List of All Articles with Tag 'world'

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps unveiled a new range of enhanced missiles on Saturday in its latest display

Spain overcame a bizarre long-range own goal to thrash Switzerland 5-1 and advance to the Women's World Cup quarterfinals on Saturday.

The US, the UK and Singapore pulled out of a youth scout gathering in South Korea where hundreds

Harrowing new accounts of Ukrainians being tortured during Russia’s eight-month occupation of Kherson are “just the tip of the iceberg”, an international team investigating the alleged war crimes has warned. The acts described by those detained in dozens of makeshift detention centres – including the use of sexual violence as a common tactic among Russian guards, and genital electrocution – are “evocative of genocide”, the team of lawyers and prosecutors said this week. The UN’s special rapporteur on torture, Alice Jill Edwards, told The Independent that similarities in the accounts of victims across several different regions of Ukraine “expose a deeper concern that torture and intimidation are a policy and strategy of the Russian state”. Top Ukrainian officials have accused Moscow of genocidal aims ever since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine last February, with The Independent among the first to witness evidence of human rights abuses by Russian troops in the aftermath of the first Russian retreats from territory near Kyiv. Accounts of Russian torture chambers in Kherson first began to emerge soon after Russia’s forces retreated from the key Black Sea port city in November, having captured it one month into their full-scale invasion last February. Earlier this week, a team of prosecutors, experts and analysts – funded by Britain, the EU and US – helping Ukraine’s prosecutor general to sift through that evidence published a summary of its findings among an initial pool of 320 detainees held at more than 35 detention centres. Of those victims, at least 43 per cent explicitly mentioned practices of torture in those centres – with commonly used techniques including suffocation, waterboarding, severe beatings and threats of rape, said the team led by humanitarian law firm Global Rights Compliance. At least 36 detainees mentioned the use of electrocution during interrogations, often genital electrocution. Other victims mentioned threats of genital mutilation, and at least one victim was forced to witness the rape of another detainee by a foreign object covered in a condom, the group said. While those detained included medical workers, teachers, volunteers, activists, community leaders, and law enforcement officials, current and former soldiers appear to be the detainees most likely to have experienced torture in the facilities, according to the investigators. The team of investigators says it has managed to identify individual Russian perpetrators – including one soldier, Oleksandr Naumenko, alleged to have ordered the genital electrocution of 17 different victims. However, the Kremlin has consistently denied allegations of war crimes in Ukraine, and Russia’s defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report's findings. Responding to the findings, the UN’s special rapporteur said: “The recent collection of interviews are similar in a number of key respects to testimonies I have received as Special Rapporteur on torture, albeit my representations to the Russian authorities are based on information in the regions of Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia. “The similarities in practice across regional zones expose a deeper concern that torture and intimidation are a policy and strategy of the Russian State. “And as such, it is presently hard to envisage that perpetrators will face justice in Russia. That said, the careful and continuous collection of evidence must go on.” Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty International’s deputy director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said: “Sadly, these practices are very, very familiar to any one of us who has done research into the Russian security forces and how they deal with civilians.” Pointing to past human rights abuses by Russian troops in the North Caucasus and occupied Crimea, Mr Krivosheev told The Independent: “So it is not at all surprising, but no less shocking, to read about this in territories that Russian forces have occupied in Ukraine.” Mr Krivosheev said many of the details of the Kherson report chimed with his own past experience of Russian torture practices in those arenas, where captives suffered “a lot of” sexualised violence and electrocution, with it being “very common” to target the latter on detainees’ genitalia. Compounding fears of a concerted effort by Moscow to subjugate Ukraine’s population using such methods, Global Rights Compliance co-founder Wayne Jordash KC unveiled evidence in March suggesting the Kherson “torture chambers were planned and directly financed by the Russian state”. Commenting on the new findings, he said: “The torture and sexual violence tactics the [Ukrainian prosecutor’s office] is uncovering from the Kherson detention centres suggests that Putin’s plan to extinguish Ukrainian identity includes a range of crimes evocative of genocide. “At the very least, the pattern that we are observing is consistent with a cynical and calculated plan to humiliate and terrorise millions of Ukrainian citizens in order to subjugate them to the diktat of the Kremlin.” Ukrainian authorities are reviewing more than 97,000 reports of war crimes across Ukraine and have filed charges against 220 suspects in domestic courts. High-level perpetrators could be tried at the International Criminal Court, which has already issued a warrant for Mr Putin’s arrest. “The true scale of Russia’s war crimes remains unknown, but what we can say for certain is that the psychological consequences of these cruel crimes on Ukrainian people will be engrained in their minds for years to come,” said Anna Mykytenko, a senior legal adviser at Global Rights Compliance. “What we are witnessing in Kherson is just the tip of the iceberg in Putin’s barbaric plan to obliterate an entire population. Justice will be served for Ukrainian survivors as we continue our mission to identify and hold perpetrators accountable. Impunity is not an option.” While Mr Krivosheev said he could not say based on the evidence available to Amnesty that alleged torture in Kherson was “a way of dealing with the entire population”, he said he had “certainly” witnessed Russian troops using such practices to instill fear across whole populations previously. Condemning a failure among the international community to properly address Russia’s past crimes in the North Caucasus and Crimea, Mr Krivosheev said Amnesty would strive alongside those seeking to bring “all those responsible to account for war crimes, including torture, in fair trials”. “These crimes have no statute of limitation, and this is the only way to ensure justice and prevent such crimes in the future,” he said. Read More Tales of torture emerge as Kherson celebrates freedom from months of Russian occupation In the dark shadow of Putin’s war: Murder, mass graves and torture mark a Russian retreat Life after the Kakhovka dam explosion | On The Ground Why Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s ports matter for us all

A group of renewables investors can seize control of a property in an affluent London neighborhood owned by

Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra postponed a plan to return from 15 years of self-imposed exile by

Greece’s investment-grade status was restored by Scope Ratings, evidence of its progress in repairing public finances 13 years

Rishi Sunak has a decent chance of delivering his promise to halve UK inflation this year, according to

Stellantis NV is planning to add a second lower-priced electric vehicle to its arsenal to compete with Renault

A Colombian judge on Friday night ordered President Gustavo Petro’s son freed from detention while he is investigated on allegations of illicit enrichment and money laundering. Nicolás Petro was arrested early Saturday, and this week was charged with the two crimes. He agreed to cooperate in the probe, and prosecutors said he acknowledged Thursday that his father’s 2022 election campaign received money of dubious origin. Mario Andrés Burgos, the prosecutor in charge of the case, said Nicolás Petro assured that he would deliver audios and documents to corroborate that part of the money given to him ended up financing his father’s candidacy. The Attorney General’s Office presented evidence that it said shows the younger Petro received money illicitly. But the judge said prosecutors did not substantiate the need to keep the president's son in detention or under house arrest. He was ordered released under the condition that he not leave Colombia or participate in political activities. Nicolás Petro is a legislator for the northern coastal region of Atlántico, but has said he will resign the seat. Burgos has said the younger Petro revealed that unjustified increases detected in his assets came from two individuals being questioned by Colombian authorities. The money went partly into the son's own accounts and partly into the campaign that made his father Colombia's first elected leftist president, the prosecutor said. On Tuesday, when he was charged, prosecutors said the younger Petro took thousands of dollars from drug traffickers and used it to buy luxurious homes and expensive cars. Nicolás Petro, 36, pleaded innocent to the charges, but agreed to cooperate with authorities. The case has come at a time when Colombia’s president is losing popularity and has been exposed to attacks by opposition parties, which have become increasingly reluctant to cooperate with his legislative agenda. The president has said he would not interfere with the investigation, and wrote a message on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, in which he said he hoped his son would “reflect on his mistakes.” Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide

A Texas judge has sided with a group of women who were denied abortions in the state, putting their health and lives at risk during dangerous complications. The judge has temporarily blocked the state’s ban on abortions during medically complicated pregnancies in response to a lawsuit from 13 women seeking urgent clarity in the state’s anti-abortion law. An injunction from District judge Jessica Mangrum on 4 August follows harrowing courtroom testimony from five plaintiffs during a two-day hearing in which they were cross examined by attorneys for the state, which has sought to toss the case out altogether. The judge has also rejected that request. “For the first time in a long time, I cried for joy when I heard the news,” lead plaintiff Amanda Zurawski said in a statement from the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing the women in the case. “This is exactly why we did this. This is why we put ourselves through the pain and the trauma over and over again to share our experiences and the harms caused by these awful laws,” she added. “I have a sense of relief, a sense of hope, and a weight has been lifted. Now people don’t have to be pregnant and scared in Texas anymore. We’re back to relying on doctors and not politicians to help us make the best medical decisions for our bodies and our lives.” Texas outlaws most abortions except for conditions that qualify as “medical emergencies,” sparking widespread confusion among providers and hospitals fearing legal blowback or severe criminal penalties. Healthcare providers in the state found in violation of those laws could lose their medical license, face tens of thousands of dollars in fines, or prison. The lawsuit asked the court to help provide clarity around what circumstances qualify as exceptions, allowing doctors to use their own medical judgment without fear of prosecution. In her ruling, Judge Jessica Mangrum wrote that doctors cannot be prosecuted for using their own “good faith judgment” in providing such care, and that “physical medical conditions include, at a minimum: a physical medical condition or complication of pregnancy that poses a risk of infection, or otherwise makes continuing a pregnancy unsafe for the pregnant person; a physical medical condition that is exacerbated by pregnancy, cannot be effectively treated during pregnancy, or requires recurrent invasive intervention; and/or a fetal condition where the fetus is unlikely to survive the pregnancy and sustain life after birth.” The injunction will be temporarily blocked if and when the state appeals the decision. “This makes me hopeful that we can continue to provide competent rational care,” said Dr Damla Karsan, who is among two obstetrician-gynecologists who joined 13 other Texas women in the case. “It’s exactly what we needed,” she added. “The court has guaranteed that we can once again provide the best care without fear of criminal or professional retribution. We can once again rely on our knowledge and training especially in challenging situations where abortions are necessary.” More than a dozen states, largely across the US South, have effectively outlawed abortions in the aftermath of the US Supreme Court decision to revoke a constitutional right to abortion care. The decision to overturn Roe v Wade and ensuing anti-abortion laws have upended access to care for millions of Americans who are forced to travel outside their states where abortion is protected, compounding the already-fractured and patchwork system for abortion care across the country. Anti-abortion laws in Texas have “paralyzed” health providers from being able to properly counsel and advise their patients, Dr Austin Dennard testified during the Texas abortion lawsuit hearing. “We’re truly doing the best that we can with the situation that has been given to us,” she said. Read More Texas women detailed agonising pregnancies after being denied abortions. The state blames doctors Texas women suing over anti-abortion law give heartbreaking testimony in landmark case. The stress causes one to vomit on the stand Texas man who threatened poll workers and Arizona officials is sentenced to 3 1/2 years Colorado fugitive who was captured in Florida was leading a posh lifestyle and flaunting his wealth A cyberattack has disrupted hospitals and health care in several states

I can’t keep writing every week about how extreme the weather is everywhere, so let’s just get this