Category Archives: World News

North Korea promotes traditional medicines in bid to fight Covid outbreak

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State media have told patients to use painkillers as well as unverified home remedies such as willow leaf tea

North Korea is ramping up production of drugs and medical supplies including sterilisers and thermometers as well as encouraging the use of traditional Korean medicines said to reduce fever and pain as it battles an unprecedented coronavirus outbreak.

Traditional medicines were “effective in prevention and cure of the malicious disease,” state-run news agency KCNA said, although no medical evidence exists for those claims.

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US reports rare case of monkeypox amid small outbreaks in Europe

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Man who recently traveled to Canada has first case in US this year, but officials are preparing for more

Massachusetts officials on Wednesday reported a rare case of monkeypox in a man who recently traveled to Canada, and health officials are looking into whether it is connected to small outbreaks in Europe.

Monkeypox is typically limited to Africa, and rare cases in the US and elsewhere are usually linked to travel there. A small number of confirmed or suspected cases have been reported this month in the United Kingdom, Portugal and Spain.

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The person in the room? US court mulls if elephant has human rights

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Nonhuman Rights Project argues that Happy the elephant’s right to ‘bodily liberty’ is being violated at the Bronx Zoo

Happy, by species, is an Asian elephant. But can she also be considered a person?

That question was before New York’s highest court on Wednesday in a closely watched case over whether a basic human right can be extended to an animal.

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White House braced for North Korean nuclear test during Biden’s Asia trip

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National security adviser says intelligence reflects ‘long-range missile test or a nuclear test, or frankly both’

The White House is braced for a North Korean missile or nuclear test while Joe Biden is on a trip to South Korea and Japan, which begins on Friday.

The national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters on Wednesday: “Our intelligence does reflect the genuine possibility that there will be either a further missile test, including long-range missile test, or a nuclear test, or frankly both in the days leading into, on or after the president’s trip to the region.

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US withdrawal triggered catastrophic defeat of Afghan forces, damning watchdog report finds

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Report by special inspector general blames Trump and Biden administrations, as well as the Afghan government of Ashraf Ghani

Afghan armed forces collapsed last year because they had been made dependent on US support that was abruptly withdrawn in the face of a Taliban offensive, according to a scathing assessment by a US government watchdog.

A report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (Sigar) on the catastrophic defeat that led to the fall of Kabul on 15 August, blamed the administrations of Donald Trump and Joe Biden as well as the Afghan government of Ashraf Ghani.

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UN confirms death of one of last Rwandan genocide fugitives

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Phénéas Munyarugarama is second person wanted for their involvement in 1994 mass killings to die

One of the last five fugitives wanted for his role in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, Phénéas Munyarugarama, died in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2002, UN prosecutors have announced.

Munyarugarama, a local army commander, “died of natural causes” and was buried in Kankwala, in the eastern DRC, the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT) announced in The Hague.

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Why has Erdoğan doubled down on threat to veto Nordic Nato bids?

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Analysis: By demanding extradition of alleged PKK members, Turkish president could have one eye on elections

After initial hesitation about the seriousness of Turkey’s objections, its president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has doubled down on his threat to veto Finland’s and Sweden’s applications for membership of Nato, saying there is no point in either country sending delegations to Ankara to persuade him otherwise.

On Wednesday, he also extended his demands from the two he outlined on Monday to 10, leading to claims that he is using blackmail.

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Former police officer pleads guilty to manslaughter in George Floyd killing

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Thomas Lane agrees to spend three years in prison after accepting guilty plea, a year after Derek Chauvin convicted of murder

A former Minneapolis police officer pleaded guilty on Wednesday to manslaughter in the murder of George Floyd and agreed to spend three years in state prison, officials said.

Thomas Lane’s plea to a count of aiding and abetting manslaughter came a year after his former colleague Derek Chauvin, who was recorded by a bystander killing Floyd by kneeling on his neck, was convicted of murder and sentenced to more than two decades in prison.

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Biden: US will work with Finland and Sweden in event of ‘aggression’ – as it happened

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US president pledges support for Finland and Sweden while Nato applications are considered; Russian soldier in war crimes trial pleads guilty

Russia’s ministry of defence has issued a statement on Telegram saying it has been requested by the investigative committee of Russia to provide information on “the illegal actions of Ukrainian armed formations related to the use of civilian objects for military purposes”.

Without providing evidence, it claims “the Azov Battalion used the buildings of kindergartens and schools to equip barracks” and that members of the ‘Aidar’ battalion also “equip firing positions in places not intended for this, creating a real danger to the civilian population”.

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Turkey blocks early vote on Sweden and Finland joining Nato

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Move comes hours after the Nordic nations officially launched their bids to join the alliance

Sweden and Finland have formally submitted their applications to join Nato but Turkey blocked an early move to fast-track the Nordic countries’ requests, demanding they extradite “terrorists” and that the alliance respect its concerns.

The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, accepted the two historically non-aligned Nordic countries’ membership requests, each in a white folder embossed with their national flag, at the US-led defensive alliance’s HQ in Brussels on Wednesday.

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Russian soldier pleads guilty in first Ukraine war crimes trial since invasion

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Tank commander Vadim Shysimarin, 21, admits shooting dead a 62-year-old civilian who was on a bicycle

A Russian tank commander has pleaded guilty to shooting dead 62-year-old man as he rode his bicycle down a village road, in Ukraine’s first trial for war crimes committed during the Russian invasion.

Vadim Shysimarin, 21, sat emotionless as prosecutors detailed charges that he had fired his AK-47 at the unarmed cyclist from the window of a car in the north-eastern Sumy region in late February.

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Ringling Bros circus returns after five years – without animals

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Famous circus ended 146-year-run in January 2017 after customer sales declined in wake of criticism over animal acts

“The Greatest Show on Earth” is making a comeback – without animal acts – five years after shutting down its three-ring circus, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey announced on Wednesday.

The interactive live show will launch in September next year, celebrating performers from around the world “displaying incredible feats that push the limits of human potential”, the Florida-based company said in a news release.

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‘I thought the UK was a good country’: Sudan massacre refugee faces removal to Rwanda

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Mohammed is among first asylum seekers to face removal under Home Office’s controversial scheme

It took Mohammed more than three years and a journey of more than 5,000 miles to reach the UK after fleeing a massacre in his village in Sudan.

Now, just over a week after arriving by kayak across the Channel, he is among the first tranche of asylum seekers facing forced removal to Rwanda, on the continent where his journey began.

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EU plans ‘massive’ increase in green energy to help end reliance on Russia

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European Commission says extra €210bn needed over next five years to pay for phasing out of Russian fossil fuels

The EU plans a “massive” increase in solar and wind power, and a short-term boost for coal, to end its reliance on Russian oil and gas as fast as possible.

In a plan outlined on Wednesday, the European Commission said the EU needed to find an extra €210bn (£178bn) over the next five years to pay for phasing out Russian fossil fuels and speeding up the switch to green energy.

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Climate crisis makes extreme Indian heatwaves 100 times more likely – study

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Latest analysis adds to evidence that the impacts of human-caused global heating are already damaging many lives around the world

Record-breaking heatwaves in north-west India and Pakistan have been made 100 times more likely by the climate crisis, according to scientists. The analysis means scorching weather once expected every three centuries is now likely to happen every three years.

The region is currently suffering intense heat, with the Indian capital New Delhi setting a new record on Sunday above 49C and the peak temperature in Pakistan reaching 51C. Millions of people are suffering from crop losses, and water and power outages.

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Picasso, Monet and Cézanne lead the way in $400m New York art auction

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Ten works sell for more than $10m each in sale featuring giants of art, also including Gauguin and Magritte

Three paintings by titans of modern art have sold for a total of almost $166m (£134m) at auction, confirming the buoyancy of the global market.

In a sale of modern art at Sotheby’s in New York on Tuesday evening, a total of more than $408m was paid for works by artists including Picasso, Monet, Cézanne, Gauguin, Magritte, Dalí and Renoir.

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UK deportation flight to Jamaica takes off with seven onboard

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Home Office initially had 100 people on list of Jamaican nationals to be removed, say reports

A Home Office deportation flight to Jamaica took off in the early hours of Wednesday morning with seven people onboard.

Some media reports said the Home Office initially had 100 people on the list of Jamaican nationals that officials hoped to remove.

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Japanese man blows town’s Covid relief fund after it appeared in his account

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Money should have gone to 463 low-income households but man received it all and commenced online casino spree

A Japanese man who was mistakenly sent ¥46.3m (£287,000/US$358,000) in Covid-19 relief funds has admitted he gambled away the entire amount in the space of a fortnight.

The 24-year-old, who has not been named, was sent the sum in April as part of a local government programme to help residents who were struggling financially as a result of the pandemic.

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US supreme court abortion reversal would be global ‘catastrophe’ for women

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If Roe v Wade is overturned, it will encourage anti-choice groups – particularly in the developing world, activists warn

The probable demise of abortion as a federal right in the US will be a “catastrophe” for women in low and middle-income countries, with an emboldened anti-choice movement likely to raise renewed pressure on hard-won gains, doctors and activists have warned.

The leak this month of the US supreme court’s draft majority opinion, which argued that the 1973 ruling effectively legalising abortion had been “egregiously wrong from the start”, stunned and enraged many in America.

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More people leaving New Zealand than entering as young flee high cost of living

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Thousands head overseas, partly because of economic conditions, with departures accelerating and labour shortage feared

Young New Zealanders are leaving in droves as borders reopen and economic conditions tighten at home.

The latest data from Stats NZ found that in the year to March, annual net migration was negative, with 7,300 more people leaving than entering. That loss marks a dramatic shift from early in the pandemic when border closures and the relative safety of Covid-free New Zealand prevented many from leaving. In the year to March 2020 there was a record net gain of 91,700.

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