China has almost doubled its incursions this year, as it attempts to keep island under pressure
China has made the second largest incursion into Taiwan’s air defence zone this year with Taipei reporting 30 jets entering the area, including more than 20 fighters.
Taiwan’s defence ministry said late on Monday it had scrambled its own aircraft and deployed air defence missile systems to monitor the latest Chinese activity.
Continue reading...Winner of the inaugural Amal Clooney Women’s Empowerment award says she saw mainstream culture did not represent her, so she created her own space
Tanzila Khan does not like people feeling too sorry for themselves – or for her.
“I don’t like sob stories or tragedies,” said Khan, who is a disability and women’s rights campaigner in Pakistan. “I’m not saying they don’t exist – we can all face adversity – but I think we need a more positive approach to solving problems. I wanted to present people with disabilities in a more positive way.
Continue reading...Beijing’s foreign minister signing bilateral deals with leaders but reporters are blocked, sometimes physically, from asking questions
Journalists covering the Chinese foreign minister’s tour of the Pacific say they have been blocked from filming or accessing events, and that not a single question from a Pacific journalist has been allowed to be asked of Wang Yi.
The allegations raise serious press freedom concerns and alarm about the ability of Pacific journalists to do their jobs, particularly as the relationship between the region and China becomes closer.
Continue reading...Co-leader Rawiri Waititi, whose party is expected to become kingmakers, accuses Act of ‘emboldening racism across the country’ through its rhetoric
New Zealand’s Māori party, Te Pati Māori, which could hold the balance of power at the next election, has ruled out forming a coalition with Act and National, if the rightwing Act party stays its current policy course.
The comments came as a series of polls placed Te Pāti Māori as “kingmakers” in the upcoming New Zealand election. Asked by the Guardian whether the party would consider a National-Act coalition, based on current policies and rhetoric, co-leader Rawiri Waititi said: “It’s a no. Absolutely. It’s a hard no.”
Continue reading...Government officials must replace words such as ‘e-sports’ and ‘streaming’ with approved French versions
French officials on Monday continued their centuries-long battle to preserve the purity of the language, overhauling the rules on using English video game jargon.
While some expressions find obvious translations – “pro-gamer” becomes “joueur professionnel” – others seem a more strained, as “streamer” is transformed into “joueur-animateur en direct”.
Continue reading...Economic crisis is becoming health crisis as the country is unable to afford to import essential supplies
Chandrapala Weerasuriya can’t remember when he last took his medication. The 67-year-old retired businessman, living in Sri Lanka’s Gampaha district, has always relied on a drug to keep at bay his hereditary nervous condition, which makes him dizzy and unable to walk.
But since his prescription recently ran out, he cannot get another supply. The drug is simply not available in Sri Lanka any more.
Continue reading...It will be illegal to buy, sell, transfer or import handguns anywhere in country, Justin Trudeau says
The Canadian government has introduced legislation that would put a freeze on importing, buying or selling handguns.
“We are capping the number of handguns in this country,” said the prime minister, Justin Trudeau. The regulations to halt the growth of personally owned handguns is expected to be enacted this autumn.
Continue reading...Some 75% of imports will be banned and Sberbank ejected from Swift but Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia to keep supplies
The European Union has agreed to an embargo on most Russian oil imports after late-night talks at a summit in Brussels.
The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, hailed the deal as a “remarkable achievement”, after tweeting on Monday night that sanctions will immediately impact 75% of Russian oil imports, “cutting a huge source of financing for its war machine”.
Continue reading...French journalist is killed near Sievierodonetsk; EU leaders fail to agree on a Russian oil import ban
A French journalist, Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, was killed after an evacuation car was hit near the Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said: “I share the pain of the family, relatives and colleagues of Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, to whom I send my condolences.”
EU leaders failed to agree on a Russian oil import ban before the two-day summit in Brussels. While the leaders of the 27 countries will agree in principle to an oil embargo, the details of their draft conclusions are yet to be decided.
Russia will stop supplying gas to the Netherlands as of tomorrow after the government-backed trader GasTerra refused to pay supplier Gazprom in roubles. About 44% of Dutch energy usage is based on gas, but only about 15% of Dutch gas comes from Russia, according to government figures.
Russia is considering paying Eurobond holders by applying the mechanism it uses to process payments for its gas in roubles. The scheme would allow Moscow to pay bondholders while bypassing western payment infrastructure. Investors, however, said the move would not enable Russia to avoid a historic default on debt.
In talks with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said if sanctions were lifted, then Russia could “export significant volumes of fertilisers and agricultural products”.
The new US ambassador to Ukraine has arrived in Kyiv, the Guardian understands, a symbolic move after the US withdrew all diplomats from the country before the Russian invasion in February.
The US president, Joe Biden, has said the US will not send Ukraine rocket systems that can reach into Russia. The comments followed reports that the Biden administration was preparing to send advanced long-range rocket systems to Kyiv.
Russian troops have entered the outskirts of the Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk. Regional governor Serhiy Gaidai has described the fighting as “very fierce”. Gaidai has also appeared on national television in Ukraine to say “Unfortunately we have disappointing news, the enemy is moving into the city.”
“Some 90% of buildings are damaged. More than two-thirds of the city’s housing stock has been completely destroyed. There is no telecommunication,” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a televised speech last night about the status of Sievierodonetsk.
The “liberation” of the Donbas was an “unconditional priority” for Moscow, Russia’s foreign minister said on Sunday, adding that other Ukrainian territories should decide their future on their own. “The liberation of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, recognised by the Russian Federation as independent states, is an unconditional priority,” Sergei Lavrov told French TV channel TF1.
Lavrov also denied speculation that President Vladimir Putin is ill. Lavrov said that Putin, who will turn 70 in October, appeared in public “every day”.
Continue reading...Moscow has threatened retaliation if missiles are used against its territory but US plans to ship shorter range systems
Joe Biden has said the US will not supply Ukraine with rockets that can reach into Russia, in an attempt to ease tensions with Moscow over the potential deployment of long-range missiles with a range of about 185 miles.
The White House has been weighing up pleas from Ukraine – which is losing ground in the battle for Donbas – for multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS) to offset Moscow’s increasingly effective use of long-range artillery, amid Russian warnings that doing so would cross a red line.
Continue reading...Witnesses say tanks moving into Sievierodonetsk amid intense shelling and civilian casualties
Russian tanks and troops have begun advancing into Sievierodonetsk, the largest city in Donbas still held by Ukraine, bringing fighting street by street as the Kremlin’s forces continue to grind forwards in the east of the country.
Witnesses said Russian tanks were advancing towards the centre of the city one blast at a time, razing everything in their path that remains after intense shelling that Ukrainian authorities have said has led to conditions on the ground reminiscent of Mariupol.
Continue reading...Foreign Office warns against all travel to the country where Islamic State is still a threat
Up to 30 Kurdish asylum seekers are facing deportation to Iraq in the first Home Office flight of its kind for a decade.
Iraq is deemed to be so dangerous that the Foreign Office warns against all travel there, warning of “a high threat of kidnapping throughout the country including from both Daesh [Islamic State] and other terrorist and militia groups”.
Continue reading...Shells fired at agrochemical warehouse created toxic plume that has left residents with health problems
An Israeli airstrike on an agrochemical warehouse during last year’s war in Gaza amounted to the “indirect deploying of chemical weapons”, according to a report analysing the attack and its impact.
Incendiary artillery shells fired by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) hit the large Khudair Pharmaceutical and Agricultural Tools warehouse in the north of the Gaza Strip on 15 May last year, setting fire to hundreds of tonnes of pesticides, fertilisers, plastics and nylons. The strike created a toxic plume, which engulfed an area of 5.7 sq km and has left local residents struggling with health issues, including two reports of miscarriages, and indications of environmental damage.
Continue reading...Booing and shouting prompt crackdown from riot police at site of disaster, where 31 people died
Protesters angry over a building collapse in south-west Iran that killed at least 31 people shouted down an emissary sent by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, prompting a crackdown in which riot police clubbed demonstrators and fired teargas, according to online videos.
The protest directly challenged the Iranian government’s response to the disaster a week ago as pressure rises in the Islamic Republic over rising food prices and other economic woes amid the unravelling of its nuclear deal with world powers.
Continue reading...Analysis: Hurricane Agatha kicks off what is forecast to be another busy period of Atlantic storms
The first hurricane of 2022 for the eastern Pacific has made landfall in southern Mexico. Agatha has been slowly moving north towards the Mexican Pacific coast, strengthening before making landfall late on Monday. The storm has produced damaging tropical-force winds and heavy rain.
Winds are easing but heavy rain will continue through Tuesday as the storm moves inland. It is forecast to cause flash flooding and mudslides that could pose a threat to life.
Continue reading...At least 19 journalists caught up in mass detentions after government moves against Fano, its former ally in Tigray conflict
Ethiopia has launched a sweeping crackdown against an influential armed militia in its Amhara region that has led to the arrest of more than 4,000 people, including journalists, activists and a former general.
The militia group, known as the Fano, played a key role alongside the federal military in beating back November’s southward advance through the Amhara region by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which is fighting an 18-month-long civil war against the government and its allies.
Continue reading...Ministers from world’s biggest economies reach agreement that could shift estimated $33bn a year to clean energy sources
The world’s biggest economies are to stop funding any overseas fossil fuel development from the end of this year, in a move likely to choke off some of the investment in “carbon bombs” that are imperilling efforts to meet the world’s climate targets.
The agreement could shift about $33bn (£26bn) a year from fossil fuels to clean energy sources, according to analysts’ estimates.
Continue reading...Officials in Nunavut say there are 31 cases of active tuberculosis in the hamlet of Pangnirtung, a community of 1,500
A tuberculosis outbreak in the Canadian Arctic has prompted frustration in a remote Inuit community and highlighted the persistence of an illness that has largely been wiped out in the rest of the country.
The outbreak also lays bare the dismal living conditions and overcrowding in many Arctic communities, despite Canada’s status as one of the world’s wealthiest nations.
Continue reading...Education ministry orders publisher to rectify illustrations of children deemed inappropriate
China’s education ministry has ordered a state-owned publisher to rectify a school textbook that went viral owing to what social media users described as “tragically ugly” and inappropriate depictions of children.
The mathematics books published by the People’s Education Press contain illustrations of people with distorted faces and bulging pants. Boys are seen grabbing girls’ skirts and one child appears to have a leg tattoo.
Continue reading...Wang Yi says ‘going forward we will continue to have ongoing and in-depth discussions … to shape more consensus’
Pacific countries have declined to sign up to a sweeping regional economic and security deal proposed by China, after a crucial meeting of Pacific foreign ministers and their Chinese counterpart on Monday.
China’s foreign minister Wang Yi is in the middle of a marathon tour of the region, visiting eight countries in 10 days, a trip that security experts have said represents a dramatic “uptick in tempo” of China’s push for influence in the region.
Continue reading...