Category Archives: World News

Hong Kong therapists convicted of sedition over children’s books

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Books depicted sheep fleeing from invading wolves, which judge found aimed to incite hatred against China

A court in Hong Kong has convicted five speech therapists of producing “seditious publications” in the form of a series of illustrated children’s books that depicted sheep trying to defend their village from wolves.

The convictions are the latest using a colonial-era sedition offence that authorities have deployed alongside a new national security law to stamp out dissent.

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China reports ‘most severe’ heatwave and third driest summer on record

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Average temperature in August was 1.2C higher than norm, which caused widespread drought

China recorded its highest temperatures and one of its lowest levels of rainfall in 61 years during a two-month summer heatwave that caused forest fires, damaged crops and hit power supplies, the national meteorological agency said.

The average national temperature in August, 22.4C, was 1.2C higher than the seasonal norm, while average rainfall fell 23% to 82mm, the third lowest since records began in 1961, according to Xiao Chan, the vice-director of China’s national meteorological administration.

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Sudan accused of trying to ‘bury the truth’ with mass graves for protesters

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Families demand DNA tests to identify if their relatives are among thousands of unclaimed bodies in hospital morgues

The families of those missing after three years of political unrest in Sudan are to meet government officials to discuss how to bury more than 3,000 unclaimed bodies in the country’s mortuaries.

Last week, the government announced plans to dig mass graves as Sudan’s senior public prosecutor said mortuaries were overcrowded, many remains were decaying and they needed to be cleared.

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Putin threatens to ‘freeze’ west by cutting oil and gas supplies if EU imposes price cap – as it happened

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Britain’s new prime minister Liz Truss and her US counterpart Joe Biden have promised to strengthen their relationship in the face of Vladimir Putin’s aggression.

Truss’s call to Biden on Tuesday night followed a conversation with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and focused on what she called ”extreme economic problems caused by Putin’s war”.

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US bans ‘advanced tech’ firms from building facilities in China for a decade

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Move comes as Biden administration outlines plans to boost domestic production of semiconductors

US technology firms that receive government funding will be banned from building “advanced technology facilities” in China for a decade, the Biden administration has announced, as it outlined plans to increase domestic production of semiconductors.

The requirements come under the US government’s near-$53bn (£46bn) plan to scale up manufacturing of semiconductor chips – the “brain” in every electronic device from cars to household appliances – which are predominantly produced in Asia.

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‘New PM, old problems’: Europe’s media reacts to Liz Truss’s first speech as prime minister

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Spain’s El País greets new PM saying ‘lack of charisma can be a political advantage in times of uncertainty’

Liz Truss’s purported lack of charisma and the “disastrous” economic situation facing Britain is the focus for much of the European media following the appointment of the country’s new prime minister.

The apparent differences in style between Boris Johnson and his successor was picked up by newspapers and websites across the political spectrum but the conclusions on Truss’s first speech in office were generally generous.

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Putin says Truss victory in Tory leadership vote ‘far from democratic’

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Russian president alludes to fact prime minister was chosen by party members, not by whole country

Vladimir Putin has said the way Britain chooses its leaders is “far from democratic”, a day after Liz Truss replaced Boris Johnson as prime minister.

In his first public comments on Truss’s appointment, the Russian president alluded to the fact she was chosen in a leadership ballot by members of the Conservative party, not by the whole country.

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Oman ‘failing to stop trafficking and abuse of migrant domestic workers’

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Report finds widespread instances of forced labour, with women denied access to passports and subjected to physical or sexual abuse

Oman is failing to protect migrant domestic workers who are victims of human trafficking, trapped in abusive households and subjected to physical and sexual violence with no access to justice or a safe route home, a report has found.

Do Bold, an organisation that works to assist and repatriate migrant workers trapped in the Gulf, interviewed 469 domestic workers from Sierra Leone working in Oman, for the report. It concluded that all but one of the women interviewed were victims of forced labour and human trafficking.

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US senator rejects Israeli army report on killing of Palestinian American reporter

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Chris Van Hollen calls for independent US inquiry, saying IDF claim Shireen Abu Aqleh died amid gun battle unsupported by evidence

A US senator has dismissed an Israeli army report that claims a soldier accidentally killed the Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh in the midst of a gun battle, saying it is unsupported by the evidence.

Chris Van Hollen, a Democratic senator for Maryland, repeated his call for an independent US investigation into Abu Aqleh’s killing in the West Bank in May, saying that the United Nations and reconstructions by major news outlets found that the Al Jazeera television journalist was not in the immediate vicinity of fighting with Palestinian militants and could not have been caught in the crossfire.

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‘Deep roots in racist organisations’: Sweden’s PM Magdalena Andersson on the far-right threat in the election

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Andersson says Sweden Democrats entering government would change tone of politics

Sweden’s Social Democratic prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, has said the country is at a pivotal moment as it prepares for its most critical election in years, in which rightwing populists with neo-Nazi roots are likely to become the second biggest party.

Andersson, who took over from Stefan Löfven in November to become Sweden’s first female leader, told the Guardian in an interview while campaigning near Stockholm that the repercussions would be considerable if the right-leaning parties win Sunday’s vote.

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Ukraine war and energy crisis on Truss agenda as British PM speaks to Biden

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The new British prime minister also spoke to Volodymyr Zelenskiy on her first day in office, pledging UK ‘assistance for the long term’

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing global energy crisis have emerged as a leading foreign policy priorities for Britain’s new prime minister Liz Truss, as she and her US counterpart Joe Biden promised to strengthen their relationship in face of Vladimir Putin’s aggression.

Truss’s call to Biden on Tuesday night followed a conversation with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and focused on what she called “the extreme economic problems caused by Putin’s war”. Biden and Truss “reinforced their commitment to strengthening global liberty, tackling the risks posed by autocracies and ensuring Putin fails in Ukraine”, according to Downing Street.

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Snapchat removes Māori face tattoo filters after outcry in New Zealand

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The filters, which also appear on Instagram, had prompted questions over the treatment of sacred cultural artefacts on tech platforms

The social media company that owns Snapchat has removed filters that applied images of sacred Māori tattoos to users’ faces, after the discovery of the culturally offensive filters on social media apps provoked an outcry in New Zealand.

An investigation by Radio New Zealand revealed filters featuring tā moko tattoos have proliferated on social media apps such as Instagram and Snapchat.

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Six Gulf states warn Netflix over content violating ‘Islamic values’

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Gulf states did not identify the type of content, though Saudi Arabia state-media condemned shows with gay characters

A group of Persian Gulf states have threatened Netflix with legal action if it continues broadcasting content that “contradicts” Islam, while Saudi state media indicated that the offending material centred on shows depicting sexual minorities.

A statement issued jointly by the Saudi media regulator and the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), headquartered in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, did not specifically identify material, referring only to content that “contradicts Islamic and societal values”.

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UN calls for demilitarised zone around Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

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Secretary general says agreement must be secured to commit Russian forces to withdraw and Ukrainian forces not to move in

The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has called for a demilitarised zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, involving the withdrawal of Russian occupying troops and the agreement of Ukrainian forces not to move in.

Guterres was addressing a UN security council session on Tuesday, at which he supported the recommendations put forward Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) who led an inspection visit to the occupied Zaporizhzhia plant last week, and presented a report to the security council. The report confirmed the presence of Russian soldiers and military equipment at the plant, including army vehicles.

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Solomon Islands refuses Australia’s offer to help fund election as ‘foreign interference’

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Manasseh Sogavare calls Australia’s offer ‘an assault on our parliamentary democracy’ after saying his country had to delay elections because of cost

The prime minister of Solomon Islands has responded furiously to an offer from the Australian government to assist with funding for the national election, calling it “foreign interference”.

Manasseh Sogavare’s government added that the timing of the offer from Australia was “inappropriate” coming “at a time when a bill to defer the elections … is now before the National Parliament of Solomon Islands for deliberations”.

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Chile’s president reveals changes to senior team after constitution failure

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In a shattering blow to the leftist leader Gabriel Boric, 62% voted against the progressive new document on Sunday

Two days after Chileans emphatically rejected a new constitution, president Gabriel Boric has reshuffled his cabinet as he attempts to ride out a fresh period of uncertainty.

On Sunday, 62% of Chileans voted against a progressive new constitution which would have replaced the current document drafted under Gen Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship in a historic plebiscite.

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US Marshals Services face questions after ‘Fat Leonard’ flees house arrest

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Leonard Francis, contractor in US navy’s biggest scandal, was able not only to escape but also rented vans to load up his possessions

The US Marshals Service and other law enforcement agencies are facing questions over their competence after the central figure in the biggest scandal in US naval history was able not only to escape house arrest but also rented vans to load up his possessions.

When marshals arrived at Leonard Francis’s home in San Diego on Sunday, they found he had cut off his GPS ankle bracelet and fled, two weeks before his sentencing hearing. The whereabouts of the Malaysian contractor’s three sons, who had been living with him, was unclear.

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Fear and confusion as police widen search for Canada stabbings suspect

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Police alert warned James Smith Cree Nation residents to shelter in place but subsequent alert said Myles Sanderson was not nearby

Fear, confusion and desperation have run high in western Canada as police widened the search for the remaining suspect in a stabbing spree that left 11 people dead.

On Tuesday afternoon, an emergency alert to phones warned people to shelter in place after several people in the James Smith Cree Nation reported seeing Myles Sanderson, 30, who is wanted over the string of attacks which left at least 11 dead and 18 injured.

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Cost of living and climate are higher global priorities than Ukraine, poll finds

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But there remains strong support in many countries for Russian military withdrawal from Ukraine, survey finds

The cost of living is ranked by most voters globally as a more important issue than liberating Ukraine from Russian occupation, but there is still strong support for a Russian military withdrawal, according to a survey showing global preoccupations.

Majorities in 16 of the 22 largest countries believe Russia should leave the territory it has occupied in Ukraine, the survey shows. The polling in 22 countries of more than 21,000 citizens also underlines the extent to which the global south is less engaged with the war in Ukraine than Europeans.

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First photos of Australian Robert Pether in Iraqi jail raise ‘serious concerns’ about his health

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Exclusive: Jailed engineer appears gaunt with moles doctors fear are cancerous, as wife decries ‘watching his murder in slow motion’

The Australian government says it holds “serious concerns” for the welfare of Australian engineer Robert Pether as his health deteriorates in a Baghdad jail cell, a process his wife has likened to “watching his murder in slow motion”.

The Guardian has obtained the first photos of Pether since he was arrested and arbitrarily imprisoned in Baghdad in April last year over a business dispute between the Iraqi government and his architecture firm, which was engaged to build a new headquarters for the central bank.

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