Mazzaltov World News gives you today’s global news headlines and insights into all the latest Current Affairs, Sports, Health, Weather, Entertainment, Business and Travel News from around the world.
‘Exploding inequality’: The fight for the hearts and minds of Poland’s left
As Adrian Zandberg, leader of Poland’s left-wing Razem (Together) party, prepared to speak to the large crowd at his rally in one of Krakow’s central squares on Wednesday this week, he wasn’t just getting ready to contest Sunday’s presidential election.
Speaking with a revolutionary zeal to the cheering crowd, Zandberg put forward his ideals: Quality public services, affordable housing for all, investment in education and science and the end to a toxic right-wing duopoly in Polish politics.
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Nine reported killed in Russian strike on civilian bus in Ukraine
Nine people have been killed in a Russian drone attack on a civilian bus in north-eastern Ukraine, local officials say.
The Sumy regional military administration said seven other people were injured in the town of Bilopillia on Saturday morning as the bus travelled to the regional capital Sumy, close to Russia’s border.
The reported attack comes just hours after Russia and Ukraine held their first direct peace talks since 2022. No breakthrough was achieved, although a swap of prisoners of war was agreed.
Ukraine’s national police described the bus attack as a “cynical war crime”. Russia has not commented directly but said it had hit a “military staging area” in Sumy.
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Gaza likely to dominate agenda as Arab League meets in Baghdad
The annual summit of the Arab League has begun in Baghdad, with Israel’s war on Gaza expected to dominate the talks, alongside other regional crises.
Saturday’s talks in the Iraqi capital come only a day after United States President Donald Trump completed his Middle East tour, triggering hopes of a ceasefire and the renewal of aid delivery to Gaza.
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Ukraine and Russia far apart in direct talks, but prisoner swap agreed
More than three years into Europe’s deadliest war since 1945, there was a small step forward for diplomacy on Friday.
Delegations from Ukraine and Russia came face-to-face for talks for the first time since March 2022 – one month after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour. The setting was an Ottoman- era palace on the shores of the Bosphorus in Istanbul.
Pressure and encouragement from Turkey and the US helped get the warring parties there.
There were no handshakes, and half the Ukrainian delegation wore camouflage military fatigues – a reminder that their nation is under attack.
The room was decked with Ukrainian, Turkish and Russian flags – two of each – and a large flower arrangement – a world away from the shattered cities and swollen graveyards of Ukraine.
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Moody’s strips US government of top credit rating
Moody’s Ratings has stripped the United States government of its top credit rating, citing successive governments’ failure to stop a rising tide of debt, a surprise move that could complicate President Donald Trump’s efforts to cut taxes and send ripples through global markets.
On Friday, Moody’s lowered the rating from a gold-standard Aaa to Aa1. “Successive US administrations and Congress have failed to agree on measures to reverse the trend of large annual fiscal deficits and growing interest costs,” it said as it changed its outlook on the US to “stable” from “negative”.
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Why Sean Diddy Combs’s trial hinges on ex-girlfriend Cassie’s testimony
In a trial that is undoing the legacy of one of music’s biggest moguls of the 2000s, the focus of the opening week of proceedings was not Sean “Diddy” Combs himself – but his ex-girlfriend.
R&B singer Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura took the witness stand for four days, describing in emotion details the years of beatings and drug-fuelled sex encounters with prostitutes that she alleges she endured at the hands of the rap superstar, who she dated for more than a decade.
But while her story clearly left an impression on those in the courtroom, which one onlooker described as an “aura of sadness”, it is just one piece in the puzzle that prosecutors must present to prove that Mr Combs was not just an abuser, but a mastermind of a criminal, sexual enterprise.
On Tuesday, gasps erupted in a Manhattan overflow courtroom when prosecutors called Ms Ventura – their star witness – to the stand. All eyes were fixed on the eight-months pregnant singer, as she strolled past her ex-boyfriend, whom she had not seen in six years.
Ms Ventura was there to testify in the federal sex trafficking, racketeering and prostitution case against Mr Combs, whom she accuses of abusing her and coercing her into unwanted sex acts – so-called “freak-offs” – during their 11-and-a-half year relationship.
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‘I cannot stand by’: Former ambassador denounces Ukraine shift under Trump
A recent United States ambassador to Ukraine has published an opinion column explaining her decision to resign her post, and criticising President Donald Trump for siding with Russia over Ukraine.
On Friday, former diplomat Bridget Brink published an article in the Detroit Free Press, a newspaper in her home state of Michigan, expressing concern about current US foreign policy.
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Trump’s frantic week of peace brokering hints at what he really wants
“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.” So supposedly said the Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. The diplomatic whirlwind that has surrounded US President Donald Trump this week suggests the old Bolshevik might have been onto something.
For the protectionist president, who promises always to put America First, has in recent days instead been busy bestriding the world stage.
He and his team have done business deals in the Gulf; lifted sanctions on Syria; negotiated the release of a US citizen held by Hamas; ended military strikes on Houthi fighters in Yemen; slashed American tariffs on China; ordered Ukraine to hold talks with Russia in Turkey; continued quiet negotiations with Iran over a nuclear deal; and even claimed responsibility for brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan…
The pace has been breathless, leaving allies and opponents alike struggling to catch up as the US diplomatic bandwagon hurtled from issue to issue.
“Just, wow!” remarked one London-based ambassador. “It is almost impossible to stay on top of everything that’s going on.”
So what is going on? What have we learned in this frantic week about the US president’s emerging foreign policy? Is there something approaching a Trump doctrine – or is this just a coincidental confluence of global events?
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Malaysia’s ‘fish hunters’ target invasive species, one catch at a time
On a recent Sunday morning, about a dozen men with fishing nets skirted the rubbish-strewn banks of the Klang River just outside the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.
Surveying the river, the men cast their nets into the polluted water. The nets billowed open and sunk quickly under the weight of metal chains.
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Ex-FBI boss interviewed by Secret Service over Trump seashell post
Former FBI director James Comey has been interviewed by the US Secret Service after he shared then deleted a social media post that Republicans alleged was an incitement to violence against US President Donald Trump.
Comey voluntarily participated in the questioning for about an hour at the law enforcement agency’s Washington DC headquarters and was not held in custody.
It comes a day after he posted on Instagram a photo of seashells that spelled the numbers “8647”.
The number 86 is a slang term whose definitions include “to reject” or “to get rid of”, however, it has more recently been used as a term to mean “kill”. Trump is the 47th US president.
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I was on a flight – but British Airways told me I wasn’t
An extraordinary thing happened to me on a recent flight to Madrid: I unwittingly travelled under the wrong identity, becoming a potential security issue, and no-one realised.
I was packing for a short business trip to make a film for the BBC when I attempted to check-in online. It didn’t work, so I headed to London Heathrow Airport to do it in person.
Upon arrival there, I tried once again to check myself in, this time at a self-service booth. Again I was denied, the machine flashing up an error code: “Assistance required.”
I ended up at a check-in desk and after checking in my bag, a British Airways staff member handed me a boarding pass. Admittedly I didn’t read the pass in any detail, but headed off to get processed in the security area as normal.
At the gate, I was among the first passengers to board flight BA7055 departing at 10:50 on 23 April, operated by BA’s Spanish partner carrier Iberia, as I was in row six.
Dutifully, I handed my passport and boarding pass to a member of BA ground crew, who glanced at them both and waved me through.
Once on board I realised my seat was in business class. I assumed this must have been a free upgrade, because I would of course usually have been in economy; we had chosen this flight because it was the most cost-effective option with all our filming equipment.
No sooner were we off the tarmac and at cruising altitude than the delicious baked cod and chickpea stew lunch was served. Tiramisu for dessert, too. No complimentary alcohol for me though; it was a work trip.
It was on arrival in the Spanish capital when things started to go wrong.
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Was ex-FBI chief Comey’s ’86 47′ post calling for Trump assassination?
social media post has dragged former FBI director James Comey into a maelstrom of accusations from critics that he called for the assassination of United States President Donald Trump.
Comey, a fierce Trump critic, denied in a statement that the photo he took and shared on Instagram was a call for violence, adding that “I oppose violence of any kind.” He has since taken down the photo in question.
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‘My children go to sleep hungry,’ Gazans tell the BBC
As crowds gathered at a food distribution point in northern Gaza, six-year-old Ismail Abu Odeh fought his way to the front.
“Give me some,” he called out.
His bowl was filled with lentils, but as he made his way back, it was knocked out of his hands. He returned to his family’s tent crying.
An uncle who had managed to get some food later shared some with Ismail.
The following day, no deliveries of water or food arrived at the displacement camp where he lives, located in a school in Gaza City, and the people gathered there were left with empty bottles and bowls. Ismail cried again.
The BBC has spent the past two days speaking to people across Gaza, as Israel ramps up its military action and continues a more than 10-week total blockade on food, medical supplies and other aid.
There are mounting warnings from the United Nations and others that the enclave is on the brink of famine.