Royal couple’s visit met with growing republican sentiment and pressure for reparations over slavery
Jamaica’s prime minister has told the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge that his country is “moving on” and intends to become a republic.
The royals’ arrival in Jamaica on Tuesday coincided with a much-publicised demonstration urging the monarchy to pay reparations for slavery, and calls from politicians for the country to become a republic.
Continue reading...Arturo McFields Yescas spoke out against the government he is representing in a verbal attack that was lauded by the US
Nicaragua’s ambassador to the Organization of American States has launched an extraordinary verbal attack on the authoritarian government he is employed to represent, castigating Daniel Ortega’s “indefensible” dictatorship for its assault on human rights and democracy.
Arturo McFields Yescas spoke out during an online OAS session on Wednesday, in a startling declaration that spread quickly on social media and was commended by countries such as the US.
Continue reading...Plaintiffs say they endured decades of abuse after resettlement campaign in which Tokyo colluded
A Tokyo court has rejected a lawsuit filed by five people seeking compensation from North Korea for what they said was decades of abuse after they were lured there by Pyongyang’s false promise of living in the “paradise on Earth”.
The five plaintiffs, including ethnic Koreans and Japanese who moved to North Korea under a 1959-1984 repatriation programme and later fled, filed the lawsuit in 2018 seeking 100m yen (about £625,000 today) each in compensation over what they said was illegal “solicitation and detainment”.
Continue reading...The Ukrainian president thanked Japan for ‘leading the way’ in virtual address to MPs
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has called on Japan to increase pressure on Russia by imposing a trade embargo on Russian goods, in a virtual address to MPs in Tokyo.
Zelenskiy, who has delivered carefully tailored speeches to lawmakers in the US, UK and other countries, thanked Japan for “leading the way” among Asian countries in condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and imposing sanctions.
Continue reading...Pact ends months of tensions but talks on full free-trade agreement remain far off
The UK has struck a deal with the US to remove tariffs on British steel exports, although trade experts warned a broader trade deal between the two countries remains far off.
The agreement was struck after UK’s international trade minister, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, met her counterpart, the US commerce secretary, Gina Raimondo, on Tuesday evening in Washington.
Continue reading...Peruvian historian and US archaeologist say the pre-Columbian town was called Huayna Picchu by the Inca people
Machu Picchu is one of the world’s best-known archaeological sites, a wonder of pre-Columbian architecture that has been closely studied for decades and a tourist attraction that draws hundreds of thousands of visitors every year.
But a new academic paper argues that since its rediscovery more than a century ago, the site has been known by the wrong name.
Continue reading...Revelation of denial offers new insight into the way Israel’s relationship with Moscow has undermined Ukrainian objectives
Israel blocked Ukraine from buying NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware for fear that Russian officials would be angered by the sale of the sophisticated hacking tool to a regional foe, according to people familiar with the matter.
The revelation, following a joint investigation by the Guardian and Washington Post, offers new insight into the way Israel’s relationship with Russia has at times undermined Ukraine’s offensive capabilities – and contradicted US priorities.
Continue reading...Maharashtra government criticised over prop for health workers to demonstrate how to put on a condom
A rubber penis that health workers are using as part of a family planning kit to demonstrate how to put on a condom has sparked anger in rural India, where sex remains a taboo subject.
Some members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) have demanded that the kits be withdrawn and an apology offered to the health workers. One BJP state legislator, Chitra Kishor Wagh, said the Maharashtra government, which introduced the kit, “has lost its mind”. His colleague, Akash Bhundkar, wanted the government to apologise to the health workers for the “embarrassment” it had caused them.
Continue reading...Latest updates: death told could be as high as entire 1o-year Afghanistan campaign of 1980s; while the US says Ukraine has pushed Russian forces outside of Kyiv back
Russian troops continue to advance on key cities across Ukraine.
The latest conviction of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Tuesday reflects the Russian government’s intensified crackdown on dissent and free expression, Human Rights Watch has said.
This verdict is apparently intended not only to silence Navalny but to serve as a warning to Russian civil society and anyone who dares to stand up to the Kremlin’s policies.”
The cases against Navalny are part of the Kremlin’s grim landscape of repression against Russia’s civil society and peaceful dissent, which has drastically intensified since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Kremlin seems determined to isolate Russian society from the outside world to cut Russians off from uncomfortable facts, including about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. So it’s hardly surprising that Russian authorities are doubling down on smearing and silencing Navalny and others who can tell people not to believe the Kremlin’s lies and that the world is watching.”
Continue reading...Resignation comes after internal investigations found Houston engaged in inappropriate conduct ‘of serious concern’
Hillsong’s founding pastor, Brian Houston, has resigned from the megachurch he founded in Sydney two decades ago after internal investigations found he had engaged in inappropriate conduct of “serious concern” with two women.
Houston stood down last Friday, but following another emergency staff meeting on Wednesday the Sydney-based church issued a brief statement announcing his resignation.
Continue reading...Volodymyr Zelenskiy voices concerns for seized humanitarian convoy and decries ‘constant bombing’ of besieged Mariupol
Continue reading...PM Jacinda Ardern, who oversaw some of the toughest restrictions in the world, says rules will relax after Omicron peak in early April
New Zealand will do away with vaccine passes and vaccine mandates for some of the workforce in early April, in a major loosening of the country’s tough Covid-19 restrictions.
The prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, announced the changes on Wednesday morning, citing high vaccination rates, better data to identify which environments are high risk, and modelling that suggests the country’s Omicron outbreak would peak in early April.
Continue reading...Asked about her views of the second amendment’s right to bear arms, Jackson said that the supreme court had already established it as a “fundamental right.”
“There is precedent in the supreme court related to various rights that the court has recognized as fundamental,” she told Grassley. She added: “The court has said that the 14th amendment substantive due process clause does support some fundamental rights, but only things that are implicit in the ordered concept of liberty or deeply rooted in the history and traditions of this country, the kinds of rights that relate to personal individual autonomy.”
In that speech, I talked about my my parents growing up in Florida, attended and had to attend racially-segregated schools because by law when they were young, white children and black children were not allowed to go to school together.
And my reality, when I was born in 1970 and went to school in Miami, Florida was completely different. I went to a diverse public junior high school, high school elementary school. And the fact that we had come that far was to me a testament to the hope and the promise of this country, the greatness of America that in one generation – one generation – we could go from racially-segregated schools in Florida to have me sitting here as the first Floridian ever to be nominated to the supreme court of the United States. So yes, senator, that is my belief.
Continue reading...Leaders from the bloc to meet on Thursday to discuss support above the €1.2bn emergency fund already agreed
The UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, has said it is time for Russia to end its “absurd” and “unwinnable” war in Ukraine, as the EU prepared to set up a “trust fund” aimed at helping Kyiv repel the invasion and rebuild afterwards.
Speaking to reporters at the UN’s headquarters in New York, Guterres said the war was “going nowhere, fast”. For more than two weeks, the devastated southern city of Mariupol had been encircled by Russian forces, bombed and shelled, he said.
Continue reading...Impostors posing as Ukrainian PM post new YouTube clip with Ben Wallace’s response to claim that arms have failed
The UK is running out of anti-tank weapons to send to Ukraine, the defence secretary appeared to tell Russian impostors posing as the Ukrainian prime minister, according to the latest video released by the pair.
Downing Street has said it believes Russian state actors were responsible for the hoax, in which an impersonator was put through for a video call with Ben Wallace about the situation in Ukraine.
Continue reading...Police initially believed they had intercepted a drunk driver as they chased car traveling at 93mph on the wrong side of the road
When police in Canada responded to reports of a car travelling at 150km per hour (93mph) on the wrong side of the road, they initially believed they had intercepted a drunk driver.
So officers were surprised to discover that the driver was in fact an 11-year-old boy.
Continue reading...Both governments are claiming responsibility for rescue of nine Papua New Guinean nationals last month
Tensions between China and Taiwan have found an unlikely battleground – a fight over who rescued nine Papua New Guinean sailors who were lost at sea for nearly a month.
The dispute came after the rescue of the Papua New Guinean nationals in Solomon Island waters after 29 days lost at sea, late in February.
Continue reading...Confidence and supply agreement will keep Trudeau in office until 2025 in return for action on pharmaceutical and dental programs
Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has struck a deal with a political rival that would keep in him power until 2025. In exchange for support from the New Democratic party on key votes, Trudeau’s Liberals have pledged progress on national pharmaceutical and dental care programs.
“With so much instability around us, Canadians need stability,” said the prime minister as he announced the deal with the NDP on Tuesday morning.
Continue reading...Grain elevator built in 1897 that towered over Elva in Manitoba symbolic of western Canada’s history and heritage
For nearly 125 years, a wooden grain elevator towered over the town of Elva, visible from miles away and distinguishing the community as an economic hub in the Canadian Prairies.
The structure endured frigid cold, beating rains and harsh sun, but after decades of neglect, its owner has announced plans to dismantle the country’s oldest “prairie castle”, closing a chapter in the region’s history.
Continue reading...Analysts say chancellor has wriggle room for limited package of measures in Wednesday’s mini-budget, as US Fed chair signals more aggressive rate rises to tame inflation
Bethany Beckett, UK economist at Capital Economics, has looked at what the chancellor might do tomorrow.
Notwithstanding the deterioration in the public finances in February, large revisions to the back data mean that borrowing in 2021/22 is on track to undershoot the OBR’s October 2021 forecast by a huge £23bn.
Even so, we suspect the sharper rise in debt interest costs in February than many expected may embolden the chancellor to keep a fairly tight grip on the public finances in tomorrow’s spring statement.
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