five people, including four children, the Ministry of Emergency and Disaster Management said on Thursday. Five others, including two children, remain missing.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has awarded additional staff to three ministers, Defence Minister Richard Marles, Emergency Management Minister Kristy McBain and Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino, at a total cost of $550,000, as crossbench MPs accuse him of failing to play fair over his sole discretion to set staffing levels for all federal politicians. The hires, made between May and October, come amid pressure from One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and independent senator Fatima Payman to hand the power to an independent body.
· 2 sourcesSenior Australian Federal Police officers have given evidence over the deportation of Masood Zakaria, with one officer accused of deleting messages and large parts of testimony barred from publication. The hearing before Justice Edward Muston continues this week as Zakaria's lawyers seek a permanent stay of proceedings, arguing the AFP acted unlawfully.
· 5 sourcesThe DUP has blocked Michelle O'Neill from attending a summit with Prime Minister Andy Burnham in Glasgow amid a dispute over the Drumcree parade.
· 4 sourcesPolice Scotland has joined international law enforcement in targeting online networks known as 'The Com' that coerce children, mostly girls, into acts of self-harm, with one arrest made in Scotland so far. Officers are hunting members of loose online groups that use gaming platforms and social media to groom and blackmail victims, often, police say, for 'kudos' or clout among their peers.
· 3 sourcesExtreme drought driven by a historic El Niño is affecting as many as 8 million people in Papua New Guinea, causing shortages of food and water, electricity blackouts and disruption to schools and health services.
Jamie Miller, the 29-year-old singer from Cardiff behind the viral hit Babydoll, says his life will "never be the same again" after the song made him the first Welsh artist in 15 years to top the UK singles chart.
· 2 sourcesA Melbourne charity worker who relocated to Ukraine to help rebuild homes in villages ravaged by Russia's invasion has died in a house fire at a rented Airbnb, with Ukrainian police investigating a potential breach of fire safety regulations and a police investigator saying the building had not been formally put into operation.
· 4 sourcesA drone attack on Oct. 29 reportedly killed an employee of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the International Atomic Energy Agency said, adding that it did not specify whether Russian or Ukrainian forces were responsible.
Houthi forces claimed on Thursday to have carried out six attacks on Saudi Arabian airports and oil facilities, releasing a detailed list of targets that included the Ras Tanura oil refinery and King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. The claims came after the Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis towards the capital. Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defence said shrapnel from the interception wounded one Saudi citizen. At a high-level meeting in Tehran earlier this week, participants agreed to continue discussions to strengthen cooperation between the four regional countries.
Even after a federal judge warned federal prosecutors to stop threatening California election officials, the Orange County Registrar of Voters received a criminal grand jury subpoena on Thursday seeking unredacted voter records for 60 people. The subpoenas signal an intensification of federal targeting of California's elections ahead of next Tuesday's midterm elections, and at least four election workers across the state have received subpoenas over the past week.
· 3 sourcesThe Texas Attorney General's Office sued the Harris County clerk on Thursday over get-out-of-the-vote ads it described as "racially discriminatory" because they targeted Black, Latino and Asian voters while excluding "European ethnicities," and asked a judge to order the social media ads pulled or reconfigured to remove racial and ethnic targeting.
Off-grid solar has become the cheapest electricity solution for at least 398 million people still living without power, according to a joint report by the World Bank's Energy Sector Management Assistance Program and the off-grid solar industry association GOGLA, which estimates that bringing reliable electricity to those people will require $11.4 billion in investment between 2027 and 2030.
The nomadic way of life for Irish Travellers in Northern Ireland is under threat, a community support group has said, as the number of dedicated halting sites has fallen sharply over the past two decades and conditions on remaining sites are condemned as inadequate. The Northern Ireland Housing Executive, which oversees Traveller accommodation, has published a draft five-year strategy and insists it is committed to preserving Traveller culture. However, the Craigavon Travellers Support Committee has accused Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly of calling the police on roadside families during the summer rather than finding them suitable accommodation.
Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican nominee for Ohio governor, confirmed Thursday that his campaign has stopped airing an attack ad that featured his Democratic opponent Amy Acton's estranged mother calling her daughter a liar. Ramaswamy said the ad "ran to completion" as his campaign spent about $1 million on two versions. The ad prompted criticism from both parties, and Acton's campaign released a new ad accusing Ramaswamy of exploiting child sexual abuse.
· 4 sourcesA Greek container ship has sunk after being struck by three drones in the Black Sea off the Bulgarian coast, French media reported. The sinking came as defence ministers from Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey met in Sofia for talks focused on security in the Black Sea region.
· 2 sourcesRussian ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv late on October 29 killed one person and damaged buildings across the capital, while strikes on energy infrastructure in and around Dnipro left up to 350,000 residents without power, Ukrainian officials said.
· 2 sources
Israel's election has ended with no bloc able to command a majority in the 120-seat Knesset, after the final vote count gave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's conservative coalition 53 seats and the opposition bloc led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot 48. The two Arab-led lists won an unprecedented 19 seats, but the Zionist parties that would need their support to remove Netanyahu have largely ruled out relying on them, leaving weeks of uncertain coalition bargaining ahead.
· 17 sourcesA man accused of murdering a teenage girl has said he acted in self-defence after she threatened him over money. Police disputed his account and said an autopsy found she died by suffocation and a brain injury.
· 3 sourcesResidents of the Ukrainian city of Kherson have enjoyed two days of quiet under a US-brokered ceasefire, a rare respite from constant Russian aerial attacks in nearly five years, even as sources warn Russia may be using the lull to strengthen its forces before the truce ends on Sunday.
Donald Trump is set to hold two midterm rallies in Kansas and Iowa on Sunday, reversing a decision to cancel them less than 24 hours earlier. The reversal came after the president lashed out at a reporter; polls showed Democrats leading in several key Senate races, and the Justice Department was suing Alaska over election certification.
· 18 sourcesThe US Justice Department announced it plans to send 1,000 federal monitors across all 50 states for Election Day on 3 November, including in Alaska, where early voting is already underway with more than 58,000 ballots cast.
A 22-year-old West Australian man is set to face court on upgraded charges, with a joint counter-terrorism team alleging he sought assistance via a messaging platform to plan a terrorist attack.
US Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper briefed President Donald Trump on Thursday on options for renewed strikes on Iran and on the state of the naval blockade, as Washington pursues dual tracks toward possible combat after next week’s midterm elections and toward negotiations, according to two US officials and reports.
· 2 sourcesThe chief executive of California's High-Speed Rail Authority, Ian Choudri, resigned late Wednesday, effective immediately, saying he needed to focus on “important personal and family priorities,” and the board named state Finance Director Joe Stephenshaw as interim CEO on Thursday morning.
· 2 sourcesThe Trump administration is warning Europe that a $3.4 billion loan from the European Investment Bank to Airbus could blow up the truce that ended the longest-running dispute in WTO history and put the broader U.S.-EU trade deal in the line of fire.