Author: Elizabeth Jenrola Oso

The UK’s human rights watchdog has raised concerns over what it described as a potentially “heavy-handed” approach to Gaza protests and has called for clearer guidance for police officers. In a letter to the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, and Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said the perception that peaceful protest could attract disproportionate police attention “undermines confidence in our human rights protections”. While much recent focus has been on arrests of those accused of supporting Palestine Action, which was recently proscribed as a terrorist group, the EHRC’s letter centred on individuals who…

Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has faced sharp condemnation after releasing video footage of himself taunting the imprisoned Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti. The 13-second clip, posted by Ben-Gvir, shows him making threatening remarks to Barghouti during a visit to Ganot prison in central Israel. Standing alongside him was Israel’s prisons minister, Kobi Yaakobi, a political ally. Barghouti, 66, jailed in 2002 for his role in planning killings during the second Intifada, appears gaunt and frail after years in solitary confinement. The footage, the first images of him in a decade, shows him attempting to speak before Ben-Gvir interrupts. “You…

Donald Trump has said he believes Vladimir Putin is prepared to reach an agreement to end the war in Ukraine, as the two leaders prepare to meet in Alaska on Friday. His suggestion that Putin and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy could “divvy things up” has raised concerns in Kyiv. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, the US president estimated a 75% chance of success for the Alaska talks, suggesting that economic sanctions may have made the Russian leader more open to negotiations. Posting on Truth Social shortly before leaving the White House on Friday morning, he wrote: “HIGH STAKES!!!” Trump insisted…

As many as 96 people in Argentina are now believed to have died after being treated with medical-use fentanyl contaminated with bacteria. The official death toll stands at 87, but judicial sources told the Buenos Aires Herald that a further nine deaths are under investigation. Concerns were first raised in May, when dozens of hospital patients developed serious bacterial infections. Tests identified strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae and Ralstonia pickettii, some resistant to multiple antibiotics, in the patients. Investigators traced the source to pharmaceutical company HLB Pharma and its laboratory, Laboratorio Ramallo. Argentina’s drug regulator, Anmat, confirmed bacterial contamination in both…

At least 40 people have died in the past week during Sudan’s “worst cholera outbreak in years”, according to medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). With hospitals overwhelmed, medical staff are treating patients on mattresses laid on the floor, MSF said, as the country’s two-year civil war fuels the spread of the disease. Sylvain Penicaud, MSF’s project coordinator in Tawila, North Darfur, said families in displacement and refugee camps were often forced to drink contaminated water. “Just two weeks ago, a body was found in a well inside one of the camps. It was removed, but within two days, people…

Melania Trump has demanded that Hunter Biden retract comments linking her to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, threatening legal action if he fails to do so. Biden, the son of former US President Joe Biden, claimed in an interview earlier this month that Epstein had introduced the  First Lady to Donald Trump. In a letter to Biden, Melania Trump’s lawyer, Alejandro Brito, described the remarks as false, defamatory and “extremely salacious”. He said the comments had been widely circulated on social media and reported internationally, causing her “overwhelming financial and reputational harm”. The disputed statements were made during a…

Donald Trump is moving to relax environmental regulations for private space companies, signing an executive order on Wednesday aimed at accelerating the number of rocket launches. The order, titled Enabling competition in the commercial space industry, declares it “imperative” to national security that the private rocket industry increase launches “substantially” by 2030. Under the measure, companies could be allowed to bypass environmental reviews currently required under the US National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). At present, private space firms must obtain launch permits from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), a process that includes an environmental review under NEPA. Sean Duffy, the…

Lithuanian schoolchildren will be taught how to build and operate drones under a new national programme aimed at strengthening the Baltic state’s resilience against potential future threats from Russia. In a joint initiative announced on Tuesday by the defence and education ministries, more than 22,000 people, including 7,000 children, will learn drone skills as part of a wider effort to “expand civil resistance training”. The scheme will be tailored to different age groups. Pupils aged eight to ten will learn to construct and pilot basic unmanned aerospace vehicles, while secondary school students will be trained in designing and manufacturing drone…

Authorities in Alaska’s capital, Juneau, are urging residents to evacuate as record floodwaters are expected to surge downstream from a basin dammed by the Mendenhall Glacier. Officials warn the event, driven by climate change and glacial retreat, could be the most severe on record. The annual summer flooding, known as a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF), occurs when water trapped by the glacier’s ice dam escapes. This year’s event is fuelled by a combination of rainfall and snowmelt, threatening large parts of the city. The Mendenhall River is forecast to crest at over 16ft on Wednesday morning, according to the…

Elon Musk has threatened to sue Apple on behalf of his artificial intelligence start-up, xAI, accusing the iPhone maker of favouring OpenAI and breaching antitrust regulations in the way it manages rankings in its App Store. The remarks prompted a barbed response from Sam Altman, the OpenAI chief executive, sparking a public spat between the two former business partners on X. “Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach number one in the App Store, which is an unequivocal antitrust violation. xAI will take immediate legal action,” Musk posted on…