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Birthplace and parents’ names are being removed from passports and birth certificates as Mauritius stakes claim to the islandExiled islanders from the disputed British-owned Chagos Islands are finding their heritage has been removed from new identity documents in an apparent move by Mauritius to stake its claim to the territory.British ownership of the Chagos Islands has long been challenged by Mauritius, where most islanders...

College under federal investigation after students with Palestinian and Muslim ancestry allege ‘hostile environment’, Guardian learnsThe US government has opened an investigation into Emory University’s alleged discrimination against students with Palestinian, Muslim or Arab ancestry since 7 October, the Guardian has exclusively learned.The US education department notified the Council on American Islamic Relations, Georgia, or Cair-GA, and Palestine Legal, a national organization, on Tuesday...

Progressives counting on a strong performance to rein in Robert Fico’s drift away from rule of lawAs fears grow that Slovakia is following Hungary down a path away from the rule of law, the country’s opposition says it is determined to prove that citizens want a democratic future.Since coming back to power last year, Slovakia’s populist prime minister, Robert Fico, has taken aim at...

Los Angeles mayor calls late-night attack by counter-demonstrators ‘abhorrent’ as footage shows people wielding sticksUS campus protests – live updatesProtests at university campuses across the US – in picturesThe University of California in Los Angeles was reeling on Wednesday following a late-night violent attack by counter-demonstrators on a pro-Palestinian protest encampment, as the state’s governor condemned a slow response from law enforcement to some...

Ahmed Alhashimi’s seven-year-old daughter Sara was crushed to death after group of men rushed on to dinghyThe father of a seven-year-old girl crushed to death on a small boat has said they tried to cross the Channel after being informed his young family would be deported to Iraq after spending years in Europe.Ahmed Alhashimi, 41, lost grasp of his daughter, Sara, on an inflatable...

Antony Blinken holds two-hour meeting with Netanyahu while Hamas considers ceasefire proposalIsrael’s leaders were under renewed pressure to allow more aid into Gaza on Wednesday after the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, told Benjamin Netanyahu to “accelerate and sustain improvements” seen during recent days in the amount of humanitarian assistance reaching the territory.Humanitarian agencies say that though the number of lorries entering Gaza...

Gustavo Petro tells May Day rally ‘if Palestine dies, humanity dies’, as Israeli foreign minister accuses president of antisemitismColombia’s president has announced that his government will sever diplomatic relations with Israel, in the latest escalation of a furious row between the countries over the war in Gaza.Addressing a May Day rally in Bogotá on Wednesday, Gustavo Petro again described Israel’s siege of Gaza as...

Parliamentary questions dominated by partisan attacks a day after Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre ejected from chamberCanada’s Liberal and Conservative parties have redoubled their parliamentary clash a day after the Tory leader was ejected from the House of Commons for calling Justin Trudeau a “wacko”.Under the guise of a debate over British Columbia’s decision to decriminalize some hard drugs, the parliamentary question period on Wednesday...

MP says trade in remains is ‘gross violation of human dignity’, as skulls from Pitt Rivers collection removedAn auction house has withdrawn 18 ancient Egyptian human skulls from sale after an MP said selling them would perpetuate the atrocities of colonialism.Bell Ribeiro-Addy, the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Afrikan reparations, believes the sale of human remains for any purposes should be outlawed,...

Riyadh seeks more modest agreement with Washington in absence of Gaza ceasefire and Netanyahu resistance to Palestinian stateThe US and Saudi Arabia have drafted a set of agreements on security and technology-sharing which were intended to be linked to a broader Middle East settlement involving Israel and the Palestinians.However, in the absence of a ceasefire in Gaza and in the face of adamant resistance...

Masked police also used water cannon and stun grenades against rally protesting over legislation viewed as authoritarian and Russian-inspiredMichael Roth, chairman of the German Bundestag’s foreign affairs committee, has called on Georgia’s leadership to stop the violence and withdraw the foreign agents bill.The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said today that he “strongly” condemns violence against protesters and said use of force is...

Egyptian official says group wants clear terms allowing displaced people to return to the north of GazaSee all our Middle East crisis coverageReporting for Al Jazeera from Rafah, Tareq Abu Azzoum has said that Israel appears to have “ramped up airstrikes and land bombardment”. He writes for the news network:Israeli artillery units have been relentlessly pounding the Nuseirat refugee camp – in the northern...

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu says its volume and quality of weapons should be stepped up The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is carrying out planned counter-intelligence exercises in Kyiv, the SBU press service reported.The SBU said the main purpose of the measures is to check and strengthen “counter-sabotage protection” of important state facilities and places where large numbers of people gather. Continue reading...

Accused were arrested in Lesbos and accused of facilitating illegal entry of migrants into the country A Greek court’s decision to drop criminal charges against dozens of international aid workers accused of espionage and facilitating the illegal entry of migrants into the country has been met with jubilation.A three-member judicial council convening on the north Aegean isle of Lesbos ruled there was insufficient proof...

Ships evacuating 12,000 islanders over fears that side of Mount Ruang might slide into sea and cause tsunami Eruptions at a remote Indonesian volcano have forced more than half a dozen airports to close with ash spreading as far as Malaysia, according to officials, while authorities rushed to evacuate thousands due to tsunami fears.Mount Ruang erupted three times on Tuesday, spewing lava and ash...

The writer of The New York Trilogy, Leviathan and 4 3 2 1 – known for his stylised postmodernist fiction – has died from complications of lung cancerPaul Auster, the author of 34 books including the acclaimed New York Trilogy, has died aged 77.The author died on Tuesday due to complications from lung cancer, his friend and fellow author Jacki Lyden confirmed to the...

Police launch violent crackdown on demonstration against bill that pro-Moscow government is trying to passGeorgian security forces used water cannon, teargas and stun grenades against protesters outside parliament late on Tuesday, sharply escalating a crackdown after lawmakers debated a “foreign agents” bill that is viewed by the opposition and western nations as authoritarian and Russian-inspired.Reuters witnesses saw some police officers physically attack protesters –...

Manahel al-Otaibi, who promoted female empowerment on social media, was arrested under anti-terror lawsA young women’s rights activist in Saudi Arabia was secretly sentenced to 11 years in prison by an anti-terrorism court after being arrested for “her choice of clothing and support for women’s rights”.Saudi officials confirmed in a statement to the United Nations high commissioner for human rights that Manahel al-Otaibi was...

Police say four officers who died serving warrant over firearms possession were ‘heroes’ as investigation into shooting continuesEight law-enforcement officers were shot, four fatally, during a shootout on Monday outside a home in North Carolina while serving a warrant to someone wanted for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. It was the deadliest attack on US law enforcement since 2016.Three of the four...

Conservative Pierre Poilievre refuses to withdraw ‘wacko’ remark, prompting censure from speaker and removal from CommonsThe leader of Canada’s main opposition party was ejected from the House of Commons after calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “a wacko”, in the latest clash between two men set to fight an election next year.The incident started when Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservatives, criticised Trudeau for supporting...

François Bozizé is wanted by special criminal court over alleged crimes including murder and tortureA UN-backed court has issued an arrest warrant for the Central African Republic’s former president François Bozizé over possible crimes against humanity committed by the nation’s military between 2009 and 2013.The alleged crimes include murder, enforced disappearance, torture, rape and other inhumane acts, according to the special criminal court (CPS),...

Vehicle driving wrong way on highway was being pursued by police after alleged liquor store robbery, causing six-vehicle collisionTwo grandparents and their infant grandchild have been killed on a highway east of Toronto after a van being chased by police crashed while going the wrong way, causing a six-vehicle collision.The chase late on Monday was triggered by an alleged liquor store robbery, and the...

Woman detained in Netherlands for alleged role in non-fatal shooting of Alejo Vidal-Quadras in Madrid last yearA Dutch woman has been arrested in the Netherlands in relation to the shooting of a Spanish former politician in Madrid last year.Alejo Vidal-Quadras, a founder of Spain’s far-right Vox party, was shot in the face near his home in the wealthy Salamanca neighbourhood on 9 November by...

Little-known former sports minister Fritz Bélizaire appointed as 90,000 flee capital in a monthHaiti’s newly installed transitional council has chosen a little-known former sports minister as the country’s prime minister, as it presses forward in its monumental task of trying to establish a stable new government amid raging violence.Fritz Bélizaire replaces Michel Patrick Boisvert, the former minister of economy and finance who was the...