Former Israeli PM Ehud Olmert says his country is committing war crimes
The former prime minister of Israel Ehud Olmert has said Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza, and that “thousands of innocent Palestinians are being killed, as well as many Israeli soldiers”. “What we are doing in Gaza now is a war of devastation: indiscriminate, limitless, cruel and criminal killing of civilians. It’s the result of government policy – knowingly, evilly, maliciously, irresponsibly dictated.”“Yes, Israel is committing war crimes,” he concluded. The education minister, Yoav Kisch, said that Olmert and Golan had joined a “radical leftist chorus defaming Israel in the international arena”. The social equality minister, May Golan, accused Olmert of “spitting in the face” of Israeli soldiers.
Source:The Guardian
May 28, 2025 00:18 UTC
Poorest 75 nations face ‘tidal wave’ of debt repayments to China in 2025, study warns
The most vulnerable nations on Earth are facing a “tidal wave” of debt repayments as a Chinese lending boom starts to be called in, a new report has warned. The analysis, published on Tuesday by Australian foreign policy thinktank the Lowy Institute, said that in 2025 the poorest 75 countries were on the hook for record high debt repayments US$22bn to China. The 75 nations’ debt formed the bulk of the total $35bn calculated by Lowy for 2025. “Now, and for the rest of this decade, China will be more debt collector than banker to the developing world,” the report said. China publishes little data on its BRI scheme, and the Lowy Institute said its estimates – based on World Bank data – likely underestimated the full scale of China’s lending.
Source:The Guardian
May 28, 2025 00:12 UTC
Footage shows dust storm hitting parts of South Australia – video
Footage from Orroroo and just outside of Loxton shows the severity of the dust storm that hit South Australia on Monday. The Bureau of Meteorology said dry conditions and strong winds caused the large dust clouds to form, leading to poor visibility and bad driving conditions, which prompted some road closures► Subscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube
Source:The Guardian
May 27, 2025 22:08 UTC
Thousands of Israelis join violent, racist march through Jerusalem’s Muslim quarter
Thousands of Israelis have joined a state-funded march through the Muslim quarter of the Old City in Jerusalem, where large groups chanted racist slogans including “Gaza is ours”, “death to the Arabs” and “may their villages burn”. The annual march, paid for and promoted by the Jerusalem city government, celebrates Israel’s capture and occupation of East Jerusalem and its holy sites in the war of 1967. View image in fullscreen The Israeli far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, was among the crowds in the Old City of Jerusalem. The far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was among the crowds arriving at the Old City around sunset. “The ridge to the south of the ramparts of the Old City, literally in the shadow of the Old City, is indeed the location of biblical Jerusalem.
Source:The Guardian
May 26, 2025 22:24 UTC
Five skiers found dead in mountains near Swiss luxury resort
The bodies of five skiers have been found in the mountains near Switzerland’s luxury resort of Zermatt, police said. A helicopter was sent to survey the area around the Rimpfischhorn after climbers alerted authorities to abandoned skis near the summit on Saturday. The Rimpfischhorn is a 4,199-metre (13,776-foot) mountain that lies east of Zermatt, near the Italian border, and is popular with backcountry skiers. Air Zermatt said it had undertaken another challenging rescue mission nearby shortly before the five bodies were discovered. The “extremely difficult” conditions led to a first rescue mission being aborted, the company said, with a successful attempt made six hours later.
Source:The Guardian
May 25, 2025 22:34 UTC
US men’s hockey team make world championship final in best result since 1950
The United States beat Sweden 6-2 to advance to the final of the ice hockey world championship on Saturday. The Swiss blanked Denmark 7-0 to reach the gold medal game for the second straight year. By reaching the final, the US achieved its best result since the 1950 silver medal. Samuel Ersson replaced Markstrom in the Swedish net at the start of the final period. Switzerland goalie Leonardo Genoni made 17 saves for a second straight shutout.
Source:The Guardian
May 24, 2025 22:09 UTC
Indian troops shoot dead Pakistani man crossing frontier, officials say
Indian border troops shot dead a Pakistani man who they said had crossed the international frontier and did not stop when challenged, the force has said. “The intruder was neutralised on the spot.”A photograph released by the force showed a dead man with greying hair. After the ceasefire, the Indian government said any future terrorist attacks on its territory would be considered an act of war. It has become more vocal in blaming India for a rising wave of militant attacks that have struck Pakistan, particularly in the regions of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Pakistan has repeatedly accused India of using proxy militant groups to carry out terrorist attacks in order to destabilise the country, which India has denied.
Source:The Guardian
May 24, 2025 10:37 UTC
Trump announces Nippon Steel and US Steel partnership – as it happened
“I said that’s okay to go to India, but not going to sell into here without tariffs,” Trump said. Trump also announced a partnership between US Steel and Nippon Steel, saying that US Steel will still be based in Pittsburgh, after Joe Biden blocked a merger between the two companies in early January. Share1h ago 20.53 BST Trump announces Nippon Steel and US Steel partnership After a $14.9bn merger between Japanese steel company Nippon and Pittsburgh-based US Steel was blocked by the Biden administration earlier this year, Donald Trump announced on social media Friday that the two companies will form a “partnership”. Share2h ago 20.35 BST What happened between the Apple CEO Tim Cook and Donald Trump? “I said that’s okay to go to India, but not going to sell into here without tariffs,” Trump said.
Source:The Guardian
May 23, 2025 21:58 UTC
Sea level rise will cause ‘catastrophic inland migration’, scientists warn
Sea level rise will become unmanageable at just 1.5C of global heating and lead to “catastrophic inland migration”, the scientists behind a new study have warned. The melting of those ice sheets would lead to a “really dire” 12 metres of sea level rise. Today, about 230 million people live within 1 metre above current sea level, and 1 billion live within 10 metres above sea level. Sea level rise of at least 1-2 metres was now inevitable, the scientists said. In the UK, just 1 metre of sea level rise would see large parts of the Fens and Humberside below sea level.
Source:The Guardian
May 20, 2025 21:10 UTC
Western countries gave Mossad information used to track and kill Palestinian terrorists in 1970s
A secret coalition of western intelligence agencies supplied Israel with crucial information that allowed the Mossad to track and kill Palestinians suspected of involvement in terrorist attacks in western Europe in the early 1970s, newly declassified documents have revealed. Much of that evidence came from western intelligence services and reached Israel through the Kilowatt network. Hamshari also featured in the Kilowatt cables, which described his diplomatic and fundraising activities but also claimed he had recruited terrorist cells. “I’m not sure the Israeli [assassination] campaign would have been possible without the tactical information from the European intelligence services. Even afterwards though, western European services continued to supply Israel with detailed intelligence on potential targets, Guttmann said.
Source:The Guardian
May 14, 2025 08:30 UTC
Zelenskyy says he will wait in Turkey for face-to-face talks with Putin – video
Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, restated his commitment to meet Russia's president for peace talks in Turkey, saying it would be a test of the Kremlin's dedication to pursuing peace. Zelenskyy said he planned to wait for Putin in Ankara with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, adding that they would travel to Istanbul if Putin opted to hold the talks there. 'We will do everything to make this meeting happen,' he said
Source:The Guardian
May 14, 2025 05:48 UTC
Fowl play: flying duck caught in Swiss speed trap believed to be repeat offender
A radar image of a speed offender caught in central Switzerland last month has revealed that the culprit was not only a duck but probably a repeat offender, local authorities have said. The duck was caught going 52km/h (32mph) in a 30-km/h zone, the post said. It turned out that a similar-looking duck was captured flying in the same spot at exactly the same speed, on exactly the same date seven years earlier, the Facebook post said. But the police inspectorate said it was impossible to doctor images or manipulate the radar system. The computers are calibrated and tested each year by Switzerland’s federal institute of metrology, and the photos taken are sealed, the municipality said.
Source:The Guardian
May 13, 2025 21:17 UTC
U.S., China agree to lower most tariffs for 90 days amid trade talks
Stock markets across Asia rose Monday as investors waited for details about the talks, including hopes of a partial rollback of the tariffs. China’s trade surplus with the United States topped $100 billion last year. Chinese tariffs on U.S. agricultural products, retaliation for the tariffs Trump issued over fentanyl, will also remain. The shift is likely, analysts said, because the trade war is taking a toll on both economies. Even before the trade war began, the Chinese economy was already suffering from stubborn unemployment, sluggish consumer spending and a looming deflation crisis.
Source:The Guardian
May 13, 2025 07:55 UTC
Trump claims ‘total reset’ of US-China ties as 90-day pause to trade war agreed
Donald Trump hailed a “total reset” in relations between China and the US after the countries agreed a 90-day pause to the deepening trade war that has threatened to upend the global economy, with tariffs to be lowered by 115 percentage points. “We have all the cards,” the president claimed, using similar rhetoric to describe relations with the EU that he was using about China just weeks ago. The US trade representative, Jamieson Greer, said China’s retaliation had been disproportionate and amounted to an effective embargo on trade between the world’s two biggest economies. The fentanyl-related tariff will still apply, and Trump stressed that sector-specific US tariffs on cars, steel and aluminium will be unaffected. After the announcement of the US-China agreement, analysts at the Dutch bank ING lifted their forecast for China’s growth this year.
Source:The Guardian
May 13, 2025 05:55 UTC
Koyo Kouoh, art curator due to lead 2026 Venice Biennale, dies at 57
Koyo Kouoh, the groundbreaking Swiss-Cameroonian curator who was to become the first African woman to head up the Venice Biennale, died suddenly on Saturday, the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa announced. Kouoh, 57, had been put in charge of the 61st edition of the Biennale Arte, which will take place in Venice from April to November 2026. In a statement, the management of the Venice Biennale said they were “deeply saddened and dismayed to learn of the sudden and untimely passing of Koyo Kouoh”. They said Kouoh had “worked with passion, intellectual rigour and vision on the conception and development of the Biennale Arte 2026”. Zeitz MOCAA said it had closed its doors and suspended all programming until further notice.
Source:The Guardian
May 12, 2025 18:22 UTC