Top World News
Man, 23, appears in court charged with murder after Teesside house fire
Seven-year-old girl and aunt, 34, died and four others were injured in blaze near Middlesbrough last weekA 23-year-old man has appeared in court charged with murdering a seven-year-old girl and her aunt who died in a house fire.Natalie McDonald, 34, and Valentina Foster died and four other people were injured in the blaze in Grangetown, near Middlesbrough, in the early hours of 26 August. Continue reading...
First Thing: Duane Keith Davis found guilty of 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur
Jury took about three hours to reach verdict in case that relied heavily on confessions from the defendant. Plus, the woman who lived with and loved Freddie Mercury as her fianceGood morning. A Las Vegas jury has found the former South Side Compton Crips gang leader Duane Keith Davis guilty of the murder of Tupac Shakur, bringing the case to a close nearly 30 years after the rapper was gunned down. The jury took about three hours to reach a guilty verdict in a case that relied heavily on multiple confessions from Davis himself.The 63-year-old, who was accused of instigating the deadly shooting but not pulling the trigger himself, had spent years telling investigators and interviewers alike of his direct involvement before he was arrested in 2023.Who was Tupac Shakur? Shakur was born in 1971 in East Harlem, New York, and rose to fame in the early 90s with lyrics that doubled as a sharp commentary on social injustice including systemic racism and police brutality. He was 25 when he died, is regarded among the greatest rappers to ever live, and continues to be celebrated around the world years after his life was cut short.How have his family reacted to the trial? “We’ve been waiting 30 years to grieve properly,” Zayd Akinyela, Shakur’s cousin, told reporters outside the courtroom when the trial was under way. “A lot of people don’t get to grieve until they understand what happened to their loved one and how it happened.”Why have authorities been so heavily criticised over the case? Las Vegas police faced criticism that they had bungled the investigation and failed to pursue crucial leads, including from a member of Shakur’s entourage who claimed he could identify the shooters. That witness died weeks later in a separate shooting. Continue reading...
London Stock Exchange to lose three more firms after takeover offers
Latest purchases take value of deals to leave capital’s stock market this year past $100bnThree more London-listed companies are set to be taken over as the value of deals removing firms from the capital’s under-pressure stock market so far this year passes $100bn (£74bn).On Tuesday, Bodycote, the FTSE 250 industrials group that has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 1972, agreed a £1.84bn takeover by the US private equity group Veritas. Continue reading...
Nepal-Tibet flood deaths pass 1,000 as police ask relatives for DNA to identify victims
Relatives of missing tourists asked for blood samples and photos, as efforts continue to rescue trapped hydropower workersNepal-Tibet floods – latest updatesVisual guide: How the Nepal-Tibet flash flood unfoldedNepali rescuers have built temporary bridges to reach remote areas and dug through the ruins of hydropower projects in the Himalayas to rescue hundreds of trapped workers, as the death toll passed 1,000 nearly a week after devastating floods left a trail of destruction across the country’s towns and valleys.About 600 people remain stuck in several devastated hydropower stations that have become the focus of rescue efforts. The prime minister, Balendra Shah, said more than 11,000 people had been rescued across the affected region, and power and communication lines had been restored in some areas. Continue reading...
House Republicans ramp up labor union investigations ahead of midterms
Inquiry come after conservative thinktanks claim unions are using member dues to support Democratic causesHouse Republicans are investigating several US labor unions based on claims from far-right nonprofits alleging union dues are being used for illegal political funding.Republicans on the House’s education and workforce committee opened the investigation this summer after multiple reports from the conservative thinktanks targeted unions and their spending, claiming that unions are using member dues to support Democratic causes. Continue reading...
Can 80-year-old Democrat Ed Markey clinch another US Senate term?
Age on the agenda in Massachusetts but octogenarian leftwinger leads younger rival Seth Moulton in primary pollDemocrats have spent the summer ousting long-serving incumbents in primaries across the country. On Tuesday, Massachusetts voters will decide whether that generational revolt extends to the 80-year-old Ed Markey, whose younger Democratic rival has argued that the incumbent is simply too old to serve another term.But the Senate primary in this heavily Democratic state flips a central dynamic of previous contests, where youthful progressive insurgents have targeted – and in several cases, toppled – older incumbents they derided as avatars of an outmoded cautious establishment. Continue reading...
Charles Perrottet told fugitive developer plan at Nobu dinner to have NSW MP ‘on his knees’, Icac hears
Liberal party figure tells inquiry he never asked Jean Nassif ‘for payments for political outcomes’ as lawyer tells him she is ‘gobsmacked’ by his ‘obfuscation’Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe younger brother of Dominic Perrottet has insisted he never asked a fugitive property developer for money for political outcomes – including at a meeting at fine-dining restaurant Nobu in Crown Casino, an inquiry has heard.On Tuesday, the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) heard that developer Jean Nassif had withdrawn from a scheduled videolink appearance from Lebanon later this week, after Charles Perrottet faced questions about the dinner meeting between the two men in Melbourne in May 2021. Continue reading...
NSW top prosecutor Sally Dowling and state attorney general discussed which barristers could review her office, estimates hears
Dowling tells budget estimates that Michael Daley called to tell her he was appointing a senior counsel and ‘raised quite a number of names’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe top prosecutor in New South Wales says she discussed a list of barristers to lead an independent review into controversial findings against her office with the state’s attorney general, before he appointed someone she had known “professionally and socially” for nearly 30 years.Last month, a state parliamentary committee voted 4-3 to find that the NSW director of public prosecutions (DPP), Sally Dowling SC, had given false evidence about the pitching of a story about an Indigenous child performing an acknowledgment of country at a sentencing hearing to radio station 2GB. Continue reading...
Canada’s ruling Liberals sweep special elections in boost to Mark Carney
Three projected victories are a message to US that Carney has support of the Canadian people, says one lawmakerCanada’s ruling Liberal party has swept three special elections, a result that showed voters backing the prime minister, Mark Carney, after his face-off with Donald Trump.The Canadian Press, Canada’s national news agency, projected Liberal victories in Chicoutimi-Le Fjord in Quebec, Beaches-East York in Toronto and North Vancouver-Capilano in British Columbia. Continue reading...
Shein shares slide on fast-fashion retailer’s stock market debut
Hong Kong flotation at $26bn by firm once valued at $100bn follows failure to list in US and UKShares in the fast-fashion brand Shein slumped by as much as 10% as the China-founded company made its long-anticipated trading debut on the Hong Kong stock exchange.The Singapore-headquartered company, once valued at almost $100bn (£74bn), went public on Tuesday pricing shares at HK$48.56, valuing the business at just over $26bn. Continue reading...
In a scorching Spain, the traditional folding hand fan is having a moment
In Spain, the traditional folding hand fan, or abanico, is having a moment due to the summer's intense heat
The election campaign to replace Macron in France is heating up as the summer vacation season ends
The election campaign to replace Emmanuel Macron as France's president is gaining momentum
