Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Authority arrested a man on Tuesday who it claimed had spread disinformation thought to have enflamed the recent unrest in the UK.

According to the FIA statement the “article contained a false claim about the arrest of a Muslim asylum seeker by police in the stabbing incident in a dance party in Southport on July 29, 2024.”

The FIA confirmed that the man has not been charged.

Police in Lahore have identified the man, arrested by the FIA, as Farhan Asif, and that he was questioned about the article on Monday.

It’s unclear if Asif has an attorney.

Asif told police he would earn close to a thousand dollars a month by doing this, according to the official.

After a statement from UK police, after the riots, Asif claims he deleted the story and issued an immediate apology.

The UK faced its worst disorder in more than a decade, after outbreaks of far-right, anti-immigrant violence swept the country. Protests first broke out late last month, after an anti-immigrant misinformation campaign stoked outrage over a stabbing attack that left three children dead in Southport, northern England.

People were walking or on donkey carts as they left areas east of Deir al-Balah. Some were in private cars, loaded with their belongings, including mattresses and blankets, water and gas bottles. The streets appear littered with leaflets dropped by the IDF reiterating the order to evacuate.

It now amounts to 39 square kilometers, just over 10 percent of Gaza’s total area.

Amid the latest evacuation, people swarmed onto a UN truck carrying food aid, carrying off small bags of aid.

A woman named Um Alaa, sitting on a cart, said it was the fourth time she has had to evacuate since October last year. “We don’t know where to go. We are going to look for a spot away from this dangerous place. The whole of Gaza has become dangerous.”

There was panic among some as to what might come next.

An elderly man said: “There are no longer places to go. There was only Deir al-Balah, and now they are asking us to evacuate Deir al-Balah. I am afraid that tomorrow they will confine all of us on the seashore of Deir al-Balah, then exterminate all of us.”

“After so many displacements, we no longer have the strength to evacuate yet another time.”

Um Ismail, a woman with small children, said people were defenseless.

“Why are they fighting us? We are not Hamas, we are simply people staying put in our homes. They displaced us not once, but 10 times. Why? What have we done?”

A woman in the back seat of a car exclaimed: “Do you want to know what’s happening – ask Hamas and the Israelis if you want to know what’s happening to us.”

Her family said it was their second displacement. For a very few, it was the first time since the conflict began that they’d had to move.

One man was crying as he drove a car packed with women and children. “I have no idea where we are heading to. Anywhere we can stay. God help us. This is the first time I am being displaced.”

But for Umm Said it was the seventh move in as many months.

“I don’t know where I am heading to. They said leave, we left. We have no idea…Every time we find a place and settle down, they say go back. And here we are. I have taken some flour for the children, what else can I take with me!”

Abu Muhammad Hajjaj, a resident of Gaza City, had been displaced from the Shujaiya neighborhood.

“People are crying and complaining of everything: disease, hunger, poverty, lack of hygiene, lack of medicine. You search in all of Gaza for paracetamol for a headache and you can’t find it.”

Hajjaj added: “Find us a solution. This is not a way to live. Where are the international organisations, where is the Security Council, where is the UN.”

“We don’t have money. We don’t have tents. We have nothing. We are not living in our own homes. We are on the street. They cannot keep on telling us to evacuate from here and there. This is not a way to live.”

Brazil will begin imposing restrictions on the entry of some foreign citizens from Asia who are seeking refuge in the South American nation as a means to migrate to the United States and Canada, the justice ministry’s press office said Wednesday.

The move, which will start on Monday, will affect Asian migrants who require visas to remain in Brazil.

A Federal Police investigation has shown these migrants often buy flights with layovers in Sao Paulo’s international airport, en route to other destinations, but stay in Brazil as a place from where they then begin their journey north, according to official documents provided to The Associated Press.

More than 70% of requests for refuge at the airport come from people with either Indian, Nepalese or Vietnamese nationalities, one of the documents says.

Starting next week, travelers without visas will either have to continue their journey by plane or return to their country of origin, the ministry said.

A report signed by federal police investigator Marinho da Silva Rezende Júnior informs the justice ministry that since the beginning of last year there has been “great turmoil” due to the influx of migrants at the airport in Guarulhos, the second most populous city in the state of Sao Paulo.

“Evidence suggests that those migrants, in their majority, are making use of the known — and extremely dangerous — route that goes from Sao Paulo to the western state of Acre, so they can access Peru and go toward Central America and then, finally, reach the US from its southern border,” one of the documents says.

An AP investigation in July found migrants passing through the Amazon, including some from Vietnam and India. Many returned to Acre, on the border with Peru, as US border policies triggered a wait-and-see attitude among them.

Brazil’s justice ministry said that the new guidelines will not apply to 484 migrants currently staying at Sao Paulo’s international airport.

Earlier on Wednesday, Brazil’s federal prosecutors’ office said in a statement that Sao Paulo’s international airport “is once again counting a high number of foreigners who arrive on flights of the airline LATAM and do not exit quickly due to the overload on the Brazilian migration system.”

The prosecutors’ office added that it will put pressure on airlines to give migrants some basic supplies as they wait for their concession of refuge. The term refers to an application for refugee status, regardless of the reason.

LATAM did not immediately respond a request for comment from the AP.

“It is important that we quickly decide on these refuge requests so that the growing arrival of foreigners does not impact the operation of the airport itself,” federal prosecutor Guilherme Rocha Göpfert said after a meeting at Sao Paulo’s international airport on Wednesday.

One of the documents says Brazil’s federal police received 9,082 requests for refuge this year through July 15. That is more than double the amount for the whole 2023, and the most in over a decade, according to the figures.

Brazil has historically welcomed refugees, particularly Afghans in recent years, regardless of ideological leanings of the Latin American country’s leaders.

But reports of migrants seeking refugee status as a means to use Brazil as a waystation has caused frustration in the government, particularly at a time when the system is burdened by many people from Haiti, Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine seeking humanitarian visas.

Brazil granted 11,248 humanitarian visas to Afghans alone between between Sept. 2021 and April 2024, government figures show.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva decided in January 2023, in the early days of his administration, to bring his country back to the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, an intergovernmental agreement.

His administration has kept humanitarian visas, but guidelines for the concession of those has become more restrictive under his administration.

African nations could begin vaccinations against mpox within days, according to the continent’s top public health agency, as a World Health Organization official said the spread of a deadlier strain of the virus could be controlled and “was not the new Covid.”

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is at the epicenter of an mpox outbreak declared a global health emergency last week by WHO, with the deadlier clade Ib strain that is spreading quickly in the country detected in at least four other African nations.

“We didn’t start vaccinations yet. We’ll start in a few days if we are sure that everything is in place. End of next week, vaccines will start to arrive in DRC and other countries,” Africa CDC Director General Jean Kaseya told a briefing on Tuesday.

The viral disease, formerly known as monkeypox, can spread easily between people and from infected animals through close contact such as touching, kissing or sex, as well as through contaminated materials like sheets, clothing and needles, according to WHO. Symptoms include a fever, a painful rash, headache, muscle and back pain, low energy and enlarged lymph nodes.

Around 1,400 mpox infections have been reported across Africa over the past week, bringing the total number of cases on the continent to nearly 19,000 since the start of the year – up more than 100% on the same period last year, according to the Africa CDC. The latest outbreak has killed more than 500 people, the agency’s latest available data shows.

That’s prompted a scramble for vaccines as health officials in Africa work with overseas partners to meet a massive shortfall of doses.

“We need to have vaccines,” Kaseya told NPR last week. “Today, we are just talking about almost 200,000 doses (becoming) available. We need at least 10 million doses. The vaccine is so expensive — we can put it around $100 per dose. There are not so many countries in Africa that can afford the cost of this vaccine.”

The European Union and Danish vaccine maker Bavarian Nordic have so far pledged support, the European Commission said last week. Japan and the United States have also offered doses, Reuters reported, citing the DRC’s health minister.

‘Not the new Covid’

WHO’s declaration of a global health emergency is the second time in two years that the United Nations health agency has raised the alarm over the spread of mpox, which for decades had been found largely in central and western Africa.

Mpox is characterized by two genetic clades, I and II. A clade is a broad grouping of viruses that has evolved over decades that has distinct genetic and clinical differences.

Clade II was responsible for a global outbreak that was also declared to be a global health emergency from July 2022 to May 2023. But the new outbreak is driven by clade I, which causes more severe disease. The subtype that’s responsible for most of the ongoing spread, clade Ib, is relatively new.

Last week, the first clade lb case outside Africa was confirmed in Sweden in a patient who had recently traveled to the continent.

But with nations worldwide on high alert for the virus, a WHO official on Tuesday played down fears of a new pandemic as he called for a coordinated response to the outbreak.

“Mpox is not the new Covid,” WHO Europe Director Hans Kluge told a press briefing.

While more research is needed on the clade Ib strain, its spread can be controlled, he said.

“We know how to control mpox. And, in the European region, the steps needed to eliminate its transmission altogether,” Kluge said.

“The need for a coordinated response is now greatest in the African region,” he said. “We can, and must, tackle mpox together – across regions and continents.”

Kluge’s comments came as the Philippines and Thailand reported cases of mpox in travelers who had been to Africa. Meanwhile, Argentina’s health ministry said Wednesday that tests carried out on a crew member of a cargo ship that was placed in quarantine were negative for mpox.

This story has been updated with additional information.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday hailed “flourishing” trade ties with China during a meeting with a top Chinese official in Moscow as the two countries bolster their partnership in the face of mounting frictions with the West.

Speaking to Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Putin said Russia-China “large-scale joint plans and projects” in economic and humanitarian areas would “continue for many years,” according to a Kremlin readout.

Li, China’s No. 2 official under leader Xi Jinping, had traveled to Moscow for a longstanding annual meeting with Russia’s prime minister, which focused on economic and practical cooperation as the Kremlin continues to look to Beijing for economic partnership as its war with Ukraine grinds on.

In his remarks to Putin, the Chinese premier hailed efforts by the Russian leader and Xi to “inject strong momentum” into “deepening bilateral relations and cooperation,” according to Chinese state media.

Li’s four-day trip, which will include a stop in Russian ally Belarus, is the first visit to Russia by a high-level Chinese official since the Kremlin’s war with Ukraine took on a new dimension following a surprise, ongoing military incursion by Ukrainian forces into the Russian border region of Kursk two weeks ago.

Russia has been scrambling to repel that assault, which marks the first time foreign troops entered Russian territory since World War II and comes amid mounting pressure for a conclusion to the war in Ukraine, which began in 2022 with Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor.

The Kremlin has become increasingly reliant on China’s market, goods and investment since the start of the war, when it was slapped with broad international sanctions – and both Moscow and Beijing see the other as a key counterweight against a West they see as seeking to suppress their development.

In his meeting Wednesday with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Li said China was ready to work with Russia to strengthen “all-round practical cooperation” and stressed that the countries’ relations did not “target any third party.”

The two nominal heads of government agreed to expand bilateral economic and trade cooperation and pledged to oppose any attempt to restrict their “economic development, technological progress, and international development,” according to Chinese state media.

“Certain countries” obstruct the “collective rise of emerging markets and developing countries,” the two officials said, using typical language to refer to their shared view on the United States and its allies.

An official readout from the meeting released by China’s Foreign Ministry did not mention the war in Ukraine.

Speaking to Li, Mishustin said Russia and China were “in a difficult external situation” as Western countries impose “illegitimate sanctions under far-fetched pretexts” and seek to “contain the economic and technological potential of Russia and China.”

“That is why it is important to concentrate efforts on protecting our common interests, building a multipolar world order and strengthening coordination on international platforms,” he said, according to Russian state media.

Record trade

Beijing has faced mounting scrutiny and pressure from the West to curtail the export of dual-use goods such as aerospace, manufacturing and technology equipment to Russia, which Western leaders and Kyiv have alleged are propping up the Russian war effort.

Chinese officials have sought to present the country as a neutral, aspiring peace broker in the war, but have had limited high-level contact with Kyiv while continuing to deepen relations with Moscow across trade, diplomacy and security.

China last month hosted a top Ukrainian official for the first time since Russia’s invasion of the country nearly two and half years ago.

Last week, in response to a media inquiry on the situation in Kursk, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry called on “all parties” not to expand the battlefield, escalate fighting and “fuel the flame,” saying China would continue to work for a “political settlement of the crisis.”

Wednesday’s meeting between Li and Mishustin is part of annual talks held since 1996, typically focused on economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation and seen as a means to implement broader policy direction set by Xi and Putin.

Following Wednesday’s talks, the two sides signed a host of cooperation documents in areas including science and technology, chemical industry, maritime search and rescue, and cross-border cargo transport, according to Chinese state media.

Trade between China and Russia hit record highs last year, surpassing a target of $240 billion ahead of schedule. Russia has grown hugely reliant on China’s market, goods and investment since it was slapped with broad international sanctions following its Ukraine invasion.

Bilateral trade increased by more than a quarter year-on-year in 2023 from 2022, but has only grown about 1.6% between January and July this year over the same period last year, according to China’s customs data.

Li is expected to end his four-day trip in Belarus, where he will meet Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko for an “in-depth exchange of views on bilateral relations and cooperation in various fields,” China’s Foreign Ministry said Monday.

This story has been updated with additional information.

Authorities have urged civilians in and around the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk to evacuate immediately in the face of rapidly advancing Russian forces, while Moscow claims to have repelled an attempted Ukrainian incursion into the border region of Bryansk.

Communities in and around Pokrovsk, eastern Ukraine, are being urged to flee within the next two weeks as Russian forces are rapidly advancing.

“Don’t wait. It will not get better, it will only get worse. Leave.” That was the stark warning of local official Yurii Tretiak, the head of the military administration in the town of Myrnohrad, which is now less than 3 miles (4.8km) from the frontline.

There are nearly 59,000 residents in the entire community, which encompasses Pokrovsk City, Myrnohrad town and 39 surrounding villages, according to the Pokrovsk City military administration. Roughly 600 to 700 people have been evacuating daily, the administration said.

“The enemy is advancing faster than expected,” Tretiak said in a radio interview on Tuesday. “So we are trying to do as much as possible to evacuate people by the end of the week.”

While Pokrovsk is not a major city – about 60,000 people lived there before the war and many have left since the start of the full-scale invasion – it serves as a key hub for the Ukrainian military thanks to its easy access to Kostiantynivka, another military center.

Ukrainian troops use the road connecting the two to resupply the front lines and evacuate casualties toward Dnipro.

Children with their parents or other legal representatives will be forcibly evacuated from certain districts of eater Ukraine’s Donetsk region, including the Pokrovsk district, according to the Ukrainian ministry responsible for the reintegration of regions that previously fell under Russian control.

But Tretiak said many people are still reluctant to leave – even going so far as to hide their kids from local authorities, promoting the military administration to make house visits.

“We have cases when parents hide their children. Today (August 20) we will have a meeting with the police to discuss how we will work with such people, how we will search for such parents who hide children and give false information that the children have long since left,” he said, noting that dangers are increasing with some areas of town facing daily attacks.

“Those who hesitated a week ago have mostly decided and are leaving en masse,” he said, noting that for residents who have yet to evacuate, “the most common argument is that ‘I have nowhere to go’ or ‘no one needs me.’”

The evacuations come as Ukraine’s Armed forces said Wednesday that Pokrovsk is now “the hottest” front of the war. “The situation in the Pokrovsk sector remains tense. Ukrainian troops repelled 11 attacks, fighting continues in four locations,” Ukraine’s Armed Forced said in the latest update.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that Ukrainian forces are being reinforced in the eastern region to repel a potential Russian advance.

In his nightly address, Zelensky said: “The frontline is our position, first of all Pokrovsk direction, our Donetsk region. We understand the moves of the enemy and are strengthening ourselves.”

Russia claims attempted incursion

Meanwhile, Russian forces repelled a Ukrainian incursion attempt into the border region of Bryansk on Wednesday, according to the local governor.

“On August 21, an attempt to infiltrate the Ukrainian DRG into the territory of the Russian Federation was stopped in the Klimovsky district of the Bryansk region,” regional governor Alexander Bogomaz said on his official Telegram channel Thursday.

Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) forces and military units responded to the Ukrainian attempt to break through, Bogomaz said, adding the area where the clashes took place is now stable and under Russian control.

Ukraine has not commented on the alleged incursion.

Ukraine has previously targeted the Bryansk region in operations launched since its incursion into Russia more than two weeks ago.

Ukraine’s bold cross-border advance in Russia’s Kursk region has seen Kyiv’s troops claim over 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) of Russian territory and take out key bridges in the western part of the country.

The assault – which poses a major embarrassment for the Kremlin – represents a notable change in tactics for Kyiv, marking the first time foreign troops have entered Russian territory since World War II.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet Polish leaders Thursday in a rare trip a day ahead of his expected visit to Ukraine – a first in the countries’ history.

Modi’s tour comes weeks after he traveled to Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a symbolic first bilateral visit of the Indian prime minister’s new term – a trip that drew criticism from Kyiv as it defends against Russia’s grinding invasion.

Speaking to members of the Indian diaspora in Warsaw after his arrival Tuesday, Modi said India is stressing “diplomacy and dialogue.”

“India’s view is absolutely clear – this is not the era of war,” Modi said, adding that the country was a “big advocate of permanent peace in this region.”

“This is the time to unite to deal with the challenges which pose the greatest threat to humanity,” he said.

Modi’s expected meetings this week – with leaders from Poland, a key NATO member, on Thursday and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday – come during an inflection point in the war. Ukrainian forces earlier this month launched an unprecedented offensive into Russian territory, nearly two and half years after Moscow’s invasion.

New Delhi has repeatedly called for a ceasefire in Ukraine, but refrained from condemning Russia’s assault as it seeks to maintain relations with Moscow – a long-standing partner it sees as key to balancing a strained relationship with China.

Historic visits

In Poland, Modi is slated to meet President Andrzej Duda and take part in talks with Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The discussions will focus on enhancing cooperation, as well as “regional and global issues of mutual interest,” according to India’s Foreign Ministry, which said this was the first visit of an Indian prime minister to the Eastern European country in 45 years.

During his visit to Ukraine, Modi is expected to meet Zelensky and hold discussions on what India’s foreign ministry described as “the entire gamut of bilateral relations,” including economic ties, infrastructure and defense.

“This landmark visit, of course, takes place against the backdrop of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, which will also form part of discussions,” ministry secretary for the West, Tanmaya Lal, said in a briefing on Monday.

International efforts to find a path to ending the war have so far fallen flat.

The US and its NATO allies have continued to stress unwavering support for Kyiv, which maintains that peace must be predicated on the withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory. Major Global South countries, including India as well as China and Brazil, have increasingly tried to position themselves as potential peace brokers – typically calling for both sides to be engaged in dialogue toward peace conditions.

Modi has repeatedly called for a ceasefire in Ukraine, without condemning Russia. India has also abstained from all United Nations resolutions calling for Russian withdrawal and condemning its actions.

Heavily reliant on the Kremlin for its military equipment, India has ramped up purchases of discounted Russian crude oil since the start of the war, giving Putin a financial lifeline as he faces Western sanctions.

India attended a Ukraine-backed international peace summit in Switzerland in June but, like several major economies of the Global South, did not endorse a joint communique at the end of the gathering. China did not attend, citing Russia’s exclusion.

Modi’s visit to Russia last month coincided with a Russian assault on several Ukrainian cities and a deadly strike on a children’s hospital. The prime minister did not directly address the strikes, but made what appeared to be some of his most critical comments to date on the war.

“Whether it’s conflict, war or terror, any person who believes in humanity is troubled when there are deaths, especially when innocent children die,” Modi said then, while calling for a “path to peace through dialogue.”

Zelensky condemned that meeting, describing it as a “huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world’s largest democracy hug the world’s most bloody criminal in Moscow on such a day.”

Modi and Zelensky have met twice on the sidelines of G7 summits since the start of the war, including this past June in Italy.

A fifth body has been brought to shore from the wreck of the “Bayesian” superyacht that sank off the coast of Sicily early in the week, as the chief executive of the vessel’s manufacturer insisted it was fundamentally safe.

As investigators probe the cause of the wreck, the CEO of the firm that owns the vessel’s manufacturer said the Bayesian was “unsinkable.”

“Sailing ships, it is well known, are the safest in the most absolute sense,” Giovanni Costantino, CEO of The Italian Sea Group, told Sky News in an interview. “First of all, because they have very little surface compared to a yacht facing into the wind. Second, with the structure of the drift keel, they become unsinkable bodies.”

Constantino said he was in a state of “sadness and disbelief” since learning that the Bayesian – built in 2008 by the Italian company Perini Navi, which was acquired by The Italian Sea Group in 2021 – sank early Monday.

The British-flagged vessel, carrying 22 people on board, rapidly sank after its mast, one of the world’s tallest, broke in half during a violent storm. Fifteen people were rescued on Monday and one body was recovered – thought to be that of the onboard chef Ricardo Thomas. Six others were initially reported missing.

The six individuals reported missing are British tech titan Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah Lynch; Morgan Stanley International director Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, Judy Bloomer; prominent American lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife, Neda Morvillo.

Italian authorities are not yet disclosing the names of those whose bodies have been brought ashore. This is likely because in Italy, a person close to the deceased must formally identify the body, before a coroner or the prosecutor’s office confirms this.

Given that the sinking of the Bayesian is under criminal investigation, formal identifications will likely come from the prosecutor’s office. Italy’s civil protection agencies do not have the authority to confirm victims’ identities.

Since the boat sank, emergency crews have battled difficult conditions to enter the wreck, which is around 50 meters underwater (approximately 150 feet.) Divers have had around only 12 minutes to reach and explore the site before having to resurface.

Initial reports suggest a small waterspout, which developed over the area the boat was in Siciliy on Monday morning, could have been behind the yacht’s sinking.

Four days in, Italian authorities are still trying to understand how the 56-meter (184-foot) yacht sank so quickly. Separately, the United Kingdom’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has also opened an investigation, saying on Wednesday that it would deploy a team of four inspectors to Palermo to conduct a preliminary assessment of the scene.

CCTV shows footage of sinking

Waterspouts, a type of tornado, are spinning columns of air that form over water, or move from land out to water. They are often accompanied by high winds, high seas, hail and dangerous lightning. While they are most common over tropical oceans, they can form almost anywhere. Waterspouts in Sicily, however are rare.

Costantino, CEO of The Italian Sea Group, stressed that there was no indication that the design or construction of the boat was at fault in the ship’s sinking. “This episode sounds like an unbelievable story, both technically and as a fact,” he said.

Unverified security camera footage released on Wednesday appears to have shown the moments that the tornado sank the yacht. As rain pelted down on the port, a grainy video shows the boat being battered by the storm, rocking violently from side to side before capsizing.

One witness, the owner of a villa looking out to where the Bayesian was anchored, said that after news of the sinking yacht emerged, he watched back his CCTV footage, where the boat could be seen sinking.

“In just 60 seconds, you can see the ship disappear,” he told Italian outlet ANSA. “You can see clearly what’s happening. There was nothing that could be done for the vessel. It disappeared in a very short time.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.