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Judge lifts major obstacle for Trump mail voting order as states file new challenge ahead of midterms

Democratic-controlled states on Wednesday filed another lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's executive order seeking to limit mail voting in this year's midterm elections.

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South African police arrest two Thai men for allegedly smuggling parrot eggs

Bird eggs intercepted in homemade incubators at Johannesburg airport as officials try to halt wildlife trafficking

South African police have arrested two Thai nationals in separate incidents for allegedly attempting to smuggle endangered parrot eggs out of the country as authorities try to stem the tide of wildlife trafficking.

A 50-year-old Thai national was arrested at OR Tambo international airport in Johannesburg on 20 August, carrying 50 bird eggs in a homemade incubator in a hand-luggage bag, South Africa’s environment ministry said in a statement.

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© Photograph: Ministry of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment

© Photograph: Ministry of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment

© Photograph: Ministry of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment

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Tell us: have you been affected by the flash floods on the Nepal-Tibet border?

Floods and mudslides have swept away houses and roads with many hundreds missing


More than 1,400 people are still missing and 392 have been confirmed dead after the flash floods and landslides on the Nepal-Tibet border.hit the Himalayan border areas of ⁠Nepal and in ​Tibet in China. An avalanche of ice and rock triggered massive flash floods causing widespread damage to villages and infrastructure.

Officials said hundreds of travellers from countries including India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Malaysia, were reported missing.

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© Photograph: Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters

© Photograph: Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters

© Photograph: Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters

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Mpox is back – and in new countries. How can this outbreak be contained?

The public health emergencies in 2022 and 2024 saw the virus reported in 145 countries, but in the new cases children appear particularly affected

A fresh outbreak of mpox in Guinea Bissau – the country’s first – means the virus formerly known as monkey pox is back in the headlines. So what has changed?

Since 2022, there have been almost 190,000 lab-confirmed cases of mpox reported worldwide in 145 countries. Before then, outbreaks of mpox tended to be relatively small and in a handful of African countries, where the viral infection was known to be endemic.

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© Photograph: Tchandrou Nitanga/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Tchandrou Nitanga/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Tchandrou Nitanga/AFP/Getty Images

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On scraps of land and under constant threat, Gaza farmers struggle to survive

Efforts to rebuild domestic food production face severe challenges and have come at deadly cost

As Gaza’s population of 2.1 million has been hemmed into an ever smaller slice of the territory, farmers are using every last remaining patch of unspoiled earth, no matter how tiny, in their struggle to survive.

With severe shortages of water, fertiliser and pesticide, and with more than 80% of greenhouses ruined, it has taken inventiveness and determination to clear land of debris and coax new seedlings into life. Moreover, venturing out into the open to tend to plants can be deadly.

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© Photograph: Amjad Tantesh/The Guardian

© Photograph: Amjad Tantesh/The Guardian

© Photograph: Amjad Tantesh/The Guardian

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Iran seeks to criminalise all contact with foreign media in ‘chilling’ crackdown

As photojournalist sentenced to 15 years, rights groups warn law would turn civic engagement into security crime

Iran has taken the first step towards criminalising contact with foreign media, in a move human rights groups have said attempts to “sever the entire Iranian society from the rest of the world”.

For journalists, researchers and even ordinary citizens, the proposed law being discussed by Iranian lawmakers this month could make speaking to international audiences and groups a potential criminal act and restrict coverage of events such as January’s mass anti-regime protests.

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© Photograph: Yalda Moaiery

© Photograph: Yalda Moaiery

© Photograph: Yalda Moaiery

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Iran faces strait of Hormuz paradox as strategic value of chokehold erodes

Internal calls to end war get louder as Gulf neighbours plan alternative pipelines to cut reliance on waterway

Is the strait of Hormuz, recently cited by the office of the Iranian supreme leader as “the pillar of Iran’s new security order”, and as transformative as possessing a nuclear weapon, in reality becoming a fast-diminishing asset, leaving Iran increasingly vulnerable to the new planned US wave of economic sanctions?

It is the key debate that is raging inside Iran, with many different conclusions being drawn for Tehran’s negotiating strategy. Those who warn the strait’s value as a chokehold on the world economy will erode, leaving the country without foreign exchange reserves, argue that Iran’s negotiators should seek a deal soon.

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© Photograph: Majid Asgaripour/Reuters

© Photograph: Majid Asgaripour/Reuters

© Photograph: Majid Asgaripour/Reuters

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Canada retaliates with tariffs against U.S. as relations deteriorate

Canada imposed retaliatory tariffs against the United States as the two neighbors slide toward an all-out trade war. The tariffs will hit a range of U.S. products, from industrial goods to everyday items. At the same time, President Trump is threatening Canada with even steeper tariffs. William Brangham reports.

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Constitutional law professor explains Supreme Court's ruling on mail-in voting

The Supreme Court on Monday issued an emergency order that allows the Trump administration to move forward, for now, with plans to restrict mail-in voting ahead of the midterm elections in November. Opponents say it will bring chaos to the election process only days before ballots in some states are mailed out. Liz Landers discussed more with Steve Vladeck of the Georgetown University Law Center.

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ICE arrests jump to nearly 50,000 in July, highest monthly total of Trump's crackdown

Texas and Florida accounted for nearly 20,000 of the July arrests. The agency has been bolstered by billions of dollars from Congress and has hired 12,000 new deportation officers and agents.

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How Trump's trade war with Canada could rattle states with key Senate races

President Donald Trump's trade war with Canada is escalating as the midterm elections approach, threatening Republican efforts to address voters' economic concerns in a year when control of the U.S. Senate hinges on states along the border between the United States and its northern neighbor.

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