Category Archives: World News

Long Covid: doctors find ‘antibody signature’ for patients most at risk

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Low levels of certain antibodies found to be more common in those who go on to develop long Covid

Doctors have discovered an “antibody signature” that can help identify patients most at risk of developing long Covid, a condition where debilitating symptoms of the disease can persist for many months.

Researchers at University hospital Zurich analysed blood from Covid patients and found that low levels of certain antibodies were more common in those who developed long Covid than in patients who swiftly recovered.

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Descendants of Italy’s last king attempt to reclaim crown jewels

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Items have been in storage since 1946, when Umberto II was banished as Italians voted to abolish monarchy

Descendants of the last king of Italy have made their first formal request to reclaim the crown jewels, which for almost 76 years have been stashed in a treasure chest in a safety deposit box at the Bank of Italy amid a long-running mystery over their ownership.

The bank took delivery of the jewels, comprising more than 6,000 diamonds and 2,000 pearls mounted on brooches and necklaces worn by various queens and princesses, on 5 June 1946, three days after Italians voted to abolish the monarchy and nine days before King Umberto II, who ruled for just 34 days, was banished into exile along with his male heirs.

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UN data reveals ‘nearly insurmountable’ scale of lost schooling due to Covid

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Up to 70% of 10-year-olds in low- and middle-income countries lack basic reading skills, with learning losses seen from US to Ethiopia

The scale of the number of children who have lost out on their schooling during the pandemic is “nearly insurmountable”, according to UN data.

Up to 70% of 10-year-olds in low- and middle-income countries cannot read or understand a simple text, up from 53% pre-Covid, the research suggested.

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Workers paid less than minimum wage to pick berries destined for UK supermarkets

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Exclusive: Workers in Portugal picking berries ending up on the shelves of Marks & Spencer, Waitrose and Tesco allege exploitative conditions

  • Photographs by Francesco Brembati for the Guardian

Farm workers in Portugal appear to have been working illegally long hours picking berries destined for Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Waitrose for less than the minimum wage, according to a Guardian investigation.

Speaking anonymously, for fear of retribution from their employers, workers claimed the hours listed on their payslips were often fewer than the hours they had actually worked.

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Governments around the world used Covid to erode human rights – report

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Transparency International ranking reveals decade of standstill on tackling corruption, with many countries reaching historic lows in 2021

The global fight against corruption has been at a standstill for a decade, with 86% of countries either worsening or making no progress in tackling the problem, and with numerous governments accused of using the pandemic to erode human rights and democracy, a report has found.

Transparency International’s annual corruption ranking, published on Tuesday, also found countries that violate civil liberties consistently have low scores, underlining how failure to tackle corruption exacerbates human rights abuses and undermines democracy.

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Reparations to the Caribbean could break the cycle of corruption – and China’s grip | Kenneth Mohammed

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The belt and road initiative is ensnaring vulnerable countries in debt via corrupt infrastructure projects. Slavery reparations from former colonial powers could help turn the tide

As Transparency International (TI) publishes their annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) this week, it will be interesting to see where certain countries land: 2021 has been a bumper year for corruption.

In Britain, corruption has been on the minds of journalists, academics and practitioners alike, as Boris Johnson tries to get himself run out, the only hope of him continuing his innings lying with Sue Gray.

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Dutch university gives up Chinese funding due to impartiality concerns

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Vrije Universiteit will also return €250,000-plus it received in 2021 for rights centre that denied forced labour camps exist in Xinjiang

A decision by a leading Dutch university to refuse all further Chinese funding for a controversial study centre has sparked fresh concern about Beijing’s apparent attempts to influence debate at European educational institutions.

Amsterdam’s Vrije Universiteit (VU), the fourth largest university in the Netherlands, has said it will accept no further money from the Southwest University of Political Science and Law in Chongqing and repay sums it recently received.

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US, UK and Europe totally united in the face of Russia threat to Ukraine, Biden says

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Virtual meeting between western powers comes as the US put 8,500 troops on alert and as France prepares to host a meeting of Russian and Ukrainian officials

US president Joe Biden has insisted there was “total” unity among western powers after crisis talks with European leaders on how to deter Russia from an attack against Ukraine.

“I had a very, very, very good meeting – total unanimity with all the European leaders,” Biden told reporters shortly after finishing a one hour and 20 minute video conference on Monday with allied leaders from Europe and Nato.

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Joe Biden appears to mock Fox News reporter in hot mic moment – video

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Joe Biden has been caught on a hot mic apparently referring to a Fox News reporter as a 'stupid son of a bitch'. As journalists left a meeting, the Fox News White House reporter Peter Doocy asked whether Biden thought inflation was a political liability ahead of the midterms. 'No, it’s a great asset – more inflation,' Biden appeared to respond sarcastically over a din of reporters shouting questions, apparently not realizing his microphone was still on. 'What a stupid son of a bitch,' he added

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Snowstorm blankets eastern Mediterranean closing airports, schools and vaccination centres

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Istanbul airport was forced to shut down while motorists were trapped in cars around Athens as rare heavy snow falls across southeast Europe

Europe’s busiest airport shut down in Istanbul on Monday while schools and vaccination centres closed in Athens as a rare snowstorm blanketed swathes of the eastern Mediterranean, causing blackouts and traffic havoc.

The closure of Istanbul Airport – where the roof of one of the cargo terminals collapsed under heavy snow, causing no injuries – grounded flights stretching from the Middle East and Africa to Europe and Asia.

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Victory in court for indigenous women raped during Guatemala’s civil war

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Five men were sentenced to 30 years each in prison in a ruling hailed as vindication for survivors who have spent years fighting for justice

Indigenous women raped by paramilitaries during Guatemala’s brutal civil war have triumphed in court, when their aggressors were sentenced to 30 years each in prison.

In a verdict hailed as a vindication for survivors who have spent years fighting for justice, a tribunal convicted five former paramilitary patrolmen of crimes against humanity for the rape of five Maya Achi women in the early 1980s.

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Ukraine: US puts 8,500 troops on alert to deploy to bolster Nato – video

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The US military has put up to 8,500 troops on alert to be ready to deploy to Europe, potentially at very short notice, should the Nato alliance activate a rapid response force. It's the latest sign of US resolve in the face of a Russian military buildup near Ukraine. The Pentagon spokesman John Kirby stressed that no decision had been made on whether to deploy the troops, and that any such deployment would separate from intra-European movements of US troops to Nato's eastern flank, to reassure nervous allies. The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, told US citizens in Ukraine that ‘now is the time to leave’

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Deadly crush reported outside Africa Cup of Nations match in Cameroon

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  • At least six fans dead, 40 injured after crush at Olembe Stadium
  • Incident took place at hosts’ game with Comoros in Yaoundé

Dozens of fans have been injured and at least six are reported to be dead after a crush occurred outside Olembe Stadium in Yaoundé, the capital city of Cameroon, at the host nation’s Africa Cup of Nations match against Comoros.

Victims are understood to have been admitted to the city’s Messassi hospital after the incident, which occurred as supporters attempted to gain access to the ground’s south entrance for the round-of-16 match. The circumstances, including whether the injuries occurred before kick-off or during the game, are unclear but a local official has said the crush had tragic consequences.

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Rhino that lost horns in attack back in South African wild after 30 operations

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Six years ago poachers hacked off Sehawukele’s horns; now he’s back in a game reserve

A 10-year-old white rhino whose horns were brutally hacked off has returned to the wild after 30 operations over six years to repair the gash in his face.

His rescuers named the bull Sehawukele, meaning “God have mercy on us”. Called Seha for short, he was found by police stumbling near a fence in a reserve, so disfigured that he could barely hear or eat.

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Mark Zuckerberg says Meta is building the world’s fastest supercomputer

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Facebook founder’s planned metaverse, blending reality with digital experiences, will require enormous computing power

Mark Zuckerberg has announced his social media empire is building what he claims is the world’s fastest artificial intelligence supercomputer as part of plans to build a virtual metaverse.

The Facebook founder said in a blogpost that the metaverse, a concept that blends the physical and digital world via virtual and augmented reality, will require “enormous” computing power. The AI supercomputer, dubbed AI Research SuperCluster (RSC) by Zuckerberg’s Meta business, is already the fifth fastest in the world, the company said.

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Trudeau says Conservatives stoking fear over Canada’s trucker vaccine mandate

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Prime minister says claims that Covid-19 measure will disrupt supply chain and boost inflation are ‘fearmongering’

Justin Trudeau has accused Canada’s conservative politicians of stoking fear that Covid-19 vaccine mandates for cross-border truck drivers are exacerbating supply chain disruptions and fueling inflation.

The United States imposed a mandate, meant to aid the fight against the fast-spreading Omicron variant of the coronavirus, on 22 January, while Canada’s started on 15 January. The trucking industry has warned that the measure will take thousands of drivers off the roads during what is already a dire labor shortage in the industry.

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Rising costs of Ukraine gamble could force Russia’s hand

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Analysis: Putin can still turn back but it looks less likely as economic and political consequences mount

Russia’s aggressive buildup near Ukraine energised Nato into sending more forces to eastern Europe on Monday and led to a plunge on Russian markets, raising the stakes on the Kremlin’s bet that it could cajole, extort or force Ukraine into submission.

For Moscow it has become more difficult to pull back from its aggressive stance after US and Nato announcements that more troops would be deployed to the military alliance’s eastern flank. A unilateral drawdown now would leave the Kremlin a clear loser in the standoff, having provoked a strengthening of the very Nato presence that it had sought to banish from eastern Europe.

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‘Paradigm shift’ needed in way WHO is funded, says director general

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Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says Covid pandemic has proven that health is ‘an international issue’

The head of the World Health Organization has warned member countries that the UN’s global health body is being “set up to fail” without a “paradigm shift” in the way that it is funded and supported.

In stark language delivered to the WHO’s executive board, the organisation’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed more than 5.5 million lives, had underlined the need to strengthen health systems as well as pandemic preparedness plans.

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‘We’re next’: Prisoner’s secret filming appears to show torture in Cairo police station

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Human rights groups claim the violent abuse of detainees is widespread in Egypt and perpetrators are seldom punished

A video obtained by the Guardian appearing to show Egyptian police torturing detainees in a Cairo police station confirms the extent to which officers appear able to inflict violence on civilians with near total impunity, according to human rights groups.

The video, covertly recorded by a detainee through a cell door, appears to show two inmates hung in stress positions. The detainees are naked from the waist up and suspended from a metal grate by their arms, which are fastened behind their backs.

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