Category Archives: World News

Biden condemns Trump’s ‘web of lies’ a year on from deadly Capitol assault

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Joe Biden on Thursday forcefully denounced Donald Trump for spreading a “web of lies” about the legitimacy of the 2020 election in a desperate attempt to cling to power, accusing the former president and his allies of holding a “dagger at the throat of American democracy”.

The US president condemned his predecessor’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election as a “failed” pursuit, but one that continues to imperil American democracy one year after the 6 January insurrection at the US Capitol, when a violent mob of Trump loyalists breached the Capitol in an effort to stop the certification of Biden’s presidential election victory.

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Ten bodies left in SUV outside Mexican state governor’s office

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Zacatecas governor says bodies of people left in front of palace near Christmas tree showed apparent signs of beating and bruising

An SUV filled with 10 bodies was left outside the office of a Mexican state governor in a public square lit up with holiday decorations, officials said on Thursday.

The bodies were crammed into a Mazda SUV left before dawn near a Christmas tree in the main plaza of the state capital of Zacatecas.

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Canada charter passengers who flouted Covid rules could be stranded in Mexico

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Justin Trudeau calls revellers who partied onboard flight ‘idiots’ as three airlines refuse to fly them home

A group of passengers who filmed themselves partying without masks onboard a chartered flight from Montreal to Mexico face being stranded after three airlines refused to fly them home to Canada.

Sunwing Airlines cancelled the return charter flight from Cancún that had been scheduled for Wednesday and Air Transat and Air Canada also both said they would refuse to carry the passengers.

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Ghislaine Maxwell: key juror has hired lawyer, trial judge says

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Maxwell’s lawyers say they will request retrial after unidentified juror told reporters he was sexually abused as a child

A juror who sat at the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell last month and has now told reporters he was sexually abused as a child has retained a lawyer, the trial judge said on Thursday.

The unidentified juror’s public interviews led defense lawyers in the case to say they will request a new trial.

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No time for platitudes as Biden gives sharpest denunciation of Trump yet

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Analysis: This was the moment the president realized the clear and present danger posed to US democracy by an ex-leader gone rogue

Here, at last, was the Joe Biden that anyone on vigil for America’s teetering democracy had been waiting for.

In historic National Statuary Hall at the US Capitol, a year to the day after it was overrun by an authoritarian mob, the US president gave his clearest dissection of “the big lie” and his clearest denunciation of his predecessor, Donald Trump.

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Liz Truss says Russia faces high-level sanctions if it invades Ukraine

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Foreign secretary asserts western solidarity against Putin’s threats, but MPs challenge her on Russian influence in UK

Massive coordinated sanctions threatened against Russia if it launches military action against Ukraine will hit the high-level Russian elite and its ability to carry out financial transactions, Liz Truss, the UK foreign secretary, told MPs on Thursday, as she warned the west could not afford to be seen to reward Moscow in crucial talks next week.

Her remarks appear indirectly to confirm that if Russia mounts an incursion into Ukraine it could be excluded from Swift, the messaging network used by 11,000 banks in 200 countries to make cross-border payments.

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Dozens of protesters and police dead amid Kazakhstan unrest

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Witnesses in Almaty describe scenes of chaos in streets as Russian ‘peacekeepers’ arrive in country

Dozens of protesters and at least 12 police officers have died in ongoing violence in Kazakhstan, authorities have claimed, as “peacekeepers” from a Russian-led military alliance arrived in the country at the request of the embattled president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

Witnesses in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, described scenes of chaos on Thursday, with government buildings being stormed or set on fire and widespread looting. Many of those demonstrating said the protests had begun peacefully earlier in the week, and turned violent after a heavy-handed government response.

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Joe Biden blames Donald Trump’s ‘web of lies’ for US Capitol attack – video

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The US president spoke directly against Trump, saying the former president had created and spread a 'web of lie's that resulted in the deadly insurrection.

On the one-year anniversary of the 6 January Capitol attack, the US president said his predecessor had refused to accept the result of an election, like no former president had ever done

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How Tony Blair advised former Kazakh ruler after 2011 uprising

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British former PM told Nursultan Nazarbayev to stress he ‘understood’ critics and to say reforms would ‘take time’

The newly knighted Sir Tony Blair is one of several well-paid western advisers who have burnished the image of Kazakhstan’s former ruler Nursultan Nazarbayev and his autocratic regime, now the target of angry protesters.

Narzabayev invited Blair to give him strategic advice after Kazakh security forces shot dead 14 people during the country’s December 2011 anti-government uprising. The protesters in the western oil town of Zhanaozen were demanding higher wages.

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UK faces legal action for approving firm accused of using forced labour as PPE supplier

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High court to review government’s decision to include subsidiary of Malaysia’s Supermax in £6bn ‘framework’ deal for buying gloves

The UK government is facing legal action over its decision to keep using a Malaysian company accused of using forced labour as a supplier of personal protective equipment (PPE) to the NHS.

Lawyers at the London-based law firm Wilson Solicitors have filed for a judicial review of the government’s decision to name the UK subsidiary of the Malaysian company Supermax as one of the approved suppliers in a new £6bn contract for disposable gloves for NHS workers.

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Minister vows to close ‘loophole’ after court clears Colston statue topplers

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Grant Shapps leads calls to change law limiting prosecution of people who damage memorials

Britain is not a country where “destroying public property can ever be acceptable”, a cabinet minister has said, as Conservative MPs vented their frustration at four people being cleared of tearing down a statue of the slave trader Edward Colston.

Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, said the law would be changed to close a “potential loophole” limiting the prosecution of people who damage memorials as part of the police, crime, sentencing and courts (PCSC) bill.

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Tui reaches agreement with Sousse terror survivors and victims’ families

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Travel agent and lawyers representing 80 people agree settlement after 2015 Tunisian beach attack in which 38 died

The travel operator Tui has reached a settlement “without admission of liability or fault” with survivors and relatives of British tourists killed in the 2015 Tunisia beach terror attack, the company and the law firm representing victims said.

Seifeddine Rezgui killed 38 people, including 30 Britons, at the Riu Imperial Marhaba hotel complex on the Sousse coast, with dozens more injured, on 26 June that year.

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Covid live news: French parliament approves ‘vaccine pass’ law; Italy to mandate vaccines for over 50s

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Law passes after controversy over Macron’s words on putting pressure on unvaccinated; Italy tightens vaccination rules as it reports record rise in cases

Novak Djokovic flew into Melbourne airport on Wednesday night planning to defend his Australian Open title. Instead, the World No 1 is being held in a quarantine hotel and is set to be deported tonight after a remarkable series of events led to his visa being cancelled.

So how on earth did it get to this point?

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From corruption to the ‘mark of the beast’ – why countries like Malawi are struggling against Covid | Madalitso Wills Kateta

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With 80% of pandemic funds misused and widespread vaccine myths, citizens have had to step up where government has failed

In January 2021, the Malawian rights activist Paul Msoma wrote that he was in Kamuzu central hospital, struggling to breathe. The hospital had oxygen cylinders but no flowmeters – the necessary instrument to connect him to them. I was left wondering where the funds that had been released for the country’s Covid-19 response were going. “My situation is getting bad and l desperately need oxygen,” Msoma wrote on Facebook. “Anyone who can urgently help out there please help by donating this very gadget.”

Kamuzu central hospital is one of the biggest referral hospitals in Malawi and it did not seem right for such a big hospital not to have oxygen flowmeters, which are very basic medical equipment costing around £18 a piece. This was at a time when the government had released more than £5.6m for the Covid-19 response effort.

Madalitso Wills Kateta is a freelance journalist based in Lilongwe, Malawi

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James Pond: Chinese state news agency releases spoof mocking MI6 focus on Beijing – video

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Britain’s spy chief has thanked China’s state news agency for 'free publicity' after it posted a James Bond spoof that mocked the western intelligence community’s growing focus on threats posed by Beijing. The rare response by the head of MI6, Richard Moore, on Thursday comes as China and Britain clash over Beijing’s treatment of its Uyghur minority and creeping authoritarianism in the former British colony of Hong Kong

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US troops in Okinawa ordered to wear masks as Covid cases rise

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Military personnel must wear face coverings off base after virus surges among civilians in Japan

US troops in Okinawa prefecture have been ordered to wear masks off base amid criticism that military authorities failed to tackle a fresh Covid-19 outbreak among service personnel that has taken hold among the local civilian population in Japan.

Okinawa is at the centre of the country’s latest outbreak, with cases surging in recent days from 51 on Saturday to at least 980 on Thursday – a record daily caseload for the southern island.

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MI6 chief thanks China for ‘free publicity’ after James Bond spoof

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Rare response from Richard Moore comes after state news agency posted video mocking western intelligence

Britain’s spy chief has thanked China’s state news agency for “free publicity” after it posted a James Bond spoof that mocked the western intelligence community’s growing focus on threats posed by Beijing.

The rare response by the head of MI6, Richard Moore, on Thursday comes as China and Britain clash over Beijing’s treatment of its Uyghur minority and creeping authoritarianism in the former British colony of Hong Kong.

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Russian paratroopers arrive in Kazakhstan as unrest continues

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Moscow-led ‘peacekeeping’ alliance enters country amid violent clashes between protesters, police and army

Russian paratroopers have arrived in Kazakhstan as part of a “peacekeeping” mission by a Moscow-led military alliance to help the president regain control of the country, according to Russian news agencies.

Kazakhstan’s president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, asked for the intervention from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) – an alliance made up of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan – late on Wednesday and it was swiftly approved.

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Gunfire heard during protests in Kazakhstan’s biggest city – video

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Footage taken on the streets of Almaty appears to show guns being fired as unrest continues. Initially angered by a fuel price rise, protesters have been storming buildings and chanting against President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's predecessor, Nursultan Nazarbayev. State buildings have been torched and eight security personnel reported dead in the demonstrations. The internet was shut down and 'peacekeeping forces' from a Russian-led alliance of former Soviet states will be sent to Kazakhstan to help stabilise the country

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Ethiopia lifts five-month suspension of Norwegian Refugee Council’s aid work

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NRC, which was accused of spreading ‘misinformation’, says it will struggle to reach those in need as Tigray conflict enters third year

Ethiopia has lifted a five-month suspension of the Norwegian Refugee Council’s aid work after it cleared the organisation of allegations of spreading “misinformation”.

The government ordered the NRC, along with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), to stop work for three months in July, including operations in the Tigray conflict zone. Both organisations were ordered to stop their humanitarian work in July but while MSF’s suspension was lifted in October, the NRC’s was extended.

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