In 1951, Werner Bischof was sent to cover the war in Korea. The photographer instead found himself captivated by Japan, where US soldiers took their leave, and spent a year exploring ‘the depths of the Japanese soul’
Continue reading...Category Archives: World News
‘The need is still there’: last young refugees arrive in UK as family reunion route closes
Activists lament that a safe, legal way into Britain has closed with Brexit, when stranded children need it as much as ever
‘When I was a child in Afghanistan I loved to watch my uncle play chess. Now I have joined the local club here.” Samir is grinning as he talks about settling into life on England’s south coast. “I’m very happy here, just being with my family, going for walks to look at the Christmas lights. It’s really beautiful.”
After arriving in Greece alone two years ago, when he was just 16, and spending many months homeless and terrified in the port city of Patras, Samir recently made a journey that most refugees can only dream about. He said goodbye to the friends he had made in a camp for unaccompanied minors – other teenagers from Somalia, Iraq and Palestine – and travelled safely and legally to join his father and sister in the UK.
Continue reading...‘A moral issue to correct’: the long tail of Elena Ceaușescu’s fraudulent scientific work
Nicolae Ceaușescu’s Romanian communist regime hailed his wife as an eminent chemistry researcher, though she had no genuine qualifications. But her name lives on in academic journals, and British institutions have yet to retract honours bestowed on her
Romanian researchers have called on academic publishers to remove Elena Ceaușescu’s name from almost two dozen scientific papers and books fraudulently published as her work, more than 30 years after the wife of the former communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu was executed.
Elena Ceaușescu was celebrated by state propaganda under her husband’s regime as a world-famous chemistry researcher, despite having no credible qualifications. The researchers say some of her work is still being cited and accessed, even though she was barely literate in science and unable to recognise basic formulas taught to first-year chemistry students.
Continue reading...Chilean president-elect Gabriel Boric urges citizens to back constitution rewrite
Boric envisions a greener, fairer and more inclusive country, reflecting the generational shift underway in Chile
Chile’s future as a greener, fairer country, depends on the success of efforts to rewrite the country’s dictatorship-era constitution, president-elect Gabriel Boric said on Tuesday.
After a meeting with the delegates elected last year to rewrite the 1980 constitution which enshrined the ideological legacy of General Augusto Pinochet, Boric called for Chileans to unite behind the project.
Continue reading...Republican congressman refuses to cooperate with Capitol attack panel
Scott Perry is first sitting member of Congress to get request for interview as Trump announces 6 January press conference
Scott Perry, a Pennsylvania Republican and the first sitting member of Congress to be requested to provide documents and sit for an interview with the committee investigating the Capitol riot, said on Tuesday he would not comply with the panel.
The news came shortly after Donald Trump provocatively announced that he will hold a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort on 6 January, the first anniversary of the deadly attack on Congress.
Continue reading...EU in row over inclusion of gas and nuclear in sustainability guidance
Activists including Greta Thunberg criticise ‘fake climate action’ in response to planned investment taxonomy
The European Commission is facing a backlash from Greta Thunberg and fellow climate activists over plans to include gas and nuclear energy in a “green” investment guidebook.
Both energy sources are expected to feature in the next part of the EU’s “taxonomy for sustainable activities”, which is expected at the end of the year, following a period of intense political bargaining between the commission president, Ursula von der Leyen; the French president, Emmanuel Macron; and Germany’s new chancellor, Olaf Scholz.
Continue reading...Ghislaine Maxwell trial: jury asks to review transcripts from three accusers
Jurors requested transcripts of testimony on Tuesday morning after deliberations began late on Monday
- This article contains depictions of sexual abuse
The jury in Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex-trafficking trial asked on Tuesday to review transcripts of testimony from three accusers.
Jurors in Manhattan federal court sent the judge a note around 10.10am, saying: “We would like the transcripts, testimony of Jane, Annie and Carolyn.”
Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 802 9999. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html
Continue reading...MPs throw punches in Ghana parliament over payment tax – video
MPs grappled with each other in a fight in Ghana's parliament during a proposed tax debate for electronic transactions on Monday.
The 1.75% e-levy, which would include taxes on mobile money payments, has been challenged by the opposition for weeks, pushing the national budget announcement back.
Members of parliament rushed to the front of the chamber and started fighting each other after deputy speaker Joseph Osei-Owusu suggested the tax be debated in an urgency procedure
Continue reading...Freezing fog and winter solstice: Tuesday’s best photos
The Guardian’s picture editors select photo highlights from around the world
Continue reading...Putin warns of possible military response over ‘aggressive’ Nato
Russian leader’s speech to top commanders comes as tensions grow with the west over Ukraine
Vladimir Putin has said he will consider a military response if Russia feels threatened by Nato, in a sign that he is not ready to de-escalate tensions over a potential invasion of Ukraine.
In a combative speech on Tuesday, Putin – who has demanded “security guarantees” from Nato – told his top military commanders that the west was to blame for the rising tensions. It came against a backdrop of a Russian buildup of tanks and artillery for what could constitute an invasion force within weeks.
Continue reading...‘A fire-eater who’s run out of fuel’: European press lays into Boris Johnson
Continental media are in no mood to donner un break to the British PM, sensing the ‘beginning of the end’
For El País in Spain, his “magic has vanished”. For Libération in France he is “the only actor in the Boris Johnson show – which is, increasingly, a flop”. In Germany, Der Spiegel asked how long Britain could last being governed “almost exclusively by defiant optimism”.
As the scandals mount, the approval ratings plunge, the electoral defeats accumulate, the rebellions multiply, his trusted Brexit lieutenant jumps ship and the Omicron variant runs rampant, continental media seem – to coin a phrase – in no mood to donner un break to Britain’s beleaguered prime minister.
Continue reading...Calls for femicide to become separate crime in Greece mount as two more women killed
‘It has to be recognised as a term and as a crime’, says government opposition, after unprecedented number of women murdered by partners
The Greek government has come under growing pressure to introduce femicide as an offence in the country’s penal code amid outrage over the growing and unprecedented number of women being brutally murdered by their partners.
Two women were murdered by their husbands within five days last week, bringing the death toll to 17 since January, according to state-run television. Both men allegedly told police that they had killed their wives out of fear that they would leave them.
Continue reading...From Grand Theft Auto to world peace: can a video game help to change the world?
Lual Mayen turned his family’s escape from civil war in South Sudan into a powerful gaming experience – that will have real-life benefits for refugees
It was while fleeing the civil war in South Sudan that Lual Mayen’s mother gave birth to him 28 years ago. She had four children in tow and was near to the border with Uganda, in a town called Aswa. The journey was difficult; Mayen’s two sisters died on the way and he became sick. No one thought he would survive.
“I can’t imagine what she had to go through. There was no food, no water, nothing,” says Mayen. “I remember she said she was not the only woman who gave birth on the way. Other women abandoned their children because they didn’t want them to suffer. But my mother thought: “He is a gift for me, I have to keep him.”’
Continue reading...The US military trained him. Then he helped murder Berta Cáceres
The indigenous activist was opposing the construction of a dam being constructed by Roberto David Castillo’s company
When Roberto David Castillo graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point, the Honduran cadet was confident he’d leave behind a legacy.
“He will be remembered by all as being a fearless leader committed to God, his family and serving others,” read the caption under his yearbook portrait.
Continue reading...China mulls bolstering laws on women’s rights and sexual harassment
Draft safeguards would mark major development in women’s rights as China faces calls for gender equality
China is considering strengthening its laws on women’s rights to provide more robust protection against gender-based discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace.
The draft regulations come amid the rise of a nascent #MeToo movement in China, which activists say has been hampered by the country’s strict regime of censorship and oppression against all signs of dissent.
Continue reading...Israel announces fourth jab for over-60s; hospital bosses in England brace for ‘dangerous situation’
Portugal tells people to work from home from 26 December; Sweden announces working from home and tighter social distancing rules
- Germany poised to limit social contact as Omicron sweeps Europe
- Omicron is now dominant Covid-19 variant in US, officials say
- WHO warns festive gatherings will lead to ‘increased cases, more deaths’
- UK coronavirus updates – live
Singapore has detected a cluster of three Covid-19 cases linked to a gym, its ministry of health said late on Monday.
The variant was found in two men, aged 24 and 21, and an 18-year-old woman.
On Monday morning, a mid-level staff member, who does not regularly have contact with the President, received a positive result for a Covid-19 test.
Three days earlier, on Friday, that staff member had spent approximately 30 minutes in proximity to the President on Air Force One, on the way from Orangeburg, South Carolina to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Continue reading...UK accused of abandoning world’s poor as aid turned into ‘colonial’ investment
Rebrand of Foreign Office’s development arm, seen as effort to rival China’s loans, will shift aid to private sector, warn NGOs and unions
The British government has been accused by NGOs and trade unions of “chasing colonial post-Brexit fantasies” at the expense of the world’s poorest as they urge Liz Truss to keep aid focused on poverty reduction rather than geopolitical manoeuvring.
In a joint letter to the foreign secretary, the group criticises the rebranding of the UK’s development investment arm, which will see the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC) become British International Investment (BII) next year.
Continue reading...Hotel Rwanda hero to terrorist ‘show trial’: Paul Rusesabagina’s daughters on the fight for his freedom
Tricked into boarding a plane back to Kigali and allegedly coerced into confessing, the high-profile exile faces 25 years in prison, but his family are determined to keep up the pressure
The children of Paul Rusesabagina, the imprisoned Rwandan opposition figure, are only able to speak to their father for five minutes once a week. Even then the Rwandan authorities listen into the phone call.
Tricked into boarding a private plane in Dubai and flown to Kigali, the 67-year-old Rusesabagina – who came to international attention after his life-saving acts were depicted in the Hollywood film Hotel Rwanda, set during the country’s genocide in 1994 – was given what his family says was a show trial and jailed over allegations that he had been a founder and leader of a terrorist group.
Continue reading...Liz Truss to hold Brexit talks with EU over NI protocol
The foreign secretary, now chief negotiator with the EU, wants ‘a comprehensive solution’
The UK’s newly appointed chief post-Brexit negotiator, Liz Truss, said she would speak to her EU counterpart, Maroš Šefčovič, on Tuesday amid renewed calls to rip up the controversial Northern Ireland protocol.
The cabinet minister, who is also the foreign secretary, said she wanted to negotiate “a comprehensive solution” to the agreement, which requires post-Brexit checks on goods arriving in Northern Ireland from Great Britain.
Continue reading...New Zealand delays border reopening in bid to strengthen defences against Omicron
Border had been set to reopen to visitors and visa holders coming from Australia from 17 January
New Zealand has announced a suite of measures to strengthen its defence against the Omicron variant, including pushing back the start of its quarantine-free border reopening to the end of February.
The Covid-19 response minister Chris Hipkins said the reopening delay will be disappointing for those who had made travel plans over summer, but added that waiting until the end of February would increase New Zealand’s overall protection and slow Omicron’s spread.
“Covid-19 keeps throwing new curve balls and we have to respond in a way that continues to protect lives and livelihoods without putting in place restrictions and lockdowns unless absolutely necessary,” Hipkins said.
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