World News

War in Ukraine: Latest developments

Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine: - End war by year end: Zelensky - Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky urges leaders of the Group of Seven industrialised countries to do their utmost to end Russia's invasion of his country by the end of the year.. "This constitutes the biggest overhaul of our collective defence and deterrence since the Cold War," Stoltenberg says.

Blood and fears as Russian missile hits flats in east Ukraine city

A man's body still wearing one slipper lay in a courtyard in the centre of Sloviansk in east Ukraine Monday after a morning strike hit apartment blocks in the strategic city.. What appeared to be an Uragan missile stuck out of the ground in a courtyard some 100 metres from where Igor's body lay.

Spain advances transgender rights bill

Spain's government advanced a transgender rights bill Monday to present to parliament this summer allowing anyone over 16 to easily change gender on their ID documents. . The bill also includes a new section on transgender migrants, who will have the right to change their gender "on documents issued in Spain if they are not guaranteed their rights as transgender people in their country of origin". 

Protesters reject Ecuador president's 'insensitive' fuel price cut

Indigenous protesters in Ecuador vowed Monday to continue a disruptive country-wide protest against high living costs, rejecting a fuel price cut announced by the government as insufficient and "insensitive.". The cut was not nearly as much as protesters had demanded, and the powerful Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie), which has been blockading roads and occupying oil wells since June 13, said the gesture was "not enough, it is insensitive."

Criminal lawyers in England and Wales stage pay strike

Senior criminal lawyers in England and Wales on Monday went on strike in a dispute over pay, just days after rail workers staged stoppages and other sectors threatened industrial action.. Last week, tens of thousands of rail workers staged three one-day walkouts over pay and job security.

Judges retire to consider verdicts in Paris attack trials

Five judges overseeing the trial into the November 2015 attacks on the Bataclan concert hall and other targets around Paris headed to a secret location Monday to consider their verdicts.. Verdicts for him and 19 other suspects on trial are due on Wednesday afternoon from five judges who were taken to a secret location in the Paris region to mull their verdicts.

Rare tornado kills one in Netherlands

A tornado ripped through a city in the Netherlands Monday, killing at least one person and injuring 10 others in the first fatal twister to hit the country for three decades.. The Netherlands experiences several tornadoes a year but the last fatal one to hit the country was in 1992, the Dutch meteorological agency KNMI said.

Sri Lanka electricity firm seeks 835% price rise

Sri Lanka's heavily loss-making state-run electricity monopoly asked for a shocking price rise of over 800 percent for its poorest customers with the bankrupt nation out of fuel, regulators said Monday.. The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) lost 65 billion rupees ($185 million) in the first quarter and sought an 835 percent price hike for the heavily-subsided smallest power consumers, the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) said.

The difficult search for truth at France's biggest terror trial

During the nine-month trial stemming from France's worst ever terror attacks in November 2015, the moment hundreds of victims were hoping for came late in proceedings.. Those caught up in the carnage of November 13, 2015, had expressed different hopes for the trial, the biggest in French history which comes to climax this Wednesday when verdicts are expected.

S.African police search bar for clues after 21 teens die

South African police were on Monday combing a township tavern where 21 teenagers mysteriously died as survivors described a battle to escape the jam-packed premises and one reported a suffocating smell.. But new details emerged Monday as survivors spoke of a strong and suffocating smell in the jam-packed double-storey building.