The Guardian 2024-09-07 12:17:50


‘Deeply disturbed’ White House calls for inquiry into killing of Ayşenur Eygi

Eygi, 26, was protesting against settlements in occupied West Bank when she was killed by Israeli troops, witnesses say

The White House said it was “deeply disturbed” by the death of an American woman who, according to Palestinian officials and witnesses, was shot in the head by Israeli troops during a protest against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The White House also called for Israel to investigate her killing, which has caused strong reactions across the international community.

The US state department confirmed the death of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, a volunteer peace activist with the anti-occupation International Solidarity Movement (ISM).

Eygi – a US-Turkey dual national – died on Friday after being fatally shot during a regular protest against settlement expansion in Beita near Nablus, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

The ISM, which organises foreign volunteers in the Palestinian territories, said Israeli forces “intentionally shot and killed” an international human rights activist during the weekly protest on Friday morning. It did not name the volunteer.

“The demonstration, which primarily involved men and children praying, was met with violence from the Israeli army stationed on a hill. The volunteer died shortly after being transported to a local hospital in Nablus,” the ISM said in a statement.

The individual’s family had requested privacy as they mourn their loss, it said. “Their wish to grieve in peace should be respected by all, as they navigate this tragic and difficult situation.”

The US has not said whether Eygi had been shot by Israeli troops. “We are urgently gathering more information about the circumstances of her death, and will have more to say as we learn more,” Matthew Miller, a state department spokesperson, said.

The US ambassador to Israel, Jacob Lew, echoed those comments, posting to X his “deepest condolences” to Eygi’s family and loved ones. “We have no higher priority than the safety and security of American citizens,” he added.

The White House said it had contacted the Israeli government and requested an investigation into Eygi’s killing. “We are deeply disturbed by the tragic death of an American citizen, Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, today in the West Bank and our hearts go out to her family and loved ones,” said Sean Savett, the White House’s national security council spokesperson.

Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, the country’s top diplomat, deplored the “tragic loss”. “When we have more info, we will share it, make it available and, as necessary, we’ll act on it,” Blinken told reporters, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Turkey’s foreign ministry said it had learned “with great sorrow” that a Turkish national had been killed. Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, condemned Israel’s “barbaric intervention against a civilian protest” that he said led to Eygi’s killing.

The Israeli military admitted to firing at the demonstrators and said it was looking into reports that a foreign national was killed. The Israel Defense Forces said it “responded with fire toward a main instigator of violent activity who hurled rocks at the forces and posed a threat to them”.

Eygi graduated from the University of Washington earlier this year, according to Aria Fani, an assistant professor of Middle Eastern languages and cultures. Fani said Eygi was an exceptional student and person.

He said he had seen Eygi about two months earlier and urged her not to go to the West Bank because he was worried for her safety there.

The University of Washington said she had been a peer mentor there, having helped “welcome new students to the department and provided a positive influence in their lives”.

In a statement, the university’s president, Ana Mari Cauce, described Eygi’s killing as “awful” and said she called for “a ceasefire and resolution to the crisis” on the West Bank.

“My heart goes out to Ayşenur’s family, friends and loved ones,” she added.

Pramila Jayapal, the US representative for the area, said in a statement that Eygi’s death was a “terrible tragedy”.

“My office is actively working to gather more information on the events that led to her death,” Jayapal said. “I am very troubled by the reports that she was killed by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers. The Netanyahu government has done nothing to stop settlement expansion and settler violence in the West Bank, often encouraged by rightwing ministers of the Netanyahu government. The killing of an American citizen is a terrible proof point in this senseless war of rising tensions in the region.”

Eygi is the third ISM activist to have been killed since 2000, according to the Associated Press. She was the 18th demonstrator to be killed in Beita since 2020, the ISM said.

In 2003, while protesting against the Israeli military’s destruction of houses in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Rachel Corrie – a 23-year-old US citizen from Olympia in Washington state – was killed by an Israeli army bulldozer.

A month later, Tom Hurndall, a 22-year-old Briton, was shot in the head while he was helping Palestinian children cross a street in Rafah. He died the following year. An Israeli soldier was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to eight years in prison.

In August, an American activist said he was shot in the leg by Israeli forces during a protest in Beita. The man, who spoke to the AFP using a pseudonym, said Israeli troops were “firing teargas at us, live rounds” and that he was shot while he was running away.

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American killed in West Bank was longtime activist ‘bearing witness to oppression’, friends say

Ayşenur Eygi ‘was not a naive traveler – This experience was the culmination of all her years of activism’, says professor

Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old American activist killed while protesting in the occupied West Bank, was remembered by friends and former professors as a dedicated organizer who felt a strong moral obligation to bring attention to the plight of Palestinians.

“I begged her not to go, but she had this deep conviction that she wanted to participate in the tradition of bearing witness to the oppression of people and their dignified resilience,” said Aria Fani, a professor of Middle Eastern languages and cultures at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle, which Eygi attended. “She fought injustice truly wherever it was.”

Fani, who had become close with Eygi over the last year, spoke to the Guardian on Friday afternoon, hours after news of her death sparked international outrage. Eygi was volunteering with the anti-occupation International Solidarity Movement when Israeli soldiers fatally shot her, according to Palestinian officials and two witnesses who spoke to the Associated Press. Two doctors told the AP she was shot in the head. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said it was investigating a report that troops had killed a foreign national while firing at an “instigator of violent activity”, and the White House has said it was “deeply disturbed” by the killing and called for an inquiry.

Eygi, who is also a Turkish citizen and leaves behind her husband, graduated from UW earlier this year with a major in psychology and minor in Middle Eastern languages and culture, Fani said. She walked the stage with a large “Free Palestine” flag during the ceremony, Fani said.

The professor said the two met when he was giving a guest lecture in a course on feminist cinema of the Middle East and he spoke of his own experience protesting in the West Bank in 2013.

“I had no idea she would then be inspired to take on a similar experience,” he said, recounting how she reached out to him for advice as she prepared to join the International Solidarity Movement. “I tried to discourage her, but from a very weak position, since I’d already done it myself. She was very, very principled in her activism in this short life that she lived.”

In her final academic year, she devoted significant time “researching and speaking to Palestinians and talking about their historical trauma”, Fani said. “She was incredibly well-informed of what life was like in the West Bank. She was not a naive traveler. This experience was the culmination of all her years of activism.”

Eygi was an organizer with the Popular University for Gaza Liberated Zone on UW’s campus, one of dozens of pro-Palestinian encampments established during protests in the spring, he said. “She was an instrumental part of … protesting the university’s ties to Boeing and Israel and spearheading negotiations with the UW administration,” Fani said. “It mattered to her so much. I’d see her sometimes after she’d only slept for an hour or two. I’d tell her to take a nap. And she’d say: ‘Nope, I have other things to do.’ She dedicated so much, and managed to graduate on top of it, which is just astounding.”

He warned her of the violence he had faced in the West Bank, including teargas, and he feared deeply for her safety: “I thought, worst-case scenario, she’d come back losing a limb. I had no idea she’d be coming back wrapped in a shroud,” he said.

Eygi had also previously protested the oil pipeline on the Standing Rock reservation, and was critical of Turkish nationalism and violence against Kurdish minorities, Fani said: “She was very critical of US foreign policy and white supremacy in the US, and Israel was no exception.”

Carrie Perrin, academic services director of UW’s psychology department, told the Seattle Times in an email that Eygi was a friend and a “bright light who carried with her warmth and compassion”, adding: “Her communities were made better by her life and her death leaves hearts breaking around the world today.”

Ana Mari Cauce, the UW president, said Eygi had been a peer mentor in psychology who “helped welcome new students to the department and provided a positive influence in their lives”.

Fani said Eygi had been deeply dismayed by the UW administration’s handling of campus protests, and that he hoped her killing would encourage campus administrators across the country to end their crackdowns on pro-Palestinian activism.

Eygi’s killing drew immediate comparisons to the 2003 killing of Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old American, also from Washington state, who was killed by an Israeli army bulldozer while protesting the military’s destruction of homes in Rafah with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).

ISM said in a statement that the group had been engaged in a peaceful, weekly demonstration before Israeli forces shot Eygi: “The demonstration, which primarily involved men and children praying, was met with force from the Israeli army stationed on a hill.”

Eygi’s family was not speaking out at this time, ISM said.

Fani and a colleague spoke earlier about the irony of her killing garnering an international response, he said: “She wanted to bring attention to the suffering of Palestinians. And if she were alive right now, she’d say: ‘I got that attention because I’m an American citizen, because Palestinians have become a number. The human cost has been strategically hidden from the American public and certainly from the Israeli public.’ … Obviously this is not the outcome she would have wanted, but it is just so poetic, in such a twisted, stomach-churning way, that she went this way.”

The professor recounted the musicality in the way Eygi spoke, and said he used to joke that he wanted to study her voice: “She was so easy to talk to and truly an embodiment of the meaning of her name, Ayşenur, which is ‘life and light’. She was just an incredibly beautiful person and good friend and the world is a worse place without her.”

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Super Typhoon Yagi hits China’s Hainan forcing 1 million to leave their homes

Yagi registers as the world’s second-most powerful tropical cyclone this year and has caused power outages in more than 800,000 homes

Asia’s strongest storm this year, Super Typhoon Yagi, landed in China’s Hainan on Friday, bringing violent gales and heavy rain that triggered widespread power outages, paralysing the tourist island province and forcing about a million people in the country’s south to leave their homes.

Packing maximum sustained winds of 234km/h near its centre, Yagi registers as the world’s second-most powerful tropical cyclone so far this year – after the category-5 Atlantic Hurricane Beryl – and the most severe of 2024 in the Pacific basin.

After more than doubling in strength since killing 16 people in the northern Philippines earlier this week, Yagi slammed into the city of Wenchang in Hainan on Friday afternoon.

A little more than an hour after Yagi’s arrival, Hainan saw power outages that affected 830,000 households in the province, the official news agency Xinhua said.

The provincial power supply department had put together a 7,000-member emergency team that would embark on repairs as soon as conditions permitted, Xinhua added. By Friday night, power to 260,000 households had been restored.

Ahead of Yagi’s arrival, the island known for its sandy beaches and glitzy hotels had cancelled flights and ferries, shuttered businesses and told its population of more than 10 million to avoid going out.

The typhoon had already shut schools, businesses and transport links in Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong province as well as airports in Vietnam, which it is predicted to hit, along with Laos, over the weekend.

On Friday night, Yagi crossed Qiongzhou Strait north of Hainan and made its second landfall in Guangdong with winds still exceeding 200km/h. In Guangdong, more than 574,500 people had been evacuated from areas at risk by noon, more than two-thirds of them from the city of Zhanjiang.

In the financial hub of Hong Kong, the stock exchange was shuttered while schools remained closed.

Hong Kong’s airport authority said operations had largely returned to normal after 50 flights were cancelled on Thursday, and the city of more than 7 million people also lowered its typhoon warning by a notch after midday, as Yagi moved west towards Vietnam.

The world’s longest sea crossing, the main bridge linking Hong Kong with Macau and Zhuhai in Guangdong, also reopened on Friday afternoon after being shut since Thursday.

Yagi is the most severe storm to land in Hainan since 2014, when Typhoon Rammasun slammed into the island province as a category-5 tropical cyclone. Rammasun killed 88 people in Hainan, Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan and caused economic losses of more than 44bn yuan ($6.25bn).

Formed over the warm seas east of the Philippines and following a similar path to Rammasun, Yagi arrived in China as a category-4 typhoon, ushering in winds strong enough to overturn vehicles, uproot trees and severely damage roads, bridges and buildings.

No fatalities have been reported so far in Hainan.

Typhoons are becoming stronger, fuelled by warmer oceans amid climate change, scientists say. Last week, Typhoon Shanshan slammed into south-western Japan, the strongest storm to hit the country in decades.

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Former vice-president Dick Cheney confirms he will vote for Kamala Harris

Lifelong Republican makes announcement day after daughter Liz also endorses Democratic candidate

The former vice-president Dick Cheney, a lifelong Republican, will vote for the Democratic nominee, Kamala Harris, in November’s presidential election, he said in a statement on Friday.

“In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” Cheney said of the former president and Republican nominee. “He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He can never be trusted with power again.

“As citizens, we each have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our constitution. That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice-President Kamala Harris.”

Liz Cheney, who herself endorsed Harris on Thursday, first announced her father’s endorsement when asked by Mark Leibovich of the Atlantic during an onstage interview at the Texas Tribune festival in Austin.

“Dick Cheney will be voting for Kamala Harris,” Liz Cheney said to audience cheers.

“Wow,” Leibovich replied.

Asked for comment, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said: “Who is Liz Cheney?”

Like his daughter, Dick Cheney has been an outspoken critic of Trump, notably during Liz Cheney’s ill-fated re-election campaign in 2022.

In a campaign ad for Liz Cheney as she sought a fourth term as Wyoming’s lone congressperson, Dick Cheney called the former president a “coward”.

The ad did little good for his daughter in a deep-red state that once held the Cheney family dear but is now thoroughly in Trump’s corner. By a two-to-one margin, Liz Cheney lost her Republican primary to the Trump-endorsed attorney Harriet Hageman.

Notably absent from Friday’s endorsement announcement was the 83-year-old former vice-president, who has made few if any public appearances over the past year or more.

In a social media post on Friday, Trump called the Cheneys “irrelevant RINO[s]”, using a term he applies to Republicans not loyal to him, which stands for “Republican[s] in Name Only”.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

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Revealed: the touts offering Oasis tickets for thousands on resale sites

Exclusive: ‘Secondary’ ticket platforms have thousands of tickets on sale, listed by seasoned touts or ‘sneaker kids’, based in the UK or overseas

The identities of “greedy” touts who hoovered up tickets for the Oasis reunion tour can be revealed, amid widespread condemnation of fans being exploited by ticket resale platforms.

Analysis by the Guardian reveals that “secondary” ticketing platforms are advertising more than 4,500 tickets for all of the Gallagher brothers’ long-awaited UK shows – in breach of rules for the gigs.

While the band’s use of “dynamic pricing” on Ticketmaster, which hiked tickets by hundreds of pounds, has caused outrage and prompted an investigation by the competition watchdog, touts are also listing tickets for thousands of pounds.

Industry experts believe touts may be holding on to even more tickets as they wait for the Ticketmaster furore to die down before releasing more for sale.

Gig ticket resale is not illegal in itself but touts have previously been jailed for using unlawful methods. Oasis have said any tickets bought through such platforms will be cancelled.

Listings on the three largest resale sites – Viagogo, StubHub and Gigsberg – can be traced back to touts in locations ranging from Scunthorpe in Lincolnshire to São Paulo, Brazil.

They include traders in their early 20s, as well as seasoned touts who trade with one another in dedicated WhatsApp groups, according to evidence seen by the Guardian.

One touts group even boasts on social media of making £200,000 profit for themselves and “members” who sign up for tips on how to snap up tickets at genuine fans’ expense.

The findings reveal how touts are able to latch on to – and profit from – the hype around the reunion of Liam and Noel Gallagher after 15 years, for a tour expected to generate revenues of £400m, according to some estimates.

They raise concerns that touts and resale platforms may be profiting from potentially illegal practices and shine a light on the murky world of secondary ticketing, where savvy “traders” can make thousands of pounds from each show.

The details emerged as the government considers whether to outlaw the resale of tickets for profit, a measure that would echo steps taken in Ireland.

On Viagogo, the largest player in the resale industry, sellers offering more than 2,500 tickets are located all over the world.

One, who gave his name only as Ricardo Junior, claims to operate from a residential district of São Paulo, Brazil, although inquiries made locally indicate that he may have moved to the UK. He claims to have at least 33 tickets at Cardiff, Wembley and Murrayfield, listed for a combined price of £26,333. The Guardian has approached someone believed to be Ricardo Junior for comment.

Touts’ identities can be obtained thanks to regulations imposed by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which forces resale platforms to publish information about any “traders” who sell 100 or more tickets a year.

While many touts appear to have supplied incomplete information, they can still be traced by cross-referencing limited details with other publicly available information.

Some listings raise concerns that touts may be using Viagogo for “speculative selling”, an unlawful practice where sellers advertise tickets they do not own, hoping to fulfil orders later.

One seller, Rojan Rana, said he did not actually have more than 50 tickets he was advertising for shows at Manchester’s Heaton Park.

When approached by the Guardian Rana, 24, said he was not aware that “prospective” listings were illegal and would take them down.

The ticketing and security expert Reg Walker said many younger traders were known in the touting world as “sneaker kids” because they started out by cornering the market for in-demand trainers, before moving into the lucrative ticket business.

Rana is a director of a company called Sneakrverse, while trainers also seem to be a focus for a social media account, Crep Chief Notify, whose name references “creps”, slang for shoes.

The account posts videos in which young men boast of using multiple identities and even “bots” to bypass ticket purchase limits. The Guardian approached Crep Chief Notify Ltd and its directors for comment.

Touts have previously been convicted and jailed over the use of multiple IDs and bots.

Walker said he had seen evidence of bot attacks on ticketing systems and the use of multiple and false identities, as well as speculative listings. “All of these practices are illegal,” he added.

Other sellers offering tickets for thousands of pounds include Favour Nwefo, from Nottingham, who did not return a request for comment. Adam White, from Standish near Wigan, responded to suggestions he was ripping off real fans, saying: “It’s fine. I’m not too fussed.”

Walker said that some more experienced touts were “holding back the tickets they have acquired” for now, to avoid them being cancelled by promoters and venues.

Many sellers claim to be based overseas. One, TG Cyprus Event Services, advertised 1,596 tickets through StubHub alone. The company did not return requests for comment.

Other overseas sellers include Bona Fide Tickets, whose address appears to be a PO box in the US town of Boise, Idaho. Others hail from Spain, the Czech Republic, Turkey, the Netherlands, Canada and Dubai, including one company whose name is given as a jumble of letters and claims to have 20 tickets for a total £25,000.

Some traders are untraceable due to incomplete or what appears to be false information, despite a court order from the CMA in 2018 demanding that resale platforms publish accurate traders’ details.

They include three apparently British companies, Planet Tickets in London, Premier Tickets in Leamington Spa and Golden Events in Manchester, listing tickets for a combined £26,000. Their details do not appear to match records at Companies House, the UK’s corporate register.

The Guardian has identified dozens of other companies and individuals, many of which are effectively anonymous due to the limited information they provide.

Resale platforms charge a commission on every sale the touts make and some have previously provided toolkits to help the biggest touts sell more tickets.

Viagogo and StubHub said they complied with applicable consumer law and removed any speculative listings.

Viagogo said it investigated incomplete trader details.

Both companies said they provided fans with a money-back guarantee if tickets were cancelled but not for costs such as travel and accommodation.

Gigsberg did not return a request for comment.

Emma Foody, a Labour MP, said: “Going to see live music should never be something that only a privileged few can afford. But increasingly genuine fans are priced out while greedy touts rack up huge profits.”

“This system isn’t good for musicians who value their loyal fanbase, and it isn’t good for fans forced to choose between paying extortionate resell rates or missing out.”

The consumer-focused Co-op party is pushing for a licensing system that could see sites who break the rules fined or even taken down.

A spokesperson for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said: “For too long fans have been forced to endure the misery of ticket touts. That’s why we will introduce protections to prevent people from being ripped off and to put fans back at the heart of music.

“A consultation will be launched in the autumn to find the best ways to tackle the problem.”

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Ukraine war briefing: US says striking deep in Russia no game-changer after Zelenskiy plea

Lloyd Austin says ‘no one capability’ would be decisive in war as Ukrainian president urges allies to let Kyiv hit targets far across border. What we know on day 927

  • See all our Russia-Ukraine war coverage
  • The US has cautioned there is “no one capability” that would turn the war in Ukraine in Kyiv’s favour after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged the west to let his forces use its long-range weapons to strike Russia. At a summit of Ukraine’s allies at Ramstein airbase in Germany, Zelenskiy on Friday repeated his plea for western nations to supply more long-range missiles and lift restrictions on using them to hit targets such as airfields inside Russia. However, the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, pushed back on the idea that allowing deep strikes inside Russia would be a gamechanger, while also saying Washington and its allies would continue to strongly support Ukraine. “There’s no one capability that will in and of itself be decisive in this campaign,” Austin told reporters at the end of the meeting. He said Russia had already moved aircraft that launch glide bombs into Ukraine beyond the range of US-supplied Atacm missiles.

  • Volodymyr Zelenskiy also raised concerns about western partners’ policies and the pace of weapons deliveries. “Now we hear that your long-range policy has not changed, but we see changes in the Atacms, Storm Shadows and Scalps – a shortage of missiles and cooperation,” the Ukrainian president said.

  • Austin announced another $250m in US military aid for Ukraine at the Ramstein meeting. Other assistance included Germany pledging to supply an additional 12 self-propelled howitzers to Kyiv, and Canada saying it planned to send 80,840 surplus small unarmed air-to-surface rockets as well as 1,300 warheads in the coming months.

  • Russian strikes on the central-eastern Ukrainian city of Pavlograd on Friday killed one person and wounded 64 others, including several children, officials said. Five Iskander ballistic missiles were fired from Russian territory towards Pavlograd in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine’s air force said. The wounded included five minors including a nine-year-old girl and two boys aged 11 and four, said the regional governor, Sergiy Lysak. “Several enterprises in the city were damaged by rocket attacks. More than 30 multi-storey buildings, a kindergarten and 27 shops were damaged,” he added. The attack led to “several fires in the city”, including in an apartment in a high-rise building. Russia regularly hits Pavlograd, home to a chemical plant that produces explosives.

  • In a separate attack in the northern border region of Sumy, a Russian airstrike on the village of Krasnopillia on Friday killed a 66-year-old woman in her home and wounded four others, the regional prosecutor said.

  • Russian forces have taken control of the village of Zhuravka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Russia’s defence ministry said on Friday. The claim could not be independently verified.

  • Hundreds of residents of Lviv packed into a church on Friday to mourn three sisters and their mother killed in a Russian strike that hit their home in the western Ukrainian city. Seven civilians were killed and more than 50 wounded in Wednesday’s drone and missile strike that hit a residential area of Lviv. Among the dead were Yevheniia Bazylevych, 43, and her three daughters Yaryna, 21, Dariia, 18, and Emiliia, 7.

  • Any Iranian transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia would mark a “dramatic escalation” in the Ukraine war, the US said on Friday, after reports that the two countries had deepened ties in recent weeks with such an arms transfer. Reuters reported last month that Russia was expecting the imminent delivery of hundreds of Fath-360 close-range ballistic missiles from Iran and that dozens of Russian military personnel were being trained in Iran on the satellite-guided weapons for eventual use in the war in Ukraine. Short-range missiles have now been delivered to Russia by Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing an unnamed US official.

  • France will use a share of €1.4bn ($1.5bn) in revenues from frozen Russian assets to finance purchase of military equipment for Ukraine, the defence ministry said. “Alongside other [EU] member states, the ministry … will take part in implementing the new support measure for Ukraine from the European Peace Facility,” it said on Friday. The European Commission in Brussels had given the go-ahead for “swift procurement of priority material from French industry” including ammunition, artillery and air defences, the ministry added. About €200bn of Russian assets have been frozen across the EU since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

  • Ukrainian prosecutors said they had launched an investigation into the alleged Russian shooting of three surrendering Ukrainian servicemen on the eastern front near Pokrovsk, the main focus of Russia’s assault. Describing the latest in scores of such incidents Ukraine has reported, the prosecutor general’s office said on Telegram on Friday that it took place after Russian troops attacked a trench used by the Ukrainian military for cover on 27 August.

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Explainer

Ukraine war briefing: US says striking deep in Russia no game-changer after Zelenskiy plea

Lloyd Austin says ‘no one capability’ would be decisive in war as Ukrainian president urges allies to let Kyiv hit targets far across border. What we know on day 927

  • See all our Russia-Ukraine war coverage
  • The US has cautioned there is “no one capability” that would turn the war in Ukraine in Kyiv’s favour after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged the west to let his forces use its long-range weapons to strike Russia. At a summit of Ukraine’s allies at Ramstein airbase in Germany, Zelenskiy on Friday repeated his plea for western nations to supply more long-range missiles and lift restrictions on using them to hit targets such as airfields inside Russia. However, the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, pushed back on the idea that allowing deep strikes inside Russia would be a gamechanger, while also saying Washington and its allies would continue to strongly support Ukraine. “There’s no one capability that will in and of itself be decisive in this campaign,” Austin told reporters at the end of the meeting. He said Russia had already moved aircraft that launch glide bombs into Ukraine beyond the range of US-supplied Atacm missiles.

  • Volodymyr Zelenskiy also raised concerns about western partners’ policies and the pace of weapons deliveries. “Now we hear that your long-range policy has not changed, but we see changes in the Atacms, Storm Shadows and Scalps – a shortage of missiles and cooperation,” the Ukrainian president said.

  • Austin announced another $250m in US military aid for Ukraine at the Ramstein meeting. Other assistance included Germany pledging to supply an additional 12 self-propelled howitzers to Kyiv, and Canada saying it planned to send 80,840 surplus small unarmed air-to-surface rockets as well as 1,300 warheads in the coming months.

  • Russian strikes on the central-eastern Ukrainian city of Pavlograd on Friday killed one person and wounded 64 others, including several children, officials said. Five Iskander ballistic missiles were fired from Russian territory towards Pavlograd in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine’s air force said. The wounded included five minors including a nine-year-old girl and two boys aged 11 and four, said the regional governor, Sergiy Lysak. “Several enterprises in the city were damaged by rocket attacks. More than 30 multi-storey buildings, a kindergarten and 27 shops were damaged,” he added. The attack led to “several fires in the city”, including in an apartment in a high-rise building. Russia regularly hits Pavlograd, home to a chemical plant that produces explosives.

  • In a separate attack in the northern border region of Sumy, a Russian airstrike on the village of Krasnopillia on Friday killed a 66-year-old woman in her home and wounded four others, the regional prosecutor said.

  • Russian forces have taken control of the village of Zhuravka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Russia’s defence ministry said on Friday. The claim could not be independently verified.

  • Hundreds of residents of Lviv packed into a church on Friday to mourn three sisters and their mother killed in a Russian strike that hit their home in the western Ukrainian city. Seven civilians were killed and more than 50 wounded in Wednesday’s drone and missile strike that hit a residential area of Lviv. Among the dead were Yevheniia Bazylevych, 43, and her three daughters Yaryna, 21, Dariia, 18, and Emiliia, 7.

  • Any Iranian transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia would mark a “dramatic escalation” in the Ukraine war, the US said on Friday, after reports that the two countries had deepened ties in recent weeks with such an arms transfer. Reuters reported last month that Russia was expecting the imminent delivery of hundreds of Fath-360 close-range ballistic missiles from Iran and that dozens of Russian military personnel were being trained in Iran on the satellite-guided weapons for eventual use in the war in Ukraine. Short-range missiles have now been delivered to Russia by Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing an unnamed US official.

  • France will use a share of €1.4bn ($1.5bn) in revenues from frozen Russian assets to finance purchase of military equipment for Ukraine, the defence ministry said. “Alongside other [EU] member states, the ministry … will take part in implementing the new support measure for Ukraine from the European Peace Facility,” it said on Friday. The European Commission in Brussels had given the go-ahead for “swift procurement of priority material from French industry” including ammunition, artillery and air defences, the ministry added. About €200bn of Russian assets have been frozen across the EU since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

  • Ukrainian prosecutors said they had launched an investigation into the alleged Russian shooting of three surrendering Ukrainian servicemen on the eastern front near Pokrovsk, the main focus of Russia’s assault. Describing the latest in scores of such incidents Ukraine has reported, the prosecutor general’s office said on Telegram on Friday that it took place after Russian troops attacked a trench used by the Ukrainian military for cover on 27 August.

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Brazil’s human rights minister sacked over sexual harassment allegations

Removal of popular cabinet member Silvio Almedia comes as a blow to Lula’s administration

Brazil’s president has sacked one of his most popular cabinet members after claims Silvio Almeida sexually harassed at least two women – one of whom is another prominent figure, the racial equality minister Anielle Franco.

Almeida, the human rights minister, has denied the allegations, while Franco thanked President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for his “decisive action.” But the scandal has dealt a major blow to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration and has been greeted with deep dismay by the Black rights movement.

Almeida and Franco are among the leading voices in the fight against racism in Brazil. Both were also among the prime targets of attacks from supporters of the far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro since the start of Lula’s administration in January 2023.

In the statement released Friday evening, Lula said: “In light of the serious allegations against minister Silvio Almeida and after calling him in for a discussion … [I] decided to dismiss him.”

The president added that maintaining Almeida became “untenable given the nature of the sexual harassment accusations”.

“The federal government reiterates its commitment to human rights and reaffirms that no form of violence against women will be tolerated,” the statement concluded, also reiterating that the federal police were investigating the case.

Franco, the minister for racial equality, who entered politics after the 2018 murder of her politician sister Marielle Franco – one of the most shocking and high-profile murders in Rio de Janeiro’s history – spoke out about the case for the first time about an hour after Lula announced his decision.

Franco wrote on her social media that “it is not acceptable to relativise or downplay episodes of violence”, adding that “attempts to blame, discredit, coerce, or pressure victims to speak during moments of pain and vulnerability are also inappropriate, as they only perpetuate the cycle of violence.”

The case came to light on Thursday when the Brazilian news site Metrópoles reported that Almeida had been reported to Me Too Brasil, an organisation that defends female victims of sexual violence, “for alleged incidents of sexual harassment against women”.

The report did not specify the number of alleged victims but claimed Franco was among them – something later confirmed by other Brazilian media outlets. A day before, the news site UOL reported that Almeida had been facing allegations of bullying among the ministry’s staff.

Metrópoles claimed that the alleged harassment towards Franco by Almeida included “touching her legs”, “inappropriate kisses during greetings”, and the use of “vulgar expressions with sexual content”.

All incidents are said to have occurred last year and were reported to other ministers, as well as the first lady, Rosângela da Silva, known as Janja, who is Franco’s friend. Despite this, no action appears to have been taken, prompting criticism of the government after the accusations became public.

Hours after the scandal broke, Janja posted a captionless photo on social media, in which she kisses Franco on the forehead – something widely interpreted as a gesture of support.

The minister for women, Aparecida Gonçalves, was more direct: she posted a photo holding hands with Franco, accompanied by the caption: “My solidarity and support to you, my friend and ministerial colleague, during this difficult time.”

Me Too Brasil released a statement on Thursday confirming it had received the allegations against Almeida, but did not disclose how many or the names involved. “The victims faced difficulties in obtaining institutional support to validate their allegations,” the organisation said.

On Thursday, Almeida swiftly posted a video on his social media in which he declared: “I want to … vehemently reject the lies and falsehoods being hurled at me.”

He claimed: “It is evident that there is a very well-orchestrated campaign to damage my image as a Black man, as a human rights advocate, and as someone in a prominent public position.”

While still in office, Almeida used the ministry’s official social media accounts to attack Me Too Brasil, claiming that the organisation’s modus operandi often involved “anonymous, unfounded, and baseless accusations”.

A prominent academic and bestselling author who popularised the concept of “structural racism” in Brazil, Almeida entered politics less than two years ago when Lula invited him to be human rights minister.

While in the post, he was praised by sections of the left as one of the few ministers who managed to steer Lula’s Workers’ party (PT) back toward its progressive roots.

In March, when Brazil marked the 60th anniversary of the start of a brutal two-decade dictatorship, Almeida was a lone voice calling for events to honour the thousands who were killed, disappeared or tortured by the 1964-85 regime. Lula prohibited any such commemorations, seemingly to avoid upsetting the military.

Since the allegations against Almeida emerged, members of numerous Black rights organisations have expressed deep dismay. The Black Coalition for Rights, an alliance of about 300 black movement organisations and entities, issued a “statement of solidarity with minister Anielle Franco and other female victims” with the hashtag #AnielleNãoEstáSó (Anielle is not alone).

Without naming Almeida, the statement demanded a “thorough investigation of the facts, with due accountability for those found guilty and also for those who failed to act in the face of these extremely serious allegations”.

Allies and supporters of Bolsonaro have been celebrating the case as a supposed example of leftwing hypocrisy – and even making jokes about the alleged harassment – since Thursday. One of the leading figures of the far right, congressman Nikolas Ferreira, joked on X, which is now banned in Brazil, that the “government of love [as Lula has described his administration] is loving a bit too much”.

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Sixth-generation wire-maker blames Brexit for shredding its business

Owner of Ormiston Wire in London urges Keir Starmer not to forget small manufacturers in his dealings with EU

The head of a family-owned company that has made specialist wires and cables for six generations for clients ranging from naval vessels to film sets has blamed Brexit for shredding its business.

Mark Ormiston, the owner of Ormiston Wire, said small businesses such as his had been flushed “down the toilet” by the masterminds of Brexit who gave little thought to the real-life consequences for UK manufacturing.

The London-based company’s exports to the EU have halved since Britain left the EU, with the loss of the European market a huge blow for a small company with revenues of £1.5m and limited growth prospects at home.

Make UK, the manufacturers’ trade body, said figures showed the number of products being exported to the EU had been reduced by 80%, with small- and medium-sized businesses worst hit.

“Our exports have literally halved. We were making efforts to actually get more exports in Europe because British manufacturing was going down the toilet, which it has done now,” said Ormiston.

With Keir Starmer vowing to reset relations with the EU, Ormiston implored the new prime minister to consider the smaller firms who do not have access to the Treasury or Labour party conference to make their voices heard.

His message to Starmer was: “Don’t forget the very large number of small British manufacturing companies who lead in design, ideas and enthusiasm when it comes to bringing new products to market.”

He added: “Make UK are the big guys, the British Aerospaces, the big manufacturers and organisations like the CBI [Confederation of British Industry]. We are irrelevant to them. But if you multiply me by a million little companies doing these little things, it does add up to a significant amount of British exports.

“It’s consequences, isn’t it? When politicians have a great idea, they don’t live with the consequences so they don’t care. By the time it all kicks in they are dead or in the House of Lords.”

Government insiders say they are determined to tear down as many barriers to trade caused by Brexit but with Starmer ruling out rejoining the single market and customs union the impact will be limited.

A report published in August by the House of Commons library showed that UK goods exports to the EU had not recovered to pre-Brexit levels. Exports to the bloc exceeded £170bn in 2017, 2018 and 2019 but have not done so in any calendar years since and were £153m in 2023.

A government spokesperson said: “We are working to reset the relationship with our European friends to tackle barriers to trade.”

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Signs of ice buildup on plane before Brazil crash, says early report

Copilot recorded saying ‘a lot of icing’, indicating aircraft’s de-icing system may have failed before August crash, according to investigators

A preliminary report into the August crash of an airliner in Brazil has found signs of ice buildup on the plane but no definite cause for the accident.

The report – made public on Friday – pointed out that icing detectors had been activated on airline Voepass’s aircraft. And an official with the country’s Centre for Research and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents (Cenipa) told a press conference that cockpit recordings showed the co-pilot said there was “a lot of icing” during the flight.

According to investigators, that comment indicates that the plane’s de-icing system might have failed, but Cenipa said that information still needed to be confirmed.

Three experts interviewed by Reuters suggested that icing could have played a role in the crash, but urged caution as the report is preliminary and accidents are caused by multiple factors.

The ATR-72 aircraft from local carrier Voepass swirled out of control before plunging to the ground on 9 August, killing all 62 on board. According to Cenipa, investigations into the crash will probably last for more than a year.

US aviation safety expert Anthony Brickhouse said: “Everything I have read from the report today is consistent with icing, but accidents are rarely caused by one single event.”

According to officials, loss of speed alerts were triggered, but the ATR’s crew never declared an emergency situation before the plane spiralled down to the ground.

Cenipa officials also said on Friday it was still unclear to them why an aircraft with all necessary certifications ended up losing control and falling.

“What we know is that the airplane was flying in an area with severe icing conditions,” said Lieut Col Paulo Froes.

The carrier said in a statement that the report confirmed that the aircraft and the pilots were properly certified, adding that the ATR’s required systems were in operation. It added the company would continue cooperating with the investigations.

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Former hitman sentenced to 25 years in prison killing of gangster Whitey Bulger

Ex-mafia associate Fotios ‘Freddy’ Geas convicted of fatally bludgeoning notorious Boston gangster in 2018

A former mafia hitman already serving life in prison was sentenced to 25 years on Friday in the 2018 fatal prison bludgeoning of notorious Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger.

Prosecutors said Fotios “Freddy” Geas used a lock attached to a belt to repeatedly hit the 89-year-old Bulger in the head hours after he arrived at Hazelton, a troubled US penitentiary, from another lockup in Florida in October 2018. Defense attorneys disputed that characterization on Friday, saying Geas hit Bulger with his fist.

The US justice department said last year that it would not seek the death penalty against Geas in Bulger’s killing.

The sentences – 15 years for voluntary manslaughter and 10 years for assault resulting in serious bodily injury – will be served consecutively with each other as well to the current life term for Geas.

The US district judge Thomas Kleeh agreed to a sentencing recommendation from prosecutors that was longer than government guidelines. The judge dismissed more serious charges that included murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, which each carried maximum penalties of life in prison.

The assistant US attorney Brandon Flower said the sentence recommendation was based in part on the ages of Bulger and Geas, 57.

“Mr Geas is not really going to have an opportunity to step outside,” Flower said. “That is where he’s going to spend the rest of his days.”

Geas declined to make a statement in court before sentencing.

Bulger, who ran the largely Irish gang in Boston in the 1970s and 80s, also served as an FBI informant who ratted on his gang’s main rival, according to the bureau. Bulger strongly denied ever being a government informant.

Bulger became one of the nation’s most wanted fugitives after fleeing Boston in 1994 thanks to a tip from his FBI handler that he was about to be indicted. He was captured at age 81 after more than 16 years on the run and convicted in 2013 in 11 killings and dozens of other gangland crimes.

Another Hazelton prisoner, the Massachusetts gangster Paul J DeCologero, was sentenced to more than four years in prison in August on an assault charge in Bulger’s killing. Prosecutors said he acted as a lookout for Geas.

A third inmate, Sean McKinnon, pleaded guilty in June to lying to FBI special agents. McKinnon was given no additional prison time and was returned to Florida to finish his supervised release. He had served a sentence for stealing guns from a firearms dealer.

According to court records, prisoners found out ahead of time that Bulger would be arriving at the West Virginia facility. DeCologero and Geas spent about seven minutes in Bulger’s cell during the attack.

A prisoner testified to a grand jury that DeCologero told him Bulger was a “snitch” and they planned to kill him as soon as he came into their unit.

Geas was a close associate of the mafia and acted as an enforcer but was not an official “made” member because he is Greek, not Italian. He and his brother were sentenced to life in 2011 for their roles in several violent crimes, including the 2003 killing of Adolfo “Big Al” Bruno, a Genovese crime family boss in Springfield, Massachusetts. Another mobster ordered Bruno’s killing because he was upset that Bruno had talked to the FBI, prosecutors said.

Plea deals for Geas, DeCologero and McKinnon were disclosed on 13 May. Geas and DeCologero were identified as suspects shortly after Bulger’s death, but they remained uncharged for years as the investigation dragged on.

After the killing, experts criticized Bulger’s transfer to Hazelton, where workers had already been sounding the alarm about violence and understaffing, and his placement in the general population instead of more protective housing.

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Boeing’s Starliner leaves space station for Earth – without its astronauts

Nasa’s Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who flew Starliner amid technical failures, will remain at ISS until February

Boeing’s Starliner space capsule undocked to leave the International Space Station on Friday – months after its original departure date and without the two astronauts it carried when it launched in early June.

According to Nasa, the Starliner autonomously left its docking port at the ISS at just after 6pm ET to make the approximately six-hour journey home to a landing zone at White Sands Space Harbor in the New Mexico desert. Coverage of the departure is being livestreamed.

The Nasa astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore should have flown the Starliner back to Earth in June, a week after launching in it. But thruster failures and helium leaks marred their ride to the space station. Instead, they will remain at the ISS for the rest of the year and will return in February aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.

Nasa ultimately decided it was too risky to return Williams and Wilmore on the Starliner. So the capsule contains their empty seats and blue spacesuits along with some old station equipment.

Boeing’s first astronaut flight caps a journey filled with delays and setbacks. After Nasa’s space shuttles were retired more than a decade ago, Nasa hired Boeing and SpaceX for orbital taxi service. Boeing ran into so many problems on its first test flight with no one onboard in 2019 that it had to repeat it. The 2022 do-over uncovered even more flaws and the repair bill topped $1.5bn.

The Starliner finally blasted into space on 5 June from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station after unsuccessful launches on 6 May and 1 June were plagued with problems and after earlier delays that included reports of helium leaks in the service module.

On the first launch attempt, a problem was found with a valve on the second stage, or upper portion, of the rocket. On the second, a computer tripped an automatic hold just three minutes and 50 seconds from liftoff. That was later attributed to a single ground power supply fault within one of the launch control computers.

Even after it successfully launched, helium leaks continued to trouble the spacecraft. As the Starliner approached the ISS, two leaks were detected but Nasa determined the spacecraft remained stable.

What started as an eight-day mission dragged on for three months after the leaks and faulty thrusters raised safety concerns.

However, Nasa and Boeing officials were adamant that the astronauts were not stranded and that the technical difficulties did not threaten the mission.

“We’ll come home when we’re ready,” Steve Stich, Nasa’s commercial crew program manager, said in the press conference in July.

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