List of All Articles with Tag 'world'

A strike by dockworkers on Canada’s west coast stretched into a fourth day, causing business groups to warn

Ted Cruz is accusing the highly anticipated Barbie film of “pushing Chinese propaganda,” after a trailer for the Warner Bros release appeared to show a map referencing China’s disputed claims to the South China Sea. “Senator Cruz has been fighting for years to prevent American companies, especially Hollywood studios, from altering and censoring their content to appease the Chinese Communist Party,’ a spokesperson for the Texas Republican told The Daily Mail. The issue stems back to the so-called “nine-dash line” used on Chinese maps, illustrating what it claims are its posessions within the South China Sea. The line, first published on Chinese maps in the 1940s, demarks an area 1,200 miles from the Chinese mainlaind comprised more than 80 per cent of the South China Sea, according to The Los Angeles Times. Parts of the territory within the line, a busy fishing and trade corridor with valuable oil and gas deposits as well as strategic importance, are claimed by nations including Vietnam and the Philippines. About a minute into the Barbie film’s main trailer, a map of the world can be seen with a line of eigh dots jutting off a cartoonish drawing of Asia. The Independent has contacted Warner Bros for comment. The Republican Texas senator isn’t the only one upset about the map. Vietnam reportedly banned the movie over the apparent reference to the Chinese claims. The decision was issued by the country’s Central Council of Film Evaluation and Classification, Vi Kien Thanh, head of the Vietnam Cinema Department, told theTuoi Tre newspaper on Monday. The film was set to premiere in the country on 21 July, the same time as it hit US screens. It’s not the first time the territorial claims have impacted a Hollywood release. Showings of the action film Uncharted in Vietnam were halted last year for the same reason. The map dispute also led Vietnam to cut a scene from the 2018 smash Crazy Rich Asians, according to the Mail. The territorial dispute over the South China Sea territory at issue was brought before The Hague in 2016, where China lost on most of its claims. Beijing has not accepted the judgment. Read More Barbie director Greta Gerwig reveals she rejected ‘terrifying’ idea for Margot Robbie film Vietnam bans 'Barbie' movie due to an illustration showing China's territorial claim John Legend and Chrissy Teigen sleep over at Barbie’s Malibu dreamhouse: ‘So jealous’ Trump and DeSantis to hold dueling campaign events in New Hampshire after squabbling over timing Analysis: Donald Trump's war on truth confronts another test with voters Judge blocks Biden agencies from communicating with social media platforms

Jurors in Pittsburgh have begun considering whether the gunman in a white supremacist 2018 shooting at a local synagogue complex should get the death penalty. In June, Robert Bowers, who killed 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue, was convicted on 63 federal counts. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, experts called by his attorneys have been arguing in court in recent days that he was so mentally damaged by the time of the shooting he shouldn’t face the death penalty, which is forbidden against people with certain intellectual handicaps. They pointed out how Bowers had been in multiple psychiatric hospitals by the time he was 13 years old, diagnosed with depression and other ailments. As a teenager, he also attempted to kill his mother by spraying an aerosol toward her and trying to light it on fire. By 16, he was voluntarily committed again to a mental facility and had made “repeated suicide attempts,” according to the defence. Richard Rogers, a forensic psychologist who met with Bowers four times while he was in prison, told jurors the gunman showed signs of delusional thinking tied to his white supremacist ideas. “He did not just believe [his conduct] to be correct,” Mr Rogers said, “he believed it absolutely had to be done.” A majority of families whose loved ones died in the shooting have voiced their support for the death penalty in the case. “We are not a ruthless, uncompassionate people; we, as a persecuted people, understand when there is a time for compassion and when there is a time to stand up and say enough is enough — such violent hatred will not be tolerated on this earth,” they wrote in a 2022 letter in the Pittsburg Jewish Chronicle. “Our beloved 11 were taken from us in a brutal, cold-blooded act of hatred and violence. We, the undersigned, will feel further violated by letting the defendant have the easy way out. His crimes deserve the death penalty.” Others tied to the tragedy, the deadliest antisemitic shooting in US history, argued the death penalty violates Jewish tradition. “Jewish practice as I understand it does not — outside of self-defense — allow humans to take the lives of other humans. Not even the life of a murderer whose guilt is beyond doubt,” Beth Kissileff, whose husband, a rabbi, was in the Tree of Life facility during the shooting, wrote in The New York Times. “The death penalty does nothing to promote healing; it only continues more killing,” she added. The Independent and the nonprofit Responsible Business Initiative for Justice (RBIJ) have launched a joint campaign calling for an end to the death penalty in the US. The RBIJ has attracted more than 150 well-known signatories to their Business Leaders Declaration Against the Death Penalty - with The Independent as the latest on the list. We join high-profile executives like Ariana Huffington, Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, and Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson as part of this initiative and are making a pledge to highlight the injustices of the death penalty in our coverage. Read More A copycat Zodiac Killer terrorised New York years after the California original. This is how he got caught Pittsburgh synagogue killer has extensive history of mental illness, defense expert testifies Doctors give mixed testimony on whether tests show brain damage in the Pittsburgh synagogue killer

Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA unveiled offers from rival billionaires seeking to win support of the French grocer and its

Five victims, including one teenager, who were killed during a mass shooting in Philadelphia have been identified by police. Four adult men and one child were killed during the shooting which took place in Kingsessing on Monday evening. The victims are Lashyd Merritt, 20, Dymir Stanton, 29, Ralph Moralis, 59, Joseph Wamah Jr, 31, and Daujan Brown, 15. Police said two children were also injured as a result of the shooting – a 13-year-old and a two-year-old. As of Monday evening, both children were in stable condition. The names of the two injured have not been released yet. The tragic shooting unfolded on Monday evening after a gunman, armed with an AR-15-style rifle, a handgun, multiple magazines and wearing a bulletproof vest opened fire in a neighbourhood. Police responded to reports of gunfire around 8.30pm local time and apprehended the suspected shooter after pursuing him on foot. The suspected shooter, an adult male, was taken into custody Monday night. Local authorities later took another suspect into custody but said they were unsure how the second suspect may be connected to the suspected gunman. In a press conference on Monday night, police commissioner Danielle Outlaw said authorities had “no idea” why the suspected gunman chose to open fire in the neighbourhood. Police were working to determine if the suspected shooter had any connection to the victims. Philadelphia mayor Jim Kenney expressed frustration over the tragic shooting on Tuesday saying the United States needs to “re-examine” how it approaches gun laws. “Where does a person like this get an AR-15,” Mr Kenney said to reporters before the city’s Fourth of July celebrations on Tuesday. “Where does a person like this get a semi-automatic handgun? Where does a person like this buy a Kevlar vest?” “This country needs to re-examine its conscious when it comes to Congress or the state legislature and figure out how we get these guns out of these people’s hands,” Mr Kenney added. President Joe Biden also issued a statement on the shooting saying he and First Lady Jill Bien are grieving for the victims and their families while asking Congress to enact stricter gun control l aws. Mr Biden said: “We pray for the day when our communities will be free from gun violence.” Read More Philadelphia mass shooting – live: Five victims identified as 40-year-old Kingsessing gunman’s motive unclear Biden renews call for assault weapons ban after ‘tragic and senseless’ spate of July 4 shootings Five adults dead and two children wounded: What we know about mass shooting in Philadelphia

South African Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago said the fight to tame rising prices was delivering results and

Most presidents, current and former, typically spend America’s Independence Day celebrating the values of US society that bring its citizens together, joining in the festive and unifying themes of the national holiday. And then there’s Donald Trump. The twice-impeached, twice-indicted former president spent his 4 July morning fuming at his enemies from behind a keyboard, re-”Truth”-ing a vulgar message aimed at President Joe Biden and the tens of millions of Americans who voted for the Democratic commander-in-chief in 2020. ““F**k Biden and f**k you for voting for him”, read the post. It was just another pebble in the avalanche of bizarre behaviour that Mr Trump has long known for; the attack was amplified by the former president at roughly 2am, hours before he would apparently wake up and decide to share a slightly-less caustic message to his followers. “Happy FOURTH OF JULY to everyone. We are working hard, we will take back our Country, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN”. Though, he added that the 2024 election would be “our LAST GREAT CHANCE” to do so. Read More Trump’s own words about an indicted president come back to haunt him Ex-Trump spokesperson claims she saw him show off documents on Mar-a-Lago dining patio Chris Christie reacts to ‘control freak’ Trump’s classified documents comments: ‘He’s scared’

Georgia's Foreign Ministry criticized Ukraine on Tuesday for urging the Georgian ambassador to return to Tbilisi for consultations over the poor health of imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili, who is also a Ukrainian citizen. The Foreign Ministry called Ukraine's action “an extreme form of escalation.” Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry had summoned Georgian Ambassador George Zakarashvili to express its protest over the apparent significant deterioration in the health of Saakashvili, who was convicted of abuse of power while he was president in 2004-2013. “The decision of the Ukrainian authorities causes serious damage to the strategic relations between the two countries and represents a direct interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state,” Georgia’s Foreign Ministry said in its statement. Saakashvili appeared severely emaciated Monday during a videolink testimony to a court considering a new abuse-of-power case against him. Saakashvili and his supporters claim that he has been poisoned while imprisoned and that he now weighs about 60 kilograms (132 pounds), half of what he weighed when he was arrested in October 2021. Speaking from a private clinic where he is being held, he told the court that despite his poor health, he is “spiritually fit and determined to serve the country,” according to local news site Agenda. Saakashvili, who became Georgia’s president after leading the Rose Revolution protests that drove the previous president out of office, left for Ukraine after the end of his second term. He was later convicted in absentia of abuse of power and sentenced to six years in prison. He was arrested in October 2021 after returning to Georgia to try to bolster opposition forces before nationwide municipal elections. He is now on trial on charges connected to the violent dispersal of an opposition rally in 2007. Saakashvili holds Ukrainian citizenship and was governor of that nation’s Odesa region in 2015-16. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday called on Georgia to send Saakashvili to Ukraine for medical treatment. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide

A federal judge has blocked key agencies within President Joe Biden’s administration from communicating with social media companies about certain online speech in an extraordinary ruling as part of an ongoing case that could have profound impacts on the First Amendment. The preliminary injunction granted by Donald Trump-appointed US District Judge Terry A Doughty in Louisiana on 4 July prohibits the FBI and the US Department of Health and Human Services from speaking with platforms for “the purpose of urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech.” The ruling – which could obstruct the administration’s attempts to combat false and potentially dangerous claims about vaccines and elections – is a victory for Republican attorneys general in Louisiana and Missouri who have alleged that the federal government was overreaching in its attempts to combat Covid-19 disinformation and baseless election fraud narratives. Judge Doughty, who has yet to issue a final ruling, stated in his injunction that the Republican plaintiffs “have produced evidence of a massive effort by Defendants, from the White House to federal agencies, to suppress speech based on its content.” He did make some exceptions that would allow the government to warn platforms about national security threats, criminal activity or voter suppression. This is a developing story Read More Suspicious powder found at the White House when Biden was gone was cocaine, AP sources say Biden renews call for assault weapons ban after spate of July 4 shootings Watch live: Joe Biden addresses National Education Association

A small amount of white powder which authorities now believe is cocaine was found in the White House on Sunday, according to multiple media reports. The US Secret Service began an investigation after the substance was discovered Sunday evening. A source familiar told the newspaper that preliminary testing revealed the powder to be cocaine. Separately, The Daily Mail reported that the powder had been found in the library of the White House — an area frequented by many staffers as well as some tours. A source with knowledge of the situation characterised the area where it was found as a work area of the West Wing. Anthony Guglielmi, the Secret Service’s chief spokesman, told The Independent on Monday that agents were beginning “an investigation into the cause and manner” of how the powder entered the White House. He added that it was discovered during a routine sweep of the room. “On Sunday evening, the White House complex went into a precautionary closure as officers from the Secret Service Uniformed Division investigated an unknown item found inside a work area. The DC Fire Department was called to evaluate and quickly determined the item to be non-hazardous. The item was sent for further evaluation and an investigation into the cause and manner of how it entered the White House is pending,” said Mr Guglielmi said. The president was not in the residence at the time of the investigation, according to the spokesman. Mr Biden spent the weekend at the Camp David residence, returning to Washington on Monday for an event with the National Education Association. Read More Watch live: Joe Biden addresses teachers and representatives of National Education Association Trump marks Independence Day by sharing vulgar attack on Biden and ominous 2024 warning Rudy Giuliani grilled by prosecutors about 'shouting match' in fight to overturn election

Spain is confident Sweden and Turkey will break an impasse for the Nordic country to join the North

Russians are “united as never before,” Vladimir Putin said at his first international summit since an armed revolt that briefly triggered fears of a coup. “Solidarity and responsibility for the fate of the fatherland was clearly shown,” he said, “by the entire society by standing as a united front against the attempted armed rebellion.” He was speaking at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting, hosted via videoconference by India and one of the few remaining global platforms where he can get a sympathetic hearing. It was founded by Russia and China to counter western alliances, and also welcomed Iran as a new member, bringing its membership to nine. On a video link from the Kremlin, Mr Putin thanked the SCO for supporting Moscow during the short-lived mutiny mounted by Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, and said the West has turned Ukraine into “a virtually hostile state - anti-Russia.” It came as Russia's military claimed to have fended off a Ukrainian drone attack that briefly forced the closure of one of Moscow’s airports. Four out of the five drones were downed by air defences and the fifth was jammed and forced down, the defence ministry said. Flights were disrupted at Moscow's Vnukovo airport and arrivals diverted to others in the city. Ukrainian forces continue to probe Russian defences in the south and the east of the country in the initial stages of a counteroffensive. They are up against minefields, anti-tank ditches and other obstacles, as well as layered defensive lines reportedly up to 12 miles deep in some places as they try to dislodge Russian occupiers. Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's Security and Defence Council, claimed that the last few days of fighting have been particularly “fruitful,” though he provided no evidence for his claim. Western analysts say the counteroffensive, even if it prospers, will not end the war which started with Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. Russia, meanwhile, has continued its missile and drone barrage deep behind the frontline. Shelling of Pervomaiskyi, in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, wounded 31 civilians. Nine children, including two babies, were among the wounded. Meanwhile, tearful mourners filled one of Kyiv's main cathedrals to honour a prominent Ukrainian writer and war-crimes researcher killed in a Russian missile strike on a cafe. Victoria Amelina, 37, died from injuries in a 27 June attack on a restaurant packed with civilians in Kramatorsk. "She was a real crusader for truth. She was extraordinarily persistent," Roman Avramenko, executive director of Truth Hounds, an NGO that documents Russian war crimes, told reporters after the service. A wide array of writers, journalists and other public intellectuals streamed into the golden-domed St. Michael's Cathedral to pay tribute. Relatives and friends broke down as they filed past Amelina's coffin. It came as armed masked men attacked and seriously injured a prominent female Russian journalist. Yelena Milashina, a journalist for Novaya Gazeta, was travelling to Grozny, Chechnya from the local airport with a lawyer when they were attacked. "It was a classic kidnapping... They pinned (our driver) down, threw him out of his car, got in, bent our heads down, tied my hands, knelt me down there, and put a gun to my head," Milashina told Mansur Soltayev, a Chechen human rights official. Memorial, a rights group outlawed in Russia, said the pair had been “brutally kicked, including in the face, threatened with death, had a gun held to their heads, and had their equipment taken away and smashed.” Separately, the Kremlin has opened the door for talks with the US over a possible prisoner exchange that could potentially involve jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich - but said they must be held away from the public eye. “We have said that there have been certain contacts on the subject but we don't want them to be discussed in public,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Mr Gershkovich, 31, was arrested in Yekaterinburg while on a reporting trip and is being held at Moscow's notorious Lefortovo prison. Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report. Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary He was the CIA whiz kid in 'Charlie Wilson's War.' His new book offers advice for the US in Ukraine. Putin claims Russia more united than ever just days after Wagner’s failed mutiny AP News Digest 7 am