Category: World

Dick Cheney's death a loss to the nation, says George W Bush2 hours agoShareSaveAnthony Zurcher,North America correspondent, George Wright and Alex SmithShareSaveBrooks Kraft LLC/Corbis via Getty ImagesDick Cheney was one of the most powerful US vice-presidents in history under George W BushFormer US President George W Bush has led tributes to Dick Cheney, saying his death is “a loss to the nation and a sorrow to his friends”.
Cheney died from complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease on Monday night at the age of 84, his family said in a statement.
He became one of the most powerful US vice-presidents in history under Bush, and leaves behind a controversial legacy as a key architect of the “war on terror”, and an early advocate of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
“History will remember him as among the finest public servants of his generation,” Bush said in a statement.
Cheney was “a patriot who brought integrity, high intelligence, and seriousness of purpose to every..

Israel receives coffin Hamas says contains Gaza hostage's body4 hours agoShareSaveDavid GrittenJerusalemShareSaveReutersHamas's armed wing said it recovered the body of an Israeli soldier in the Shejaiya area on TuesdayIsrael has received via the Red Cross in Gaza a coffin which the Palestinian armed group Hamas says contains the body of a deceased hostage, according to the Israeli prime minister's office.
Israeli forces will now transfer the remains to the National Centre of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv for identification.
Earlier, Hamas's military wing said it had recovered the body of an Israeli soldier in the eastern Shejaiya neighbourhood of Gaza City.
Israel had allowed members of the group and Red Cross staff to search for the remains in the area, which is inside territory still controlled by Israeli forces.
The Israeli government has accused Hamas of deliberately delaying the recovery of the dead hostages since a US-brokered ceasefire deal took effect on 10..

China academic intimidation claim referred to counter-terrorism police1 hour agoShareSaveDamian GrammaticasPolitical correspondentShareSaveBBCAn investigation into allegations that Sheffield Hallam University faced sustained pressure from China to shut down human rights research has been referred to counter-terrorism police.
The BBC and the Guardian newspaper has been reporting that documents show that China had waged a two-year campaign of intimidation and harassment, including demands the university stop sensitive research by one of its professors into claims of forced labour in the Xinjiang region of China.
A South Yorkshire Police spokesperson said the force has referred the investigation on because the “allegations fall under Section 3 of the National Security Act”.
Section 3 of the act deals with “assisting a foreign intelligence service”.
An offence is committed if someone behaves in a way that “intends that conduct to materially assist a foreign intelligence service in carrying..

Trump administration will tap emergency fund to pay partial food stamp benefits5 hours agoShareSaveAna FaguyShareSaveGetty ImagesUS President Donald Trump's administration has said it will provide reduced food aid to more than 42 million Americans, as the government shutdown this week heads towards becoming the longest ever with no resolution in sight.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in a court filing that Americans who receive food assistance will get half their normal monthly allotment, after the government dipped into emergency funding.
Judges had given the Trump administration until Monday to provide a plan for how it would pay out Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) benefits, also known as food stamps.
Funding for the programme has been in limbo due to the more-than-month-long shutdown.
While individual US states administer the benefits, the programme relies on money from the federal government, which has been unfunded and shut down since 1 October..

Nato 'will stand with Ukraine' to get long-lasting peace, senior official tells BBC3 hours agoShareSaveFrank Gardnersecurity correspondent, in BahrainShareSaveBBCAdmiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone describes the war as a strategic failure for Russian President Vladimir PutinNato “will stand with Ukraine up to the day in which we will have them sitting around the table for a long-lasting peace”, a senior official from the military alliance has told the BBC.
Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, chair of Nato's military committee since January, added from an operational point of view he considered the Russia-Ukraine war was bogged down, and “it was almost time to sit and talk because it's a waste of lives”.
Pointing to the fact that Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 had resulted in two more countries joining the Western alliance – Finland and Sweden – Adm Dragone described the war as a strategic failure for Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite recent slow, ..

'No help, no food, no water': Hurricane-hit Jamaican towns desperately wait for aid7 hours agoShareSaveBrandon Drenonin Westmoreland, JamaicaShareSaveWatch: Hurricane Melissa – aerial view of 'ground zero' destructionFive days after Hurricane Melissa pummelled into western Jamaica with record force, residents in devastated communities along the coast are still desperately waiting for help.
Many of the roads are blocked by debris and people are isolated with little food, no power or running water, and no idea of when normalcy will return.
The government said on Saturday that at least 28 people in Jamaica have died since the hurricane hit as a monster category five storm with 185 mph (297km/h) sustained winds.
That is a near 50% jump in the death toll overnight, and the number could rise as officials clear their way into new parts of the island in the coming days.
Local official Dr Dayton Campbell told the BBC 10 of those deaths were in Westmoreland.
Westmoreland pari..