At least eight people died and numerous others were injured in what officials on Saturday described as a surge of the crowd at the Astroworld music festival in Houston while rapper Travis Scott was performing. Officials declared a 'mass casualty incident' just after 9pm on Friday during the festival where an estimated 50,000 people were in attendance, the Houston fire chief, Samuel Peña, told reporters at a news conference
Continue reading...Category Archives: World News
‘The time for change is now’: demonstrators around the world demand action on climate crisis
Up to 100,000, including Kahnawake Mohawk delegates, brave Glasgow rain as 22 arrested after scientists blockade bridge
People on almost every continent were gathering for marches and rallies on Saturday to mark a Global Day for Climate Justice, halfway through the Glasgow climate change summit.
Activists in the Philippines, eight hours ahead of the UK, had already finished their rally as protesters gathered in Scotland. There were also rallies in South Korea, Indonesia, the Netherlands and France. The Belgian arm of Extinction Rebellion occupied a street in Brussels.
Continue reading...Huma Abedin on Anthony Weiner: ‘He ripped my heart out and stomped on it over and over again’
She was Hillary Clinton’s aide and the wife of a star politician when a sexting scandal sent him to prison, destroyed their marriage – and derailed her boss’s bid to become president. How did she cope?
Walk of shame, huh? I’ll take it,” says Huma Abedin, reading the name of the lipstick on the makeup artist’s table. It is a bright, cool day in Manhattan and we are at a photographer’s studio, where Abedin is having her photo taken for this interview. Having watched her from afar for so long, first as Hillary Clinton’s elegant, silent assistant, then as the mostly silent and increasingly unhappy spouse of the former congressman Anthony Weiner, I had expected her to be quiet, anxious and guarded, but Abedin, 45, is none of those things. Someone so beautiful could come across as imperious, but with her big, open-mouthed laugh and “Oh gosh, you know better than me!” air, she veers closer to goofy. After 25 years of working for Clinton, she has a politician’s knack for making those around her feel comfortable. She leans forward keenly when spoken to, and makes sure to use everyone’s name when talking to them. She tells us, twice, that she ate “so much comfort food over the weekend at the hospital”, where she waited while Bill Clinton was being treated for a urological infection; he was discharged the day before our interview. “Just burgers and fries, burgers and fries. Food is my weakness,” she says rolling her eyes at herself. Everyone is instantly disarmed. But then she picks up that lipstick and at the word “shame” the makeup artist and I look down awkwardly and Abedin becomes – as she has been for so long, she tells me later over lunch – “the elephant in the room again”. “I lived with shame for a very, very long time,” as she puts it.
The question Abedin hears most is: why? Why did she stay with Weiner after he accidentally tweeted a photo of his crotch while sexting women online in 2011, leading to his resignation from Congress? Why, when he ran for New York City mayor in 2013, did she assure voters that she had “forgiven him”? And why did she stay with him when it then emerged he was still sending women photos of the contents of his trousers? Why did she only separate from him but not divorce him when, in 2016, he sent a woman a photo of himself aroused while lying in bed next to his and Abedin’s toddler son, Jordan? And why were there official emails between her and Hillary on Weiner’s laptop, thereby prompting the then director of the FBI, James Comey, to announce the fateful reopening of the investigation into Clinton’s emails days before the 2016 election?
Continue reading...Nigerian police brutality and shelling in Myanmar: human rights this fortnight – in pictures
A roundup of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Hong Kong to Khartoum
Continue reading...Succession-style feud gripping Canada settled as court sides with Edward Rogers
The fight for Rogers Communications has riven one of Canada’s richest families – and began with an accidental butt dial
For weeks, Canadians have been gripped by a messy public feud splintering one of the country’s richest families. Kicked off by an accidental pocket dial that revealed an executive-level coup attempt, the battle has pitted mother against son, ensnared Toronto’s mayor and drawn comparisons to the HBO show Succession.
Two separate groups of directors have proclaimed themselves the rightful stewards of Rogers Communications, a sprawling C$30bn telecommunications and entertainment empire with interests in media, professional hockey, basketball, baseball, football and soccer.
Continue reading...Democratic standoff as progressives object to Pelosi infrastructure vote plan – as it happened
- Progressives say vote cannot proceed without reconciliation vote
- President tells members of Congress: ‘Let’s get this done’
- Memorial for Colin Powell held in national cathedral
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Joe Biden noted that he would soon be returning to the Oval Office to keep making calls to House members, encouraging them to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the reconciliation package today.
“I want to say very clearly: if your number one issue is the cost of living, the number one priority should be seeing Congress pass these bills,” Biden said.
Continue reading...Women’s rights activist shot dead in northern Afghanistan
Frozan Safi, 29, is believed to be the first women’s rights defender to be killed since Taliban return to power
A 29-year-old activist and economics lecturer, Frozan Safi, has been shot and killed in northern Afghanistan, in what appears to be the first known death of a women’s rights defender since the Taliban swept to power almost three months ago.
Frozan Safi’s body was identified in a morgue in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif after she went missing on 20 October. “We recognised her by her clothes. Bullets had destroyed her face,” said Safi’s sister, Rita, who is a doctor.
Continue reading...Once a global conservation success story, New Zealand’s black robin in trouble again
Down to just one breeding pair 40 years ago, the bird bounced back after extraordinary efforts – now its survival is again under threat
Forty years ago, on a remote rocky island in the Pacific, 800km east of New Zealand, a conservationist set out to bring the rarest bird in the world back from the brink of extinction.
Don Merton, wearing a check shirt and shorts, climbed 200 metres up the rockface of Little Mangere Island, part of the Chatham Islands (Rēkohu in the indigenous Moriori language and Wharekauri in Māori), and laid a soft netted trap for the black robin, also known as kakaruia and karure – a tiny endemic bird that lives up to its name, with black plumage, black eyes and a little pointy black beak. Once captured, he gently placed the bird inside a wooden box, strapped it to his back, descended the cliff and jumped on a boat to the neighbouring island – Mangere, a larger, more verdant habitat.
Continue reading...Deserters: Spanish police end escaped camels’ night on the town
Eight camels and a llama took to streets of Madrid overnight after escaping from a nearby circus
Eight camels and a llama were loose on the streets of Madrid overnight after escaping from a nearby circus, Spanish police have said.
The animals were spotted at about 5am wandering around the southern district of Carabranchel close to the circus’s current location. Quiros Circus, which owns them, blamed sabotage by animal rights activists.
Continue reading...Alliance of Ethiopian factions puts government at risk of overthrow
Bloc includes Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which has been fighting Abiy Ahmed’s forces for a year
Nine anti-government factions in Ethiopia have said they had formed an alliance amid growing fears that they will attempt to overthrow the government of Abiy Ahmed by marching on the country’s capital, Addis Ababa.
The alliance, the United Front of Ethiopian Federalist and Confederalist Forces, includes Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and brings together members of previously rival ethnic groups, including the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA).
Continue reading...Sally Rooney novels pulled from Israeli bookstores after translation boycott
Following the acclaimed author’s decision not to have Beautiful World, Where Are You translated by an Israeli publisher, two major retailers have removed her work from their shelves
Books by Sally Rooney will no longer be sold in two Israeli bookshop chains, after the acclaimed writer’s decision not to sell translation rights for her most recent novel to an Israeli publisher.
Rooney’s novels were previously available from Steimatzky and Tzomet Sefarim, but the books have now been removed from their websites, and will be pulled from physical shops too. The retailers have more than 200 branches between them.
Continue reading...Czech PM to step down and signal end to political uncertainty
President to accept resignation of Andrej Babiš and ask centre-right leader to form new government
The Czech Republic’s ailing president has signalled an end to prolonged political uncertainty in the country by saying he will accept the resignation of its prime minister, Andrej Babiš, following a general election defeat.
In his first public comments since being rushed to hospital nearly a month ago, Miloš Zeman said he planned to invite Petr Fiala, the leader of the centre-right grouping Spolu (Together) to form a new government.
Continue reading...Brexit: EU warns of ‘serious consequences’ if UK invokes article 16
Maroš Šefčovič says Brussels has seen no concessions from UK side in Northern Ireland protocol dispute
Britain and the EU appear on the brink of a trade war after Brussels accused Boris Johnson of lacking sincerity in negotiations over Northern Ireland’s future and warned of “serious consequences” if Downing Street suspended the post-Brexit deal.
As he emerged from his latest tense meeting with the UK’s Brexit minister, the EU commissioner Maroš Šefčovič said that despite Brussels’ attempts to find a compromise, “we have seen no move at all from the UK side”.
Continue reading...Police investigate people taking partially nude photos near Russian landmarks
Young people jailed for posting online sexually suggestive pictures taken in Moscow, St Petersburg and elsewhere
Police have launched a wave of investigations against young people, mainly women, in recent weeks for taking partially nude or sexually suggestive photographs next to Russian landmarks.
At least four cases have been reported over the past week of police detaining, investigating or jailing Russians for photographs that have been posted online in front of the Kremlin walls, St Basil’s Cathedral, St Isaac’s Cathedral in St Petersburg and an “eternal flame” dedicated to the history of the second world war.
Continue reading...Kenya’s water crisis leaves villagers at risk of violence and disease – in pictures
As rivers run dry, the desperate search for water has led to a rise in domestic abuse, conflict and illness
All photos by Cyril Zannettacci/Agence Vu for Action Against Hunger
Continue reading...UK reports 193 deaths – as it happened
Only those vaccinated or recovered from Covid will be allowed to frequent restaurants and cultural venues in Austria ; UK records 34,029 new infections
- Everyone in Germany should get booster, says health minister
- Pfizer pills highly effective at preventing Covid deaths, trial suggests
- Covid infections dip among secondary schoolchildren in England
- Chinese journalist jailed over Covid reporting ‘close to death’, family say
- Australia’s hospitals overwhelmed and ‘about to get much worse’
- Ventilate your home to stop Covid spread, UK government says
Germany recorded its second consecutive daily record for new coronavirus cases on Friday as infections pick up across Europe, and its disease control centre said unvaccinated people face a “very high” risk of infection.
The country reported 37,120 new infections over the past 24 hours, according to the centre, the Robert Koch Institute. That compared with Thursday’s figure of 33,949 – which in turn topped the previous record of 33,777 set on 18 December last year.
‘A way to deal with emotion’: how teaching art can help prisoners
The Prison Arts Collective brings art, and renowned artists, to incarcerated people as a form of therapy and escape
The American prison has a long cultural history, depicted in movies from The Shawshank Redemption to The Green Mile. They are generally portrayed as harsh, dehumanising places populated by hardened criminals and vicious guards.
Who better, then, to demystify prisons and those who live in them than artists themselves? “We’ve had this glorified TV version of what a prison is in America and sure, it’s not a cakewalk, but it’s also humans in there – our fellow humans,” says Brian Roettinger, a graphic designer based in Los Angeles.
Continue reading...Greece accused of ‘biggest pushback in years’ of stricken refugee ship
Cargo ship, carrying 382 migrants, was towed across the seas for four days before Athens was forced into a rescue after mayday call
It was hailed as the biggest search-and-rescue operation in the eastern Mediterranean for a decade. But the bid to save hundreds of refugees on a stricken ship in the Aegean Sea has led to allegations that the operation bore all the hallmarks of an illegal pushback before the Greek coastguard was forced to change tactics.
Only days after 382 asylum seekers disembarked on the island of Kos, criticism has mounted over their “unnecessarily prolonged” ordeal at sea.
Continue reading...UN Palestine aid agency is ‘close to collapse’ after funding cuts
UK has cut relief grant for Palestinians by more than 50% from £42.5m in 2020 to £20.8m in 2021
Cuts to the budget of the UN’s relief agency for Palestinians – including a halving of the UK grant – means the agency is close to collapse, the head of the agency, Philippe Lazzarini, has said. The UK has cut its core grant by more than 50% from £42.5m in 2020 to £20.8m in 2021.
Lazzarini, the commissioner general of UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which serves Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza but also in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, said the agency was in an existential crisis due to a $100m (£74m) shortfall this year, but also because of a method of long-term funding that has proved unsustainable.
Continue reading...Berlin honours couple who helped Jewish families flee Nazi Germany
Plaque for Malwine and Max Schindler is installed at Pariser Strasse 54 outside couple’s former Berlin home
A Berlin couple who dedicated themselves to spiriting Jewish families and political dissidents out of Nazi Germany via a clandestine network disguised as an English-language tutoring service have been honoured in the German capital for the first time since their story fell into obscurity half a century ago.
A commemorative plaque was installed on Thursday by Berlin authorities at Pariser Strasse 54 in the Wilmersdorf district, outside the former home of Max and Malwine Schindler. Their legacy was rediscovered two years ago through a cache of letters and photographs found in a garden shed in Australia.
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