Police in Canada say they are treating fires that destroyed two Catholic churches on indigenous community land in British Columbia as suspicious. Sacred Heart Church and St Gregory’s Church burnt down at about the same time early on Monday, as Canada marked National Indigenous People’s Day. The two churches – built more than 100 years ago – are located about 40km (25 miles) apart in the western province.

Liquid accelerants are believed to have been used, one fire official said. The two churches on the Penticton Indian Band reserve and the Osoyoos Indian Band reserve are less than 100km from Kamloops, where the remains of 215 children were found at a former boarding school in May. Thousands of indigenous children were sent to such schools in the 19th and 20th Centuries to be forcibly assimilated. The institutions were often run by the Roman Catholic Church.(BBC)…[+]

The party of Armenia’s acting PM Nikol Pashinyan has won snap elections, the country’s electoral commission says. Preliminary results from all 2,008 polling stations give the Civil Contract party 54%, it says.

The opposition Armenia alliance led by ex-President Robert Kocharyan is a distant second with 21%. The block has alleged election fraud. The vote was called after Armenia’s defeat in a war with Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Last year, Azerbaijan regained control of large swathes of the mountainous region, which it lost to Armenia during the first Nagorno-Karabakh war in 1988-94. The region is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan.(BBC)…[+]

The trial has started in the case of a French woman who shot dead a man she says abused her years – first as her stepfather then later as her husband. Valerie Bacot was just 12 when Daniel Polette began raping her. He was jailed but later returned to the family home and allegedly resumed the abuse. She alleges he forced her to marry him and fathered her four children. Ms Bacot admits killing him in 2016 but more than 600,000 people have signed a petition calling for her release. She says she shot Polette dead during an encounter in which he had allegedly been forcing her to work as a prostitute. Ms Bacot hid the body with the help of two of her children but was arrested in October 2017 and confessed to the killing. The trial is a major news story in France and has galvanised public debate about violence against women.(BBC)…[+]

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has confirmed plans to pardon Catalan separatists this week.  Nine leaders were jailed for sedition over a failed independence attempt in 2017. Another three were found guilty of disobedience but not jailed. Their pardons will be sent to the cabinet on Tuesday. Tens of thousands of people protested against the plans earlier this month, but the government says the move will help calm tensions over Catalonia. The semi-autonomous region’s drive for independence almost four years ago plunged Spain into its biggest political crisis in 40 years. Opponents, however, have accused the Spanish government of using the plans to gain political support. “Tomorrow, guided by this constitutional spirit of forgiveness, I will propose that the cabinet approve the pardon,” Mr Sánchez announced during a speech in Barcelona on Monday. “To reach an agreement someone must almost always take the first step,” he said. “The Spanish government will take that step now.” Opposition to the decision has been widespread, with a recent poll for Spanish newspaper El Mundo finding that about 61% of people were against pardoning the separatist leaders.(BBC)…[+]

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has said his country needs to prepare for both “dialogue and confrontation” with the US, and “especially to get fully prepared for confrontation”. This marks the first time Mr Kim has directly commented on President Joe Biden’s administration. North Korea had earlier snubbed efforts by the new US government to establish diplomatic communication. The US has been calling for North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons. But Pyongyang has repeatedly refused, and the United Nations Security Council has imposed strict economic sanctions on the East Asian state for its nuclear tests.(BBC)…[+]

The number of people who have been forced to flee their homes around the world has risen to a record 82 million despite the impact of the pandemic, the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) says. The total has doubled in a decade and means more than 1% of the world’s population is displaced. The pandemic had led to a significant reduction in asylum applications and overall migration, the UNHCR said. But the 11.2 million people displaced last year was still more than in 2019. Many were forced to flee because of persecution, conflict, violence and human rights violations. The vast majority were internally displaced, with travel restrictions leaving them less able to cross international borders.(BBC)…[+]

ranians are voting to elect a new president, with all but one of the four candidates regarded as hardliners. The winner will replace incumbent Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate who has served the maximum two terms. Dissidents and some reformists have called for a boycott, saying the barring of several contenders has removed any genuine competition. The elections come at a time of widespread discontent among Iranians over economic hardships. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cast his vote early on Friday morning in Tehran and encouraged people to go the polls. “Each vote counts … come and vote and choose your president,” he said. “This is important for the future of your country.” However, there is widespread apathy among voters, after three years of crippling sanctions reinstated by the US when it abandoned a nuclear deal between world powers and Iran.(BBC)…[+]

Germany has recalled a platoon from a Nato mission in Lithuania after reports emerged of troops engaging in racist and anti-Semitic behaviour, as well as sexual assault. The allegations were first published by Der Spiegel news magazine on Monday. Announcing the decision on Twitter, German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said the misconduct would be “punished with all severity”. Four German soldiers were initially withdrawn as part of the investigation. The troops were in Lithuania as part of Nato’s “enhanced forward presence”, a mission which trains local soldiers as a deterrent against Russian in a number of Eastern European countries. “The misconduct of some soldiers in Lithuania is a slap in the face of everyone who works in the Bundeswehr [German army] day after day to serve the security of our country,” Ms Kramp-Karrenbauer tweeted on Wednesday. She said the entire platoon would be withdrawn with “immediate effect”, and that any necessary investigations and proceedings would take place in Germany. (BBC)…[+]

Sixty German police officers have been injured in riots over a building being occupied by squatters in Berlin. A court has granted officials permission to carry out a fire inspection, but when police attempted to secure the area on Wednesday morning, they were hit by stones. Occupants of 94 Rigaer Straße fear the move could lead to their eviction from one of the city’s last remaining squats. Previous attempts to clear the building have failed following violent protests. In 2016, 123 police officers were wounded in a riot at the site. The area of Friedrichshain, where the squat is located, has undergone rapid gentrification in recent years.(BBC)…[+]

Israel says it carried out air strikes in Gaza overnight after Palestinians launched incendiary balloons from the territory, in the first major flare-up since an 11-day conflict last month. The Israeli military said it targeted compounds belonging to Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza. The incendiary balloons sparked 20 fires in southern Israel on Tuesday. Hamas said they were a response to a march by Israeli nationalists in occupied East Jerusalem. There were no casualties on either side and calm had been restored by Wednesday morning.In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its fighter jets had hit military compounds operated by Hamas in Khan Younis and Gaza City.(BBC)…[+]