List of All Articles with Tag 'r'

An estimated $1.73 billion is up for grabs in the multistate Powerball drawing on Wednesday night, the second-largest

Thousands of travelers are facing disruption after flights were suspended at London’s Luton airport

Guards are being held against their will during a riot in the overcrowded jail in the capital, Asunción.

Germany's government says it expects the country’s economy to shrink by 0.4% this year

Clark Robertson, who plays professionally in Israel, has been able to return home to Aberdeen.

Turn-out was reportedly high in Tuesday's tightly contested presidential and parliamentary poll.

The rich history of the English language is full of similar directional words that are cool but uncommon, like ‘pancakewards,’ ‘couchward,’ and ‘pocketwards.’

By Jody Godoy and Luc Cohen NEW YORK Caroline Ellison, the former co-head of Sam Bankman-Fried's hedge fund

Russia’s desperate bid to rejoin the UN’s top human rights body with a charm offensive involving stolen Ukrainian grain and arms was defeated by a significant majority in a General Assembly vote on Tuesday. Russia received 83 votes from the 193-member UN, significantly more than the 24 countries who supported Moscow when it was booted out of the Human Rights Council in another vote more than one year ago. Russia was competing against Albania and Bulgaria for two seats on the Geneva-based UNHRC, representing the East European regional group. Bulgaria secured 160 votes, Albania received 123, while the Vladimir Putin-led nation managed only 83. In the run up to the voting, Russia made efforts to lure African allies and other friendly nations with stolen Ukrainian grain and arms in exchange for their votes – a charm offensive that experts said could work on some nations in need of the bartered goods. Moscow had claimed it had support from a silent majority at the UN, something which Tuesday’s vote shows was not the case. But experts said even its ability to win over 83 countries shows it maintains a surprisingly high level of support on the international arena. “I think the Russians will be pleased that they persuaded a sizable minority of UN members to back them (which) suggests that Moscow is not a total pariah in the UN system, despite repeated Western criticism,” Richard Gowan, UN director of the International Crisis Group, said. That said, the US and Ukraine’s allies were still able to ensure that Albania and Bulgaria swept the contest for the two seats, he said. “So, Kyiv’s friends still have a solid majority in the assembly,” Mr Gowan said.Yousuf Syed Khan, senior lawyer at Global Rights Compliance, said that declining to accept Russia’s bid for HRC membership “means that vulnerable member states were not assuaged by Russia’s bid to provide arms and grain in exchange for votes”. “Today, Ukrainians and the world community alike can welcome this glaring diplomatic success,” he told The Independent. The US and its allies had discouraged many of the UN General Assembly’s members and asked them to vote against Russia, the diplomats aware of Moscow’s attempts to woo nations with grains said. US deputy ambassador Robert Wood told the Security Council that Russia’s re-election “while it openly continues to commit war crimes and other atrocities would be an ugly stain that would undermine the credibility of the institution and the United Nations”. Russian envoy to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, accused the US of preventing Russia’s return to the council with its campaign. “The main phobia of our American colleagues today is electing Russia to the Human Rights Council,” he told a Security Council meeting called by Ukraine on last week’s strike by a Russian missile on a Ukrainian soldier’s wake in a small village that killed 52 people. Experts have called it a near-unprecedented event where the UN body has acted consistently for 18 months to suspend a member nation. “It is close to unprecedented that the UN Human Rights Council acted as it did 18 months ago, it being only the second time in the Council’s history that a member has been suspended for committing ‘gross and systematic violations of human rights’,” said Catriona Murdoch, partner at international human rights law firm Global Rights Compliance. She added that the impact of this war on civilians and “the apocalyptic devastation it is leaving meant the stakes were higher with this vote”. The other closely watched race was in the Asia group where four countries – China, Japan, Kuwait and Indonesia – were candidates for four seats. While all were expected to reach the majority of votes needed and therefore gain a seat each, some rights groups campaigned hard against Beijing and the size of the vote was closely watched. Indonesia topped the ballot with 186 votes followed by Kuwait with 183 votes and Japan with 175. China was last with 154 votes. Additional reporting by agencies Read More UN set to decide on Russia’s Human Rights Council membership as Putin ‘uses Ukrainian grain to buy votes’ Putin’s shameless UN charm offensive - with stolen grain from Ukraine Russia tries to rejoin UN Human Rights Council Ukraine-Russia war – live: Moscow fails in bid to return to UN’s top human rights body

The Presidum Network says it argued for their release as it had prior contact with the group.

The conflict between Israel and Palestinians has roots which precede the formation of the country itself. Here's how the shape of the Jewish state has changed.

Russia has claimed it can play a role in resolving the conflict between Israel and Palestine as Vladimir Putin blamed US foreign policy for the escalation in the region. The comments from Moscow come despite Russia currently being the primary aggressor in the largest conflict in Europe since the Second World War, and also make no mention of Russia’s own role in the Middle East peace process since 2002 as part of the “Quartet” of powers with the UN, US and EU. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Russia was speaking to both sides in the conflict and that it would seek to be involved in its settlement. He told a briefing on Wednesday that Moscow’s top priority was the safety of its own citizens in the region. Russia’s own history in the region is complex – and seemingly riddled with contradictions – as the former Soviet Union had supported the immediate recognition of the state of Israel along with the US after the Second World War. Mr Peskov said the conflict risked “spilling over” into other regions and stated Moscow has engaged in diplomatic efforts, despite limited progress. “But nevertheless we intend to keep making efforts and play our role in terms of providing assistance to seek ways to a settlement,” he said. In comments reported by Russian news agencies, Mr Peskov said the turmoil was “more than worrying. It has the potential to be dangerous by growing and spilling over from the current zone of the Arab-Israeli conflict”. “It is very important now that both sides show restraint,” he said in comments earlier on Russia’s Channel One on Tuesday. And while Mr Peskov on Tuesday said Russia has “a lot in common” with Israel, with many Israelis being former Russian citizens, Mr Putin blamed the US for ignoring the interests of Palestinians and their calls for an independent Palestinian state. The Russian president did not refer directly to Hamas in his own comments – the militant group that launched terror attacks across southern Israel on Saturday and which is heavily backed by Iran, a Russian ally. Moscow is accused of using Iranian Shahed drones in its war in Ukraine and has longstanding ties with Hamas, which sent a delegation to Moscow in March. Mr Putin hosted Iraq’s prime mininster Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani on Tuesday and took the opportunity during talks with his Iraqi counterpart – whose own country was invaded by the US after 9/11 – to attack American foreign policy in the region. “I think that many people will agree with me that this is a vivid example of the failure of United States policy in the Middle East,” Mr Putin said. He said Washington had sought to “monopolise” efforts at forging peace, and accused it of failing to seek workable compromises. The situation has meanwhile continued to escalate in Israel as the country said it sealed the Gaza strip, governed by Hamas, from getting supplies of food, fuel and medicine in a decision sharply criticised by the UN and several non-profits. Israel also vowed to intensify its response to the attack by Hamas with aerial bombardments on Gaza, seen by many as a prelude to a ground offensive. US president Joe Biden has pledged America’s full support for Israel and issued a warning to anyone who might seek to take advantage of the situation. Russia has issued a range of diplomatic statements with a far less full-throated support for Israel. A Kremlin statement said Mr Putin and Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan deplored the “catastrophic rise in the deaths among civilians”. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov called for a rapid ceasefire in a conversation with his Iranian colleague Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. Since the latest crisis erupted, the Kremlin has sought to appear even-handed, underscoring its relations with both sides. Additional reporting by agencies Read More Israel-Hamas war – live: Troops mass at Gaza border as strip ‘only has 10 hours of fuel’ left Watch live view of Gaza skyline as Israel bombards territory Inside Israel’s Supernova Festival: My terror as Hamas bombs fell on us during desert rave The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary