Category Archives: World News

Morocco boy trapped in well for four days dies before rescuers can reach him

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King hails efforts to rescue Rayan Awram, aged five, who was trapped for four days after falling into the well in his village of Ighara

A five-year-old boy in Morocco who was trapped for four days in a deep well, and whose plight captivated residents of the north African kingdom, has died, the royal palace has said.

The boy, Rayan Awram, fell 32 metres (100ft) down the empty shaft in his home village of Ighrane on Tuesday afternoon. Since then, every detail of the complex and dangerous mission to reach him has garnered international headlines and an outpouring of sympathy online, with the Arabic version of the hashtag #SaveRayan going viral.

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‘We need politicians and experts’: how Chile is putting the climate crisis first

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President Gabriel Boric has brought renowned named climate scientist Maisa Rojas into government to help ensure a greener future

Hidden behind the Andes in a quiet corner of South America, a formidable generation of former student leaders are putting together one of the world’s most exciting progressive movements.

On 11 March, Gabriel Boric, 35, a tattooed leftist with a steely resolve to reform Chile from the bottom up, will become the country’s youngest ever president – and his green agenda is echoing across the world as time ticks away on an impending climate catastrophe.

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Cyclone Batsirai poses ‘serious threat to millions’ in Madagascar

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Residents brace for powerful winds and torrential rains forecast to hit east of Indian Ocean island on Saturday

Cyclone Batsirai was expected to reach eastern Madagascar on Saturday, posing a “very serious threat” to millions with powerful winds and torrential rains set to batter the large Indian Ocean island.

Residents hunkered down before the storm’s arrival and winds of more than 124mph (200km/h) were forecast as it bore down on the country still recovering from the deadly Tropical Storm Ana that came in late January.

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Flying high: how a photo of a Syrian father and son led to a new life in Italy

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A tender moment captured by Mehmet Aslan of Munzir al-Nazzal and his son, both survivors of the Syrian war, prompted Italian organisations to act. A year on, they are settling into life in Tuscany

In January last year, while working on the Turkish-Syrian border, photojournalist Mehmet Aslan photographed a Syrian man, Munzir al-Nazzal, who had lost a leg in a bomb attack. Munzir was playing with Mustafa, his 5-year-old son, who was born without limbs, and the shot portrayed the father, propped up on a crutch, raising his smiling child into the air.

Aslan entitled his photograph Hardship of Life.

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Her son died at the hands of Louisiana police. She’s still waiting for answers, 1,000 days on

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Police are accused of a cover-up in Ronald Greene’s death – and now the governor has had to deny political interference. Mona Hardin, Greene’s mother, says enough is enough

Thursday marked 1,000 days since Ronald Greene died on a roadside in northern Louisiana. And the 1,000th day, too, that Greene’s mother, Mona Hardin, has awaited answers from state and federal authorities.

“It’s hard to sleep,” Hardin told the Guardian in an interview. “But it’s something I have to push myself through. It has destroyed my family, because of what we saw and what we know.”

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‘Something’s coming’: is America finally ready to take UFOs seriously?

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UFO-watchers say 2022 could prove a bumper year, as clamor for details grows in the wake of a highly anticipated report

Last year was a breakthrough time for UFOs, as a landmark government report prompted the possibility of extraterrestrial visitors to finally be taken seriously by everyone from senators, to a former president, to the Pentagon.

But 2022 could be even more profound, experts say, as the clamor for UFO disclosure and discovery continues to grow, and as new scientific projects bring us closer than ever to – potentially – discovering non-Earth life.

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Avalanche in Austria kills five near Swiss border

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Rescue workers in Tyrol searching for survivor, as five others rescued after being buried at ski resort

An avalanche in Austria’s Tyrol province has killed five people on an unusually dangerous day in the Alps after heavy snowfall was followed by warmer weather.

“Unfortunately five people lost their lives,” a rescue official said on Friday.

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Covid live news: England’s R number rises to between 0.8 and 1.1; Spain to scrap outdoor mask mandate

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UK health agency says number of cases each day could be rising; Spain introduced mandate in December to combat Omicron

Bulgaria reported 8,142 new Covid infections yesterday, public broadcaster BNT reports, taking the country’s 7-day average to 8,134 cases a day.

That’s near last week’s peak of over 12,000, as Omicron has jolted infections up to record levels recently. There are 6,124 Covid patients in hospital.

In Missouri, the second worst state in the country for hospitalizations, 79% of the hospitals are under extreme stress. At Mercy hospital in Springfield, in the south-western part of the state, about 28% of their hospitalizations are Covid-19 patients, according to Erik Frederick, the hospital’s chief administrative office. ...

“It creates a lot of stress on the healthcare system,” Frederick said.

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Suspect arrested after violence outside LA’s SoFi Stadium left man in coma

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  • Altercation took place in parking lot after Rams-49ers game
  • Daniel Luna, 40, in medically induced coma in hospital

Police have arrested the suspect in a violent altercation that badly injured a San Francisco 49ers fan after last weekend’s NFC championship game between the 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams at LA’s SoFi stadium.

Inglewood police lieutenant Nicole Loudermilk confirmed that the suspect was taken into custody Thursday night, but released no further details.

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‘Lawlessness must end’: Canada police pledge tougher action on truck protests

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Ottawa police announce 150 more officers will be deployed as 400 more trucks and 2,000 protesters expected to arrive

Police in Canada have promised tougher action against the “unlawful and unacceptably dangerous” protests paralyzing the nation’s capital, but admitted the situation was increasingly out of their control.

With 400 more trucks and 2,000 protesters expected to arrive in the city this weekend, Ottawa police on Friday announced that 150 additional officers will be deployed and concrete barricades set up to prevent more vehicles from reaching the city’s downtown core. Illegally parked vehicles will be towed and highways and bridges could be closed.

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Moroccan rescuers close in on five-year-old boy trapped in well

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Complex and dangerous operation grips residents after Rayan fell 32 metres down an empty shaft in Chefchaouen

Moroccans have been waiting anxiously as rescuers with heavy diggers inched towards Rayan, a five-year-old boy trapped in a deep well for four days.

The complex and dangerous operation has gripped residents of the north African kingdom as well as those in neighbouring Algeria, a regional rival.

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Iceland to end whaling in 2024 as demand dwindles

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Japan’s return to commercial whaling in 2019 has left few buyers for Iceland’s meat

Iceland, one of the only countries that still hunts whales commercially, along with Norway and Japan, plans to end whaling from 2024 as demand dwindles, the fisheries minister has said.

“There are few justifications to authorise the whale hunt beyond 2024,” when current quotas expire, Svandis Svavarsdóttir, a member of the Left Green party, wrote in Morgunblaðið newspaper.

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Xi and Putin urge Nato to rule out expansion as Ukraine tensions rise

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Chinese and Russian leaders call on west to abandon ‘cold war’ approach at pre-Olympic meeting

China’s Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin of Russia have signed a joint statement calling on the west to “abandon the ideologised approaches of the cold war”, as the two leaders showcased their warming relationship in Beijing at the start of the Winter Olympics.

The politicans also said the bonds between the two countries had “no limits”. “[T]here are no ‘forbidden’ areas of cooperation’,” they declared.

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Costa’s win in Portugal continues comeback by Europe’s centre-left

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Analysis: Social democratic parties that have adapted to the political landscape are winning elections again

The unexpected triumph of António Costa’s Socialist party in Portugal’s elections this week continues a cautious comeback by Europe’s centre-left – and, analysts say, may hold some lessons in what remains a mixed picture for the continent’s social democrats.

After wins last autumn by Germany’s SPD and Norway’s Labour party, the Portuguese prime minister’s unexpected victory – with 41.7% of the vote, five points up on 2019 – was further good news for a movement that five years ago looked in terminal decline.

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Record Covid cases in Russia and Ukraine complicate military plans

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Spread of Omicron variant cited as another factor that could determine whether Moscow launches offensive

The Omicron variant is causing record numbers of new Covid infections in Russia and Ukraine, threatening to impact military calculations over Russia’s continued troop buildup.

Analysts have cited various factors as possible contributors to whether and how Russia will launch an assault on Ukraine, ranging from Vladimir Putin’s psychological state to the strength of the western response and even the firmness of the ground during a mild winter in the region.

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EU plans to ban use of synthetic pesticides in parks

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UK urged to follow suit as Brussels draws up proposal to cut overall use of the chemicals by 50%

The use of synthetic pesticides in parks and other green public spaces in urban areas is to be banned in the EU, with member states obliged to cut overall use by 50%, according to a leaked draft regulation.

The move is said by the European Commission to be necessary owing to the failure of a number of EU member states to act on previous guidance on reducing the use of chemical pest control.

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‘We want the truth’: families of ethnic Pamiris killed in Tajikistan call for justice as tensions rise

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Urgent protection for minority groups facing increased repression needed in crisis connected to escalating clashes across central Asian ex-Soviet region, say human rights groups

Parents of men killed by Tajikistan forces have called on the international community to step in and urgently protect ethnic groups being targeted by the Tajik regime.

In a rare interview, families from the Pamiri ethnic minority have demanded that soldiers who killed their sons be brought to justice and urged the UN to prevent a new phase of conflict in Tajikistan, a landlocked country in central Asia.

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Ministers accused of failing to stem flow of Russian ‘dirty money’ into UK

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Anti-corruption activists criticise government inaction in face of years of Kremlin provocation

Britain’s efforts to halt the flow of Russian “dirty money” into the UK have been called into question in the aftermath of a threat by the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, to hit Kremlin-linked oligarchs with economic sanctions if Ukraine is attacked.

Labour and anti-corruption campaigners this week accused the government of failing to curtail Russian wealth and influence in Britain, despite years of provocative actions from the Kremlin.

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New Zealand parrot steals camera and films airborne escape – video

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A kleptomaniac parrot briefly stole a GoPro camera and took it on a sweeping tour of a remote region of New Zealand. The kea took off with the device after it was placed outside by the Verheul family, who were hiking in Fiordland. The bird pecked off parts of the camera after it landed, before the device was recovered by the Verheuls

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