Pencil cases, skirts and hats among items targeted for ‘contradicting Islamic faith and public morals’
Saudi officials have been seizing rainbow-coloured toys and clothing from shops in the capital as part of a crackdown on homosexuality, state media has reported.
The kingdom opened to tourism in 2019 but, like other Gulf countries, it is frequently criticised for its human rights record, including its outlawing of homosexuality, a potential capital offence.
Continue reading...Scientists observed fewer cases of avian bronchitis and superior meat after chickens given cannabis
It all began when Ong-ard Panyachatiraksa, a farm owner in the north of Thailand who is licensed to grow medicinal cannabis, was wondering what to do with the many excess leaves he had amassed. He asked: could his brood of chickens benefit from the leftovers?
Academics at Chiang Mai University were also curious. Since last January they have studied 1,000 chickens at Ong-ard’s Pethlanna organic farm, in Lampang, to see how the animals responded when cannabis was mixed into their feed or water.
The results are promising and suggest that cannabis could help reduce farmers’ dependence on antibiotics, according to Chompunut Lumsangkul, an assistant professor at Chiang Mai University’s department of animal and aquatic sciences, who led the study.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed, you can find our latest coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war here
Dmitry Medvedev, a long-term ally of Vladimir Putin who is currently deputy chair of the Security Council of Russia, has posted this morning to Telegram a message which gives some insight into the current state of senior level Russian thinking about the situation in Ukraine.
In the message, Medvedev questions a Ukrainian request that it receive energy imports this winter with an option to delay payment for two years. Medvedev says:
Just a question. Who said that in two years Ukraine will even exist on the world map?
There is a lot of excitement. More and more people want to obtain citizenship of the Russian Federation. Residents of the Kherson region today are en masse in queues to submit documents for obtaining Russian citizenship just because Russia can protect, Russia can feed and provide socially for a person in the country, in which a person is the highest social value of the state.
Continue reading...The actor, who received an honorary Oscar this year, spoke out against the producers’ handling of the in memoriam section, as well as the choice of presenters
Samuel L Jackson has criticised this year’s Oscars ceremony for its handling of the death of pioneering actor Sidney Poitier, as well as their attempts to reach a wider demographic by expanding the pool of presenters.
Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, Jackson said he was “still a little ticked that the greatest actor we had in Hollywood died and they gave him, what, 10 fucking seconds. No. It should have been a whole Sidney Poitier section.”
Continue reading...Prime minister says UK government will provide any support needed after journalist’s disappearance in Amazon
Boris Johnson has said the UK government is “deeply concerned” about the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the British journalist Dom Phillips, after Theresa May called on the prime minister to make the case “a diplomatic priority”.
May raised Phillips’s case during prime minister’s questions, citing correspondence with Phillips’ niece Dominique Davis, one of her constituents. Johnson said the UK had offered to provide support to Brazilian search teams looking for Phillips and his travelling partner, Bruno Pereira, an Indigenous expert.
Continue reading...South Texas congressional district goes Republican for first time as party continues to make inroads among Latino voters
A south Texas congressional district will be represented by a Republican for the first time following a special election Tuesday. The election of Mayra Flores, who bested her Democrat competitor in a 51%-43% vote, comes as Republicans continue to make inroads among Latino voters in south Texas.
Flores, reportedly the first Latina Republican to serve Texas in Congress, is expected to face a more challenging race in November, however. Her victory was to replace Democrat Filemon Vela, who retired before his term ended – meaning she was elected to serve out the remainder.
Continue reading...Joe Biden working with European governments to avert global crisis and help lower food prices
Temporary silos will be built along the Ukraine border, including in Poland, in an attempt to help export more grain from the country and avert a global food crisis, Joe Biden has announced.
The US president told a Philadelphia union convention on Tuesday that he was working with European governments on the plan “to help bring down food prices”.
Continue reading...Martina Patti claimed her child was taken by three men, before confessing a day later in Mascalucia
A woman in Sicily has been arrested after admitting killing her four-year-old daughter, having initially claimed the child was taken by hooded kidnappers for a ransom.
The body of Elena Del Pozzo was found in a field close to her home in Mascalucia, a town in the province of Catania, on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Heavy rain and rapid snowmelt caused a dramatic flood that may forever alter the human footprint on the national park’s terrain
The forces of fire and ice shaped Yellowstone national park over thousands of years. It took decades longer for humans to tame it enough for tourists to visit, often from the comfort of their cars.
In just days, heavy rain and rapid snowmelt caused a dramatic flood that may forever alter the human footprint on the park’s terrain and the communities that have grown around it.
Continue reading...Copy of film on now antiquated format was previously owned by actor Tom Wilson, who played Biff Tannen in movie series
A sealed VHS tape of the hit 1980s movie Back to the Future has sold for $75,000 in the first ever auction of the now antiquated video-playing format.
The auction, held by Texas-based Heritage Auctions, featured 260 sealed VHS tapes, most of which were first-edition copies of movies from the 70s and 1980s. The Hill reported that the price tag meant the tape was probably the most expensive ever sold.
Continue reading...Federal Reserve expected to increase cost of borrowing by 0.75 percentage points to curb rising inflation
The world’s financial markets are bracing themselves for the sharpest rise in US interest rates in almost 30 years, as America’s central bank takes action to halt rising inflation.
After days of frenzied investor speculation and signs of growing central bank anxiety, the Federal Reserve is expected to increase the official cost of borrowing by 0.75 percentage points for the first time since 1994.
Continue reading...Thérèse Coffey says she is sure government will go back to European court of human rights over decision
The UK is likely to challenge the European court of human rights ruling that stopped the deportation to Rwanda of people seeking asylum and is already preparing for the next flight, a cabinet minister has said.
Thérèse Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, played down the idea that the UK could withdraw from the European convention on human rights in response to the court’s decision, which halted the flight on Tuesday night.
Continue reading...Public sector employees also encouraged to find work overseas and send money home amid unprecedented economic crisis
Sri Lanka is asking government workers to take an extra day off each week to grow crops in their back yards in a bid to forestall a looming food shortage.
An unprecedented economic downturn has left several staple foods in short supply, along with petrol and medicines, and high inflation is ravaging household budgets.
Continue reading...Survey across 10 European countries and UK shows respondents favouring an end to the conflict rather than holding Russia accountable
Europe’s unity over the war in Ukraine is at risk as public attention increasingly shifts from the battlefield to cost of living concerns, polling across 10 European countries suggests, with the divide deepening between voters who want a swift end to the conflict and those who want Russia punished.
The survey in nine EU member states – Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sweden – plus the UK found support for Ukraine remained high, but that preoccupations have shifted to the conflict’s wider impacts.
Continue reading...Victoria and Oleksiy Manoylo, who were in Milan when Russia invaded, have poured their trauma into garden
A burnt-out cottage decorated with embroidered cloths and surrounded by swaying barley, designed by a Ukrainian couple unable to return to their war-ravaged village, is set to be one of the unexpected highlights of the RHS’s largest flower show.
Victoria and Oleksiy Manoylo, landscape designers who were at a garden festival in Milan, Italy, when Russian troops invaded their village near Bucha and destroyed their home, have poured their trauma and defiance into the garden, which will feature at the RHS Hampton Court Palace garden festival next month.
Continue reading...US media firm says it has not made contact with Fan who was detained in Beijing in 2020 on suspicion of national security crimes
Haze Fan, a Bloomberg News staff member in China who was detained in late 2020, was released on bail early this year, according to a statement by the Chinese embassy in Washington that was dated May and reported by the news organisation on Tuesday.
New York-based Bloomberg said in a news report that it was made aware of the embassy statement over the weekend, and that it had not been able to contact Fan.
Continue reading...The tourism-dependent Pacific country will reopen with almost no restrictions in July, though there are concerns about lack of airline deals
Vanuatu, one of the last Covid hermit nations, is set to open up to international travel, but there are concerns the country is not ready to restart tourism, with a lack of deals with foreign airlines posing a significant problem.
From 1 July, international tourists will be able to return to Vanuatu, a country of 300,000 people three hours from Australia, which has had some of the toughest border restrictions in the world through the pandemic.
Continue reading...Suspect is brother of first person held by police over disappearance of the British journalist and indigenous activist
Police in Brazil say they have arrested a second man in connection with “the alleged murder” of the British journalist Dom Phillips and the Brazilian Indigenous defender Bruno Pereira.
Oseney da Costa de Oliveira, 41, was arrested on Tuesday and is being held in Atalaia do Norte, the isolated river town Phillips and Pereira were trying to reach when they vanished on Sunday 5 June.
Continue reading...All entrances to national park blocked off as floods inundate roads and bridges, and some houses swept completely away
Yellowstone national park has closed down in the face of extreme weather that caused major flooding after record levels of rainfall.
The surging floodwaters had pulled houses into rivers and forced rescues by air and boat, but they have now begun to slowly recede, leaving tourists and others stranded after roads and bridges were knocked out by torrential rains that swelled waterways to record levels.
Continue reading...First flight to Rwanda grounded after lawyers make successful emergency application
Boris Johnson’s plan to send an inaugural flight of asylum seekers to Rwanda has been abandoned after a dramatic 11th-hour ruling by the European court of human rights.
Up to seven people who had come to the UK seeking refuge had been expected to be removed to the east African country an hour and a half before the flight was due to take off.
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