Australia has reversed a decision made four years ago to recognise West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Canberra’s decision in 2018 had undermined peace and put Australia out of step with other nations, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said. She stressed that Australia remained a “steadfast friend” to Israel. Its embassy will stay in Tel Aviv. The status of Jerusalem is one of the most contested issues between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel Prime Minister Yair Lapid said: “In light of the way in which this decision was made in Australia, as a hasty response to an incorrect report in the media, we can only hope that the Australian government manages other matters more seriously and professionally. “Jerusalem is the eternal and united capital of Israel and nothing will ever change that.”

A court in New York has sentenced an infamous Colombian paramilitary leader and drug kingpin to 35 years in jail. Daniel Rendón Herrera, better known as Don Mario, led the right-wing paramilitary group United Self-Defence Forces (AUC). The group, originally formed to combat left-wing guerrillas, engaged in kidnappings, killings, and extortion. Don Mario, 57, was captured in a rural hideaway in 2009. At the time, he was the most wanted kingpin in Colombia. He was extradited to the United States in 2018 and last year pleaded guilty to trafficking more than 80 tonnes of cocaine to the US. Daniel Rendón Herrera and his brother Freddy, known as El Alemán (The German) for his love of imposing strict discipline on his men, were key players in the AUC. As part of that paramilitary group, they led thousands of fighters who attacked and killed anyone they deemed a sympathiser of Colombia’s left-wing rebel groups. In order to finance itself, the AUC imposed taxes on cocaine smuggled through territories it controlled and also engaged in drug trafficking. AUC members were behind some of Colombia’s most gruesome massacres. Tens of thousands of Colombians were displaced by the group’s violence. Many of the group’s members, including Freddy Rendón Herrera, demobilised under a 2003 peace deal. But unlike his brother, Don Mario refused to lay down arms and instead co-founded the Gulf Clan criminal gang. Under his leadership, the Gulf Clan became the most feared gang in Colombia, trafficking tonnes of cocaine to the US and killing anyone who stood in its way.(BBC)…[+]

Parisians have been stunned by the shocking murder of a 12-year-old schoolgirl whose body was found on Friday in a container in the courtyard of her apartment building. The girl, named Lola, had spent the day normally at school. Her father raised the alert when she failed to return home in the afternoon. Later in the evening, a transparent plastic packing box containing her body was found at the foot of the building in the 19th arrondissement. Lola’s father is employed as a concierge in the residential block. Her body was found squashed inside the container, hidden by a covering of material. Her hands and feet were tied and she was reported to have a gash on her neck, though the autopsy this weekend found she had died of asphyxiation. Two Post-it notes were also on her feet, one saying “0” and the other “1”.(BBC)…[+]

Montenegro and North Macedonia will not compete in next year’s Eurovision Song Contest because of how much it will cost them to enter. Broadcasters pay a fee to take part in the competition but the amount differs depending on the size of the country. BBC News understands some countries have been asked to pay more after Russia was banned from the contest. Russia, a large financial contributor, was expelled from this year’s competition after it invaded Ukraine. “In addition to the significant costs of registration fees, as well as the cost of staying in Great Britain – we also faced a lack of interest from sponsors, so we decided to direct existing resources to the financing of current and planned national projects,” Montenegro’s public service broadcaster RTCG said.(BBC)…[+]

More than seven million Venezuelans have left their homeland since 2015 amid an ongoing economic and political crisis, according to new UN data. More than half of them face challenges accessing food, housing, and stable employment, the UN says. But despite the difficulties facing them abroad, the flow of Venezuelans escaping turmoil in their homeland has not let up. Aid agencies warn that these migrants risk being forgotten amid other crises. “There’s no question both that it is a major protracted crisis that is shaking the region [of Latin America],” David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee, told the BBC. “But it is also clear that the competing priorities for global attention – Ukraine, famine in East Africa, trauma in Afghanistan – are draining attention in a way that is quite dangerous.”(BBC)…[+]

Russia has hit Ukraine with a wave of attacks, dive-bombing the capital, Kyiv, with what appear to be Iranian-made “kamikaze” drones. Critical infrastructure was hit in the Kyiv, Dnipro and Sumy regions, with electricity cut in hundreds of towns and villages, the government says. At least eight people were killed, four in Kyiv and four in Sumy. Calls have mounted for sanctions on Iran, which continues to deny supplying drones to the Russian military. A week ago, the Ukrainian capital was hit by Russian missiles at rush hour, part of nationwide attacks which left 19 dead. In the latest attack, starting at around 06:30 (03:30 GMT), 28 drones targeted the capital but only five hit targets, according to the Mayor, Vitaliy Klitschko. The city reverberated to the rattle of gunfire as anti-aircraft batteries frantically tried to shoot them down. Video on social media appeared to show one interception.(BBC)…[+]

Mexico’s Congress has voted in favour of extending the presence of the military on the streets until 2028. Troops have been carrying out public security duties for years as part of Mexico’s war against drugs and the gangs which control their trade. But critics say extending the military’s duties for another four years further militarises the country. Rights groups say the militarisation of police duties has led to human rights abuses and further violence. But members of the president’s party argued that if the army were to be taken off the streets, Mexico’s population would be left at the mercy of organised crime gangs. The bill was passed after a marathon session in the Chamber of Deputies with 339 votes in favour and 155 against. It will still have to be passed by the legislatures of 31 states and the capital, Mexico City, to come into law, but the big hurdle was getting it approved in Congress.(BBC)…[+]

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been ordered to pay $965m (£869m) in damages after falsely claiming the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax. The families of eight victims, and an FBI agent who responded to the attack, had sought at least $550m in the defamation trial in Connecticut. They alleged the right-wing radio host’s misinformation led to a decade of harassment and death threats. Twenty children and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Jones, who founded the conspiracy-laden Infowars website and talk show, argued for years that the massacre was a “staged” government plot to take guns from Americans and that “no-one died”. He called the parents of victims “crisis actors” and argued that some of them never actually existed.(BBC)…[+]

Two people have died after a shooting outside an LGBT venue in Slovakia’s capital, Bratislava. A third person was wounded in the attack on Wednesday evening near the Teplaren bar, close to the city centre. The suspected gunman was found dead on Thursday morning, police said. Information on his motive has not been released. However, local media reported that he had written social media posts indicating that he held views against LGBT and Jewish people. The young man was also identified in Slovak media as the son of a former candidate for a far-right political party. On Thursday, Prime Minister Eduard Heger condemned the attack, saying any form of extremism was unacceptable. Meanwhile, President Zuzana Caputova called on the country’s politicians to stop spreading hate. The apparent hate crime sparked renewed calls for an end to homophobia in Slovakia, a relatively conservative EU country where same-sex marriage is not permitted.(BBC)…[+]

Eritrean authorities have intensified military mobilisation and are hunting down draft dodgers across the country, as the war in neighbouring Ethiopia escalates, multiple Eritrean sources have told the BBC. The latest round-ups are the worst so far as women have not been spared, with many elderly mothers and fathers detained in a bid to force their children, who have gone into hiding, to surrender, they say.

They spoke on condition of anonymity as Eritrea is a highly restrictive state that controls almost all aspects of people’s lives. Eritrea has sent troops to help the Ethiopian government against forces from its northern Tigray region, which borders Eritrea. “As many ignored the call-up, the round-up has been intensified,” a source said, adding that wives have also been detained after their husbands tried to avoid conscription. Checkpoints have been set up along major roads, and widespread searches are taking pace in cities and villages.(BBC)…[+]