Category Archives: World News

Lean times for Ghana’s yam traders as cost of living crisis bites

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People are buying less, costs are up, and profits are dwindling for traders at Kaneshi market in Accra

On a quiet stretch amid the sprawling buzz of Kaneshie market in Accra, a group of traders sheltering under canopies from the blazing sun sell yams stacked along the roadside.

Rita Oboh, 32, has worked the spot, or one nearby, since she was six, following in the footsteps of her mother who also traded yams. “My mother lived good, really good,” Oboh says with pride. “She built houses, she looked after everybody, her family, people who relied on her. She was successful.”

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PNG prime minister denies connection to suitcase full of cash found as voting starts

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The prime minister’s son was arrested by police but released without charge, after police allegedly found a suitcase with AU$650,000 on another traveller

Papua New Guinea’s prime minister James Marape has denied any connection to a suitcase containing PGK1.56m (AU$650,000) in cash that police found in Hela province, just as voting in the country’s election was about to start.

Mospal Marape, the son of the prime minister, James Marape, was arrested after being found allegedly travelling with a man carrying a suitcase full of cash totalling PGK1.56m (AU$650,000) to Hela province, where voting in the country’s election kicked off this week.

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Turkey should face international court over Yazidi genocide, report says

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Exclusive: Investigation by group of prominent human rights lawyers also criticises Syria and Iraq

Turkey should face charges in front of the international court of justice for being complicit in acts of genocide against the Yazidi people, while Syria and Iraq failed in their duty to prevent the killings, an investigation endorsed by British human rights lawyer Helena Kennedy has said.

The groundbreaking report, compiled by a group of prominent human rights lawyers, is seeking to highlight the binding responsibility states have to prevent genocide on their territories, even if they are carried out by a third party such as Islamic State (IS).

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Ben & Jerry’s sues parent company over Israeli deal ‘to protect social integrity’

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Complaint says Unilever sale of Israeli business to local licensee undermines its values to sell its ice-cream in occupied West Bank

Ben & Jerry’s has sued its parent Unilever plc to block the sale of its Israeli business to a local licensee, saying it was inconsistent with its values to sell its ice-cream in the occupied West Bank.

The complaint filed in the US district court in Manhattan said the sale announced on 29 June threatened to undermine the integrity of the Ben & Jerry’s brand, which Ben & Jerry’s board retained independence to protect when Unilever acquired the company in 2000.

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Taliban excavates founding leader’s car, buried to escape US troops

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The extremist group said the white Toyota, which belonged to Mullah Mohammad Omar, should be displayed

The Taliban have dug up a white Toyota used by their founding leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, to escape into hiding in southern Afghanistan after the US invasion.

Senior officials have called for the vehicle to be put on display at the national museum in Kabul. It already houses the cars and coaches of former kings and prime ministers, including one with bulletproof glass fragmented by an assassination attempt.

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Russia-Ukraine war: fears grow for civilians in Sloviansk; Finland and Sweden edge closer to joining Nato – live

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Sloviansk mayor tells residents to evacuate amid expected increase in Russian bombing

Ukraine’s governor of Luhansk, Serhai Haidai, has posted an update to Telegram casting aspersions on the ability of pro-Russian proxies to restore stability in the newly occupied areas of Ukraine. He writes:

In the recently occupied territories, the Russians establish their own rules, talk nonsense about the opening of schools from 1 September, the rapid restoration of communications. This is all a lie, the same thing happened in Mariupol. The only thing the Rashists [a term for Russian fascists] are capable of is terrorising the local population. Orcs [derogatory slang for Russians/pro-Russian forces] are already looking for activists and military families, collaborators are helping with this.

Over these few months, more than 800 saboteurs were detained and handed over to the SBU [Ukrainian security service] for further procedural actions. And often, they are “sold for thirty pieces of silver”: the price for treason to the motherland reaches no more than 300 dollars.

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Toronto: Sikh guards fired or demoted over ‘humiliating’ facial hair policy

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Staff at homeless shelters required to be ‘clean-shaven’ to ensure N95 masks fit but for Sikh facial hair is key expression of faith

More than one hundred Sikh security guards in Toronto have lost their jobs or been demoted after refusing to cut their beards in order to wear a face mask, highlighting a city policy that critics describe as discriminatory and “humiliating”.

Under Toronto’s current rules, staff at homeless shelters and other congregate settings must wear a N95 respirator when exposed to people with Covid-19 or during suspected outbreaks.

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Daphne Caruana Galizia: suspect confesses to killing Maltese journalist

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George Degiorgio says he would have asked for bigger payment for murder had he known more about victim

One of the men accused of detonating the car bomb that killed the anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has confessed to the crime and said he would have asked for a bigger fee for the murder had he known more about her.

George Degiorgio, who along with his brother Alfred and an associate, Vince Muscat, has been charged with murdering Caruana Galizia in Malta in October 2017, also said he would implicate others in the plot to kill her.

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Snow at one of world’s highest observatories melting earlier than ever before

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Peak at Sonnblick in Austrian Alps has melted more than a month before previous record time

The snow at the highest observatory in the world to be operated all-year-round is expected to completely melt in the next few days, the earliest time on record.

Scientists at the Sonnblick observatory in the Austrian Central Alps, which is 3,106 metres (10,190ft) above sea level, have been shocked and dismayed to see the snow depleting so quickly.

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China imposes Covid lockdown in Xi’an after handful of cases

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Zero-Covid strategy shuts down north-central city of 13 million following 18 reported cases of Omicron

A highly transmissible Omicron subvariant, which is already dominant in Britain and the US, has sent parts of the ancient Chinese city of Xi’an, home to 13 million, into a seven-day lockdown.

Businesses, schools and restaurants in Xi’an will close for one week, officials said on Tuesday, after the Chinese city logged a handful of Covid-19 cases. The capital city of Shaanxi province has reported 18 cases since Saturday in a cluster driven by the fast-spreading Omicron variant, according to official notices.

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Zimbabwe to introduce gold coins as local currency tumbles

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Soaring inflation piling pressure on country already struggling with shortages and stirring memories of Mugabe chaos

Zimbabwe will start issuing gold coins as legal tender in late July, its central bank has said, as the country battles to control runaway inflation that has considerably weakened the local currency.

The inflation rate more than doubled last month to 191%, stoking memories of the hyperinflation of the 2000s that saw the Zimbabwean dollar redenominated three times before being effectively abandoned in 2009.

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Critics told ‘lives at stake’ over Belgium-Iran prisoner swap treaty

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Belgian justice minister tells MPs if bill not approved threat to Belgian interests will increase

Belgian politicians who support a treaty that would permit the swap of an Iranian diplomat jailed in Belgium for Belgians held prisoner in Tehran have told the treaty’s opponents that “lives are at stake”.

MPs were told during a debate on Tuesday that there were serious risks to Belgians being kept in Iran if they voted against ratifying the treaty, which is set to be a first of its kind among European countries.

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Villagers massacred in western Ethiopia, says state-appointed body

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Prime minister Abiy Ahmed blames Oromo Liberation Army but group says government-allied militias behind attacks

An unknown number of villagers have been killed in an ethnically motivated massacre in western Ethiopia, the country’s state-appointed rights body said, in the latest wave of violence following a mass killing in mid-June.

The Oromia region, where the Amhara are a minority ethnic group, has experienced outbreaks of violence for many years, rooted in grievances about political marginalisation and neglect by the central government.

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Director Paul Haggis released from hotel detention following sexual abuse claim

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Director’s lawyer says prosecutors in Italy are deciding whether to investigate allegation he had sex with a woman without consent

A judge in southern Italy on Monday ordered the film director Paul Haggis released from detention at his hotel while prosecutors decide whether to pursue their investigation of whether he allegedly had sex with a woman without her consent over two days, his lawyer said.

Michele Laforgia told the Associated Press that his client Haggis, who is also a screenwriter and an Academy Award winner, was still in Italy. The ruling was made by Judge Vilma Gilli, based in Puglia, which is the region that forms the “heel” of the Italian peninsula.

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Female trafficking survivor targeted for UK removal to Rwanda, says charity

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Exclusive: Women for Refugee Women says it is in touch with first woman considered for removal

A woman in immigration detention has been targeted for removal to Rwanda, a UK refugee charity has said.

Women for Refugee Women said it was in touch with a survivor of trafficking who was recently issued with a notice of intent that she was being considered for removal to Rwanda.

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Hongkongers who fled to UK criticise lack of mental health support

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Advocacy groups and BNO passport holders say not enough is being done to help them after arriving in Britain

The UK is not doing enough to provide mental health support to thousands of Hongkongers who have fled China’s increasingly authoritarian grip, according to advocacy groups and those politically displaced.

Following China’s introduction of a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong and swift clampdown on dissent, tens of thousands of residents with British national (overseas) (BNO) passports and their dependants were granted the right to live and work in the UK in 2021.

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Anger as families of US detainees in Middle East left off Blinken call

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‘Infuriating’ exclusions made just weeks before Joe Biden’s Saudi visit and expected rapprochement with the crown prince

Family members of several US nationals who are being held in Saudi Arabia and Egypt were not invited to attend a recent call with Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, in a move that was called “infuriating and discriminatory” by one critic.

The apparent decision to exclude the families from a 22 June call between Blinken and relatives of US nationals who are hostages or otherwise wrongfully detained in Russia, Venezuela, Rwanda and other countries, was made just weeks before Joe Biden’s controversial trip to the Middle East and an expected rapprochement between the US president and Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince.

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Neglect Africa now and we will face labour shortages globally, IMF warns

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West’s response to effects of Covid and Ukraine war condemned as shortsighted ‘collective failure’ to invest in future human capital

The international community would be “playing with fire” if it failed to help Africa recover from Covid and the impact of the Ukraine war, the International Monetary Fund’s director for the continent has said.

Failure to invest and support the continent was shortsighted and detrimental to the global economy, as half of the new entrants into the global workforce over the next decade would come from sub-Saharan Africa, Abebe Aemro Selassie, director of the IMF’s Africa department, told the Guardian.

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Police arrest person of interest in mass killing that targeted Chicago-area Fourth of July parade – latest updates

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At least six killed and 30 injured after shooting in Highland Park just after 10am local time

In a new statement, Biden condemned the shooting in Highland Park as a “senseless act of violence” and vowed to deliver the “full support of the federal government to assist.” As the search continues for the gunman, Biden said he had “surged” the federal law enforcement response and was monitoring the situation closely.

Jill and I are shocked by the senseless gun violence that has yet again brought grief to an American community on this Independence Day. As always, we are grateful for the first responders and law enforcement on the scene. I have spoken to Governor Pritzker and Mayor Rotering, and have offered the full support of the Federal government to their communities. I also surged federal law enforcement to assist in the urgent search for the shooter, who remains at large at this time.

Members of the community should follow guidance from leadership on the ground, and I will monitor closely as we learn more about those whose lives have been lost and pray for those who are in the hospital with grievous injuries.

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Ukrainian flag arrives in Snake Island after Russian retreat

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Ukraine officials clarify initial confusion as to whether the flag has been raised, saying it is there but will be hoisted only once troops arrive

Ukrainian forces are set to raise the country’s flag on Snake Island, a strategic and symbolic outpost in the Black Sea that Russian troops retreated from last week after months of heavy bombardment.

“The military operation has been concluded, and … the territory, Snake Island, has been returned to the jurisdiction of Ukraine,” Natalia Humeniuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern military command, told reporters.

This article and its headline were amended on Tuesday 5 July 2022 to take in the update of when the flag would be raised on Snake Island.

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