Yves-François Blanchet, leader of Bloc Québécois, says ‘slave-driven’ British monarchy is ‘archaic’ and ‘humiliating’
The leader of Canada’s Quebec separatist party has renewed calls for the country to sever its ties with the “incredibly racist” and “slave-driven” British monarchy ahead of the coronation of King Charles III.
The Bloc Québécois leader, Yves-François Blanchet, tabled a motion on Tuesday, widely seen as purely symbolic, in the House of Commons.
Continue reading...Airport still has shortage of 25,000 staff and is keen to avoid disruption of summer
Heathrow has said passengers may have to fly outside peak times on some days in the run-up to Christmas to avoid further travel chaos, as Europe’s busiest airport admitted it is still short of 25,000 staff to meet high demand.
The airport, which this Sunday is due to lift the current cap of 100,000 passengers a day that was introduced in July as summer holiday travel descended into chaos, said it was in talks with airlines over the selective cap.
Continue reading...Experts find artefacts from ancient empire during restoration of historic site destroyed by Islamic State
Archaeologists in northern Iraq have unearthed 2,700-year-old rock carvings featuring war scenes and trees from the Assyrian empire, an archaeologist has said.
The carvings on marble slabs were discovered in Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, where experts have been working to restore the site of the ancient Mashki Gate, which was bulldozed by Islamic State militants in 2016.
Continue reading...Minister says legalisation could set precedent for rest of Europe, though plan is still subject to EU approval
Germany wants to make it legal for adults to purchase and own up to 30g of cannabis for recreational use and to privately grow up to three plants, the country’s health minister has announced, saying the intended outcome could set a precedent for the rest of the European continent.
“If this law comes to pass, it would be the most liberal project to legalise cannabis in Europe, but also the most regulated market”, the Karl Lauterbach said at a press conference in Berlin on Wednesday. “It could be a model for Europe.”
Continue reading...Vessels carrying at least 380 people could ask Italian authorities to disembark them in Sicily safe port
Two NGO rescue boats carrying hundreds of asylum seekers in the central Mediterranean are expected to face the first test of migration policy under Italy’s new far-right government after Rome threatened to prevent them from entering Italian waters.
The Norwegian-flagged Ocean Viking, operated by the NGO SOS Mediterranée, has more than 200 people onboard. The other vessel, Humanity One, flying the German flag and run by the German charity SOS Humanity, is carrying about 180. Most left Libya on small boats. Both ships could ask the Italian authorities for authorisation to disembark their passengers in a safe port in Sicily.
Continue reading...Teargas also used against protesters gathered in home town of 22-year-old Kurdish woman, says rights group
Iranian security forces have clashed with protesters who had gathered in their thousands in Mahsa Amini’s home town to mark 40 days since her death, with reports that shots were fired.
“Security forces have shot teargas and opened fire on people in Zindan Square, Saqqez city,” Hengaw, a Norway-based group that monitors rights violations in Iran’s Kurdish regions, tweeted without specifying whether there were any dead or wounded. It said more than 50 civilians were injured by direct fire in cities across the region.
Continue reading...Stricter standards will tackle fine particulates and PFAS and require polluters to pay for cleanups
The EU executive has proposed tighter controls on pollutants and chemicals that harm air quality and foul lakes, rivers and seas, but health campaigners said the plans lacked urgency.
As part of a major reform of the EU’s anti-pollution legislation, the European Commission said it planned to tighten air quality standards, including on one of the most dangerous pollutants, fine particulate matter. Water standards are also going to be stricter, with 25 substances added to a control list, such as the category of PFAS (also known as “forever chemicals”), the substance Bisphenol A, pesticides including glyphosate, and antibiotics.
Continue reading...Body of 54-year-old worker found in stomach of 7-metre snake on island of Sumatra
A woman was found dead in the stomach of a 7-metre python at a rubber plantation where she worked in Indonesia, according to local reports.
The woman, identified as Jahrah, 54, went to work on the plantation in Jambi province, on the island of Sumatra, on Sunday morning and her husband reported her missing when she did not return home that evening.
Continue reading...Shahriar Alam criticises international community for doing ‘absolutely nothing’ to press Myanmar’s junta to guarantee a safe return
The world has done “absolutely nothing” to ensure safety in Myanmar for its persecuted Rohingya minority, said Bangladesh’s foreign minister, complaining that his country is sheltering more than 1 million refugees without support.
Foreign minister Shahriar Alam told the Guardian financial support for the Rohingya has decreased each year and there has been no real progress towards repatriation in the five years since more than 700,000 fled massacres by Myanmar’s military. That wave, in August 2017, joined approximately 300,000 people that had already fled Myanmar because of previous security crackdowns.
Continue reading...Government tells citizens to wait until spring, amid warning damaged networks ‘will not cope’ as fighting continues
Ukraine’s government is advising refugees living abroad not to return until the spring amid mounting fears over whether the country’s damaged energy infrastructure can cope with demand this winter.
The energy crisis comes as officials in Kyiv warned that the coming winter may herald the heaviest fighting of the war, around the southern city of Kherson where Russian forces have been digging in.
Continue reading...James Cleverly says ‘flex and compromise’ needed on both sides in country that criminalises homosexuality
The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has been criticised for telling gay football fans they should show respect to Qatar, which criminalises their sexuality, when attending the World Cup in the emirate.
Cleverly said Qatar was willing to make compromises to allow people it would normally persecute to attend the tournament, which kicks off on 20 November. On Tuesday, the prominent British LGBTQ campaigner Peter Tatchell claimed he had been arrested in Qatar for highlighting the country’s stance.
Continue reading...Dutch government investigating ‘undeclared’ stations in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, claimed to be part of global network
The Dutch government has said it is investigating reports that Chinese police forces have illegally opened at least two stations in the Netherlands since 2018, using them in part to keep tabs and put pressure on overseas dissidents.
An investigation by RTL Nieuws and Follow the Money said the “overseas service stations” in Amsterdam and Rotterdam ostensibly served an administrative purpose, allowing Chinese nationals to renew driving licences and change their civil status.
Continue reading...Minister says more than 30,000 people forced to flee in Blue Nile state as tensions between rival communities erupt into violence
At least 230 people have been killed and more than 200 injured in attacks on villages in Sudan’s Blue Nile state over the past few days, according to authorities.
Gamal Nasser al-Sayed, the health minister in the southern state, which borders Ethiopia and South Sudan, told the Guardian that more than 30,000 people in eight villages in the Wad al-Mahi area had had to flee as their homes were torched and villagers were attacked.
Continue reading...Nearly 10,000 homes were destroyed or damaged by storm that flooded cities and forced a million to evacuate
At least 24 people have died and millions were without power after Cyclone Sitrang struck Bangladesh, forcing the evacuation of about a million people.
Most of the deaths were from falling trees, police and government officials said, with two dying in the north on the Jamuna river when their boat sank. A Myanmar national working on a ship also died by falling off the deck, an official said.
Continue reading...Maricopa county’s 359 heat-associated fatalities this year outpace 339 deaths confirmed in 2021, figures show
This summer was the deadliest on record for heat-related deathsin Arizona’s largest county, with public health statistics this week confirming 359 such deaths just days before the end of the six-month heat season.
The jump comes amid a growing homelessness crisis in the area and raises questions about how to better protect vulnerable people in the desert south-west as temperatures soar.
Continue reading...Tension mounts as ceremonies marking 40 days since Mahsa Amini’s death expected to take place on Wednesday
Students have protested at universities across Iran, defying a bloody crackdown as tensions mount on the eve of planned ceremonies marking 40 days since Mahsa Amini’s death.
“A student may die but will not accept humiliation,” demonstrators chanted at Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, in the southwestern province of Khuzestan, in an online video verified by AFP.
Continue reading...Influencers Christopher Richwhite and Bridget Thackwray had disappeared after entering Iran in July and had been prevented from leaving
Two New Zealand social media influencers who were detained in Iran for almost four months have been released and have now left the country.
Social media influencers Christopher “Topher” Richwhite and Bridget Thackwray were undertaking a trip called Expedition Earth in which they aimed to travel across 90 countries in a Jeep. The two recorded their travels with near-daily vlogs and Instagram posts, and documented their border crossing into Iran from Turkey in early July.
Continue reading...Charlie Crist, former Republican who switched parties, puts governor on defensive during Florida’s sole gubernatorial debate
In the sole debate of the Florida governor’s race, the Republican incumbent, Ron DeSantis, was put on the defensive by his Democratic challenger, Charlie Crist, on subjects including abortion and DeSantis’s presidential ambitions.
Crist called Florida’s 15-week abortion ban, which does not include exceptions for rape or incest, “callous and barbaric”.
Continue reading...Footage shows former Chinese president involved in apparent disagreement over documents
China’s former leader Hu Jintao was arguing about official papers, moments before he was escorted off the stage at a key Communist party meeting in Beijing, new footage shows.
Hu’s apparently reluctant departure from the stage at the 20th congress of the Chinese Communist party (CCP) was a rare moment of unscripted drama at what was otherwise a carefully choreographed week of political theatre.
Continue reading...Judges commend Clémentine Schneidermann for simple series capturing neighbour in Wales
A series of portraits documenting the mundane, daily chores of life in lockdown have won one of the world’s most prestigious photography prizes.
The National Portrait Gallery has named French photographer Clémentine Schneidermann as winner of the 2022 Taylor Wessing photographic portrait prize for her series Laundry Day. The photographer, who lives and works between Paris and south Wales, wins £15,000.
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