Israel confirms plans to create 22 new settlements in occupied West Bank
Defence minister says move ‘prevents establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel’
Thu 29 May 2025 12.24 BST
Israel has said it will establish 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, including the legalisation of outposts already built without government authorisation, after a security cabinet vote held in secret last week.
Israel occupied the West Bank, capturing it from Jordan, in the six-day war of 1967. Since then, successive governments have tried to permanently cement Israeli control over the land, in part by declaring swathes as “state lands”, which prevents private Palestinian ownership.
Portugal's far-right Chega party becomes second biggest in parliament
Portugal's far-right Chega party has become the government's largest opposition party according to final results from Portugal's snap general election published on Wednesday. Support for Chega has grown in every general election since the party was founded in 2019 by former television football commentator Andre Ventura.
Portugal's far-right Chega party won second place in snap elections last week, according to final results published Wednesday, making it the official opposition party in the country just six years after its creation.
Chega, which means "Enough", and the left-wing Socialist Party (PS) had been level on 58 seats after the provisional results from the May 18 poll.
But the far-right party won two of the previously unannounced four overseas constituencies, taking its tally to 60.
Japan weighs spending more on U.S. military facilities
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
May 29, 2025 at 15:01 JST
The government is considering boosting its annual spending on U.S. military facilities in Japan by tens of billions of yen to appease the Trump administration, although the amount may not be satisfactory.
The White House National Security Council called for increasing Japan’s contribution to the costs of maintaining U.S. troops in the country when officials of the National Security Secretariat visited the United States in early May, government sources said.
Japan’s host nation support for U.S. forces stationed in the country averages about 211 billion yen ($1.5 billion) per fiscal year.
Acclaimed Kenyan writer and dissident, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, dies at 87
Ngugi’s work critiqued both British colonialism in Kenya and postcolonial Kenyan society.
Renowned Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong’o has died at age 87, his family members have announced.
“It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our dad, Ngugi wa Thiong’o,” his daughter Wanjiku Wa Ngugi wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.
Gaza aid system under pressure as thousands seek food
British and US bestsellers hit by purge in Russian bookshops
Svetlana Reiter and Investigations Team
A Russian book distributor has ordered bookshops to "return or destroy" works by the Pulitzer Prize-winner Jeffery Eugenides and the British bestseller Bridget Collins, among others, in the latest case of censorship targeting the country's literary scene.
Trading House BMM sent a letter to shops this week, seen by the BBC, with a list of 37 titles that should immediately be removed from sale.
The list also included texts by Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek, Japanese novelist Ryu Murakami, and a number of Russian writers.
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