Category Archives: World News

New Zealand court quashes child sexual abuse conviction in landmark ruling

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Case of Peter Ellis marks first time a court in the country has overturned a conviction posthumously

New Zealand’s supreme court has quashed the convictions of Peter Ellis, a Christchurch creche worker convicted of child sexual abuse in 1993 in a highly controversial case that included allegations of large-scale ritual abuse.

On Friday, the court found a “substantial miscarriage of justice” had occurred. It is the first time in New Zealand’s history that a conviction has been quashed posthumously – Ellis died from cancer in late 2019.

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Weather tracker: how record monsoon rain devastated Pakistan

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A heatwave that began in March led to the country receiving almost triple its average rainfall from June to August

Traditionally, the Asian monsoon is a time to celebrate. But after devastating floods in Pakistan, people in the country may feel differently. At their greatest extent in September, floods covered one-third of Pakistan’s surface. About 15% of the population have been displaced or otherwise affected, and an estimated 1,700 have died.

This year’s monsoon was the wettest on record. The numbers are mind-boggling. Between June and August, Pakistan received almost triple its average rainfall. The province of Sindh received more than eight times the usual amount. However, the situation is far more complicated than just extreme downpours.

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Pink diamond expected to fetch more than £20m at Hong Kong auction

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Williamson Pink Star is second largest ‘fancy vivid pink’ diamond to ever appear at auction

The second largest, internally flawless “fancy vivid pink” diamond ever to appear at auction is expected to sell for more than £20m when it goes under the hammer at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong on Friday.

The 11.15-carat, cushion-shaped diamond, known as the Williamson Pink Star, is named after two other huge pink diamonds: the 59.60-carat, mixed-cut, oval Pink Star diamond that sold for a record $71.2m at auction in 2017, and the Williamson stone, a 23.60-carat diamond given to the late Queen Elizabeth II as a wedding gift by the Canadian geologist and ardent royalist John Thorburn Williamson in 1947.

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Health workers among dead in Ugandan Ebola outbreak

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MSF calls situation ‘very serious’ as east African country grapples with outbreak of Sudan strain of virus, for which no vaccine exists

It seems like a normal day in Mubende, central Uganda. Shops remain open, children are at school and public gatherings are allowed, provided people remain socially distant.

The ambulances that whisk past every few hours and the health workers who wash themselves meticulously before they return home are the only indications that it is not business as usual in the densely populated mining district, which is struggling to contain an outbreak of Ebola.

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Easter Island fire causes ‘irreparable’ damage to famous moai statues

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Forest fire that swept through more than 100 hectares of national park, with some moai ‘totally charred’

A forest fire that tore through part of Easter Island has charred some of its monumental carved stone figures, known as moai, authorities have said.

The blaze reportedly swept through the Rapa Nui national park, 3,500km (2,175 miles) off the west coast of Chile, causing “irreparable” damage to the archaeological site.

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Canada mass stabbing suspect’s brother was victim not accomplice, police say

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Myles Sanderson, who died in RCMP custody, was responsible for deaths of all 11 victims, including that of his brother Damien

Canadian police have concluded that Myles Sanderson, who led officers on a multi-day manhunt after a mass stabbing last month, was responsible for all 11 deaths – including that of his brother.

Officers initially named Sanderson’s brother Damien as a suspect in the stabbings in James Smith Cree Nation and the nearby town of Weldon, Saskatchewan.

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Russian mercenaries ‘exploiting Africa to fund war in Ukraine’

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US ambassador to the UN said Wagner Group are trafficking natural resources from African nations

The United States has accused Russian mercenaries of exploiting natural resources in Central African Republic, Mali, Sudan and elsewhere to help fund Moscow’s war in Ukraine, a charge Russia rejected as “anti-Russian rage”.

The US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said the Wagner Group of mercenaries are exploiting natural resources and “these ill-gotten gains are used to fund Moscow’s war machine in Africa, the Middle East and Ukraine”.

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Trudeau intervenes as sexual abuse scandal rocks Canada’s ice hockey body

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Prime minister hints at setting up new governing body after major firms pull support for Hockey Canada over handling of allegations

Justin Trudeau has warned Canada’s ice hockey governing body that it has “lost the confidence” of Canadians and could be easily replaced by a new organization, amid growing outcry about its handling of a string of sexual assault allegations.

The prime minister’s comments come as a wave of major companies publicly pulled support for the embattled organization on Thursday.

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Mother of dead Iranian schoolgirl accuses authorities of murder

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Nika Shahkarami, 16, disappeared on her way to anti-hijab protests sparked by death of Mahsa Amini

The mother of an Iranian teenager who died after joining protests over Mahsa Amini’s death has accused the authorities of murdering her daughter and pressuring her into saying that her death was a suicide, caused by jumping from the roof of a building.

In a video sent on Thursday to Radio Farda, a US-funded media outlet, Nasrin Shahkarami said she was under pressure to give a false statement about the death of 16-year-old Nika, who went missing on 20 September after leaving to join an anti-hijab protest in Tehran.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: Putin must lose or he will invade other European countries, Zelenskiy says

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Ukraine’s president makes comments during address to other European leaders

Two people have been killed after an alleged Russian missile attack hit Ukraine’s southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Regional governor, Oleksandr Starukh, said one woman was confirmed to have died in the attack while another person died in an ambulance.

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Family of Black man who died after police held him down wins $12m payout

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Daniel Prude died from ‘complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint’ in Rochester, New York, in March 2020

City officials agreed to pay $12m to the children of Daniel Prude, a Black man who died when police who encountered him running naked through the snowy streets of Rochester, New York, put him in a hood and held him down until he stopped breathing.

A federal judge approved the settlement in a court document filed on Thursday. The Rochester mayor, Malik D Evans, said in a statement the agreement was “the best decision” for the city.

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California family who were kidnapped at gunpoint found dead

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Eight-month-old baby found dead with her mother, father and uncle in an orchard in Merced county

A family who were kidnapped at gunpoint from their central California business two days ago have been found dead.

A farm worker found the bodies of the baby girl, her parents and her uncle at an orchard in a remote area of Merced county, according to the local sheriff.

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Thailand attack: children killed in mass stabbing and shooting at preschool

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37 people, most young children, killed by former police officer at preschool centre in north-east of country

Thirty-seven people have been killed, most of them young children, in an unprecedented gun and knife attack at a preschool centre in north-east Thailand that has horrified the country.

The attacker, a former police officer, opened fire as children were sleeping at the centre in Na Klang district in Nong Bua Lamphu province at about noon on Thursday, police and witnesses said.

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Many dead in two separate boat disasters off Greek coast

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At least 22 people dead, with many more missing, in two separate incidents hundreds of miles apart

Search and rescue operations are under way in the west and east of Greece after refugees desperate to reach Europe were involved in two separate maritime disasters in less than a day, the country’s coastguard said.

Almost 12 hours after two vessels sank in the Aegean sea, rescue workers hampered by inclement weather were in a race against the clock on Thursday to find survivors as authorities reported that at least 16 women and a boy had died when an overloaded boat capsized east of the island of Lesbos.

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African countries urge rich nations to honour $100bn climate finance pledge

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Ministers rebuke ‘shameful’ failure to meet funding promises for poorer countries to cope with climate crisis ahead of Cop27 summit


Ministers and high-ranking officials of African nations have urged rich countries to do more to combat the climate crisis, and called the failure to meet a funding promise from 2009 “shameful”.

At a conference in Giza, Egypt, on Wednesday in the run-up to next month’s UN climate summit, Wael Aboulmagd, Egypt’s special representative for Cop27, attacked wealthier nations for not honouring an agreement to provide $100bn (£87.5bn) a year to developing countries by 2020.

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UN vote to ignore human rights abuses in China leaves west in dead end

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Result not to debate its own damning report shows many states are unwilling take sides in power struggle between China and west

In a display of raw Chinese political power, the UN has voted to turn its back on a report written by its own human rights commissioner that accused Beijing of serious human rights abuses and possible crimes against humanity in Xinjiang province.

The 47-strong UN human rights council meeting in Geneva voted on Thursday by 19 to 17 to reject an American-led call for a debate on the report at the next human rights council in spring. Eleven countries abstained. A simple majority was required.

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Credit Suisse puts Zurich hotel up for sale in urgent liquidity dash

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Ailing Swiss bank’s share price has collapsed after being hit by series of crises

Credit Suisse, the investment bank whose shares plummeted to record lows this week over fears it could be on the brink of collapse, is selling the five-star Savoy hotel in the centre of Zurich for as much as 400m Swiss francs (£361m).

The bank, whose stock has fallen by more than 40% in the past six months, said on Thursday it had put the 184-year-old hotel on Paradeplatz in the heart of the city’s financial district on the market as part of a regular review of its global real estate assets.

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‘It’s like The Godfather’: Irish dancing world hit by cheating allegations

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Former judge appointed to investigate claims prominent dance schools have rigged competitions

The ostensibly quaint world of Irish dancing has been rocked by allegations of competition fixing and cheating, with some parents and teachers saying there is a code of omertà akin to The Godfather and The Sopranos.

The Irish Dancing Commission, a governing body known in Irish as An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha (CLRG), has appointed a former judge to investigate claims that prominent dance schools and teachers have rigged competitions, it emerged this week.

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‘Miracle find’: rare Don Quixote and short stories could sell for €900k

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Sotheby’s describes 17th-century Cervantes editions as a ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity for collectors

One day in the early 1930s, a young Bolivian diplomat named Jorge Ortiz Linares walked into the illustrious Maggs Bros bookshop in London to ask if they might have a particularly fine edition of Don Quixote for sale.

But even for Ortiz Linares – a dedicated bibliophile who also happened to be the son-in-law of Simón Patiño, the Bolivian tin magnate nicknamed the Andean Rockefeller – the answer was a polite no.

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Zero-Covid measures cause chaos as China prepares for Beijing summit

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President Xi Jinping expected to start third term while citizens express frustration with restrictions

Lockdowns and travel restrictions are continuing to cause chaos across China in the run-up to a crucial political meeting next week as the government holds fast to hardline zero-Covid policies.

As thousands of Communist party delegates prepare to descend on Beijing for the twice-a-decade congress meeting, where Xi Jinping is expected to start his third term as leader, local authorities are under pressure to control contain outbreaks. This week 2,883 cases were reported across more than 25 provinces, including 227 on Wednesday. The number is small compared with global cases but relatively high for China’s zero-tolerance approach.

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