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Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Thursday that Iran will not negotiate under “intimidation” as he held crunch talks with the UN nuclear chief weeks before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office.International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said achieving “results” in nuclear talks with Iran was vital to avoid a new conflict in the region …

Iran tells UN nuclear chief it won’t negotiate under ‘intimidation’ Read More »

Israel’s warfare in Gaza is consistent with the characteristics of genocide, a special UN committee said Thursday, accusing the country of “using starvation as a method of war”.The United Nations Special Committee pointed to “mass civilian casualties and life-threatening conditions intentionally imposed on Palestinians”, in a fresh report covering the period from Hamas’s deadly October …

Israel warfare methods ‘consistent with genocide’: UN committee Read More »

Spain’s traumatised Valencia region woke up unscathed after an overnight rain alert on Thursday, two weeks after the country’s deadliest floods in decades killed more than 200 people there.National weather agency AEMET downgraded the highest red warning for rain for the eastern Valencia coast after a new storm made landfall without causing victims.”It was a …

Spain flood epicentre survives fresh rain alert Read More »

A man carrying explosives died in a blast as he attempted to attack Brazil’s Supreme Court on Wednesday, police said, days before the country hosts the G20 summit.  Brasilia vice governor Celina Leao said preliminary information suggested it was a “suicide”, and came seconds after an explosion in a nearby car that the man was seen …

Man with explosives dies in blast at Brazil’s Supreme Court Read More »

A debate over the soul of football is raging in World Cup holders Argentina, pitting defenders of the social role of the beautiful game against the government of libertarian President Javier Milei, who wants to turn clubs into for-profit companies.Argentina, which gave the world Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi, is home to some of the …

For profit or for all? Argentine football clubs red-card Milei reforms Read More »

When Bart Gruyaert agreed to help rebuild destroyed apartment blocks outside Kyiv, he hoped to be one cog in Ukraine’s vast reconstruction programme, repairing just some of the damage wrought by Russia’s invasion.But when the French company he works for, Neo-Eco, applied for building permits in the town of Gostomel, the local military administration asked …

Corruption overshadows Ukraine’s multi-billion reconstruction progam Read More »

Scientists say they have found the world’s largest coral near the Pacific’s Solomon Islands, announcing Thursday a major discovery “pulsing with life and colour”. The coral is so immense that researchers sailing the crystal waters of the Solomon archipelago initially thought they had stumbled across a hulking shipwreck. “Just when we think there is nothing left to …

Scientists say world’s largest coral found near Solomon Islands Read More »

Human Rights Watch said in a report released Thursday that Israel’s repeated evacuation orders in Gaza amount to the “war crime of forcible transfer”, and to “ethnic cleansing” in parts of the Palestinian territory.”Human Rights Watch has amassed evidence that Israeli officials are… committing the war crime of forcible transfer,” the report said.”Israel’s actions appear …

HRW accuses Israel of ‘war crime’ with ‘forcible transfer’ in Gaza Read More »

Nine-hour prayer sessions, live-streamed speaking in tongues, bowing before a Buddhist altar 108 times: South Korean parents are turning to God as students sit a crucial exam Thursday.The “Suneung” university entrance exam is a major event in the education-obsessed South, and officials take extreme measures, from rescheduling flights to pausing construction, to ensure students can …

Live-streamed prayers for stressed S. Korean exam parents Read More »

Donald Trump’s cabinet of China hawks have likened the nation’s communist rulers to Nazis, levelled Covid conspiracies at them, declared a Cold War, and flagged much greater military support for Taiwan.That is likely to leave Beijing watching warily, experts say, as the United States president-elect surrounds himself with a litany of hardliners who spit strong …

Beijing’s fears after Trump fills key posts with China hawks Read More »