The Cumbre Vieja volcano continues to wreak havoc on the Canary island of La Palma. The eruption has continued for more than a month and is yet to show any sign of easing
Continue reading...Category Archives: World News
Worst of US pandemic likely behind us but we can’t drop our guard, experts say
Vaccines and new antiviral drugs cause for optimism as deaths and cases fall but Americans urged to be careful amid variant threat
The number of new Covid cases and deaths in the United States has been in a steady decline since early September, prompting many infectious disease experts to conclude that the worst impacts of the pandemic in America are probably in the past.
But in the same breath, those experts also caution that it’s not yet safe to abandon safeguards against the virus. That’s because parts of the US population and much of the world remain unvaccinated, which could allow for outbreaks and dangerous new variants of the virus to emerge.
Continue reading...Failed state? Why Nigeria’s fragile democracy is facing an uncertain future
In the first in a series on Africa’s most populous state, we look at the effects of widening violence, poverty, crime and corruption as elections approach
A series of overlapping security, political and economic crises has left Nigeria facing its worst instability since the end of the Biafran war in 1970.
With experts warning that large parts of the country are in effect becoming ungovernable, fears that the conflicts in Africa’s most populous state were bleeding over its borders were underlined last week by claims that armed Igbo secessionists in the country’s south-east were now cooperating with militants fighting for an independent state in the anglophone region of neighbouring Cameroon.
Continue reading...Japan royal wedding: subdued ritual looms as Princess Mako marries amid controversy
Princess’s union to Kei Komuro has attracted public and media attention for all the wrong reasons
It is perhaps fitting that the weather forecast is for cloud and drizzle in Tokyo on Tuesday, when Princess Mako – the eldest niece of Japan’s emperor – will marry her college sweetheart in a subdued ritual marred by years of criticism of their relationship.
Despite the imperial backdrop – and a public craving for distraction after 18 months of the coronavirus pandemic – their nuptials will involve lots of paperwork and rather less festivity.
Continue reading...Covid live: more than 325,000 in England get boosters in one day as UK chancellor rejects calls for immediate ‘plan B’
Latest updates: NHS chief says Saturday was ‘biggest day yet for Covid booster jabs’ as Rishi Sunak says Covid numbers don’t suggest action needed today
- UK government paving way to bring in ‘plan B’ Covid rules
- Darker skies and colder weather are perfect conditions for Covid to thrive
- Russia sees record deaths as country prepares for new curbs
- See all our coronavirus coverage
China has given complete doses of Covid-19 vaccines to about 75.6% of its population as of 23 October, National Health Commission spokesperson Mi Feng said on Sunday.
Some 1.068 billion people have been inoculated with the required dosages, out of a population of 1.412 billion, Mi told a news briefing.
Continue reading...Ed Sheeran self-isolates after testing positive for Covid-19
Singer, whose new album = is out on Friday, says he is cancelling in-person commitments
Ed Sheeran has announced on his Instagram page that he has tested positive for Covid-19 and is self-isolating.
In the post he said: “It means that I’m now unable to plough ahead with any in-person commitments for now, so I’ll be doing as many of my planned interviews/performances I can from my house.”
Continue reading...UK falling behind most G7 countries in sharing Covid vaccines, figures show
Campaigners call for action after analysis finds only third of jabs pledged to poorer countries this year have so far been delivered
The UK is lagging behind other G7 countries in sharing surplus Covid vaccines with poorer countries, according to newly published figures.
The advocacy organisation One, which is campaigning to end extreme poverty and preventable disease by 2030, described it as shaming for the UK government.
Continue reading...Poorest countries to gain from new climate funding plan to break Cop26 impasse
Climate finance plan needed to gain backing of developing nations for any deal at Glasgow talks
The world’s poorest countries are set to benefit from a new climate funding plan to help them cope with the impacts of climate breakdown, in an effort to break the impasse between developed and developing countries at the UN Cop26 climate summit
The UK government, as Cop26 host, will unveil the proposals on Monday along with ministers from Germany and Canada, who have been charged with drawing up a plan for climate finance, needed to gain the backing of scores of developing countries for any deal at the talks, which open in Glasgow next Sunday.
Continue reading...Turkey’s move to expel ambassadors over activist’s jailing risks widening rift with west
Envoys from 10 countries – including US, Germany and France – to be declared persona non grata
A decision by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to declare 10 ambassadors – including those from seven Nato allies – as persona non grata threatens to open the biggest rift with the west during his two decades in power.
Representatives from the US, Canada, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and New Zealand issued a joint statement earlier this week demanding the urgent release of Osman Kavala, a prominent businessman and philanthropist who has been held in pre-trial detention for more than four years on charges related to the 2013 Gezi park protests and the 2016 coup attempt.
Continue reading...UK defence minister faces call for inquiry into 2012 killing of Kenyan woman
Inquest in Kenya in 2019 concluded that Agnes Wanjiru, 21, ‘was murdered by British soldiers’
The UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, is facing calls to launch an investigation into a possible cover-up after no one was held responsible for the alleged killing of a 21-year old Kenyan woman by one or more off-duty British soldiers.
John Healey, the shadow defence secretary, described the 2012 killing of Agnes Wanjiru, a sex worker, as “dreadful” and called for Wallace to “take this more seriously”.
Continue reading...Colombia’s president hails capture of cartel boss Dairo Antonio Úsuga
Úsuga, one of South America’s most wanted men, arrested at rainforest hideout after massive manhunt
Colombia’s president, Iván Duque, has celebrated the downfall of “the most feared drug trafficker on Earth” after one of South America’s most wanted men was captured at his rainforest hideout following a massive manhunt involving hundreds of troops as well as US and British intelligence agencies.
Dairo Antonio Úsuga, the 50-year-old head of the Clan del Golfo drug cartel, was arrested on Saturday afternoon after heavily armed operatives laid siege to the criminal’s jungle stomping ground in north-west Colombia.
Continue reading...Current approach to wildfires risks lives and wastes money, say experts
Researchers call for new firefighting techniques that focus on managing landscapes, as global heating sees increase in blazes
- ‘It still gives me nightmares’: the firefighters on the frontline as the world burns
- Read more in the Harmed by heat series
A new approach is urgently needed to tackle global wildfires as current methods are no longer working, draining the public purse and placing lives at risk, according to experts.
This summer saw some of the worst wildfires in history and underscored the destructive impacts of global heating. As Cop26 approaches and is expected to shine a light on the importance of protecting ecosystems and building defences to avoid loss of homes and lives, experts say a lack of foresight and funding worldwide means harmful wildfires will continue to rage, putting communities and firefighters in danger.
Continue reading...‘It still gives me nightmares’: the firefighters on the frontline as the world burns
As global heating sees a surge in wildfires, we hear from those tackling the blazes, who face injury, death and trauma, often without proper equipment or support
- Current approach to wildfires risks lives and wastes money, say experts
- Read more in the Harmed by heat series
In Greece, fires take up a lot of resources. There isn’t enough money to recruit the number of [firefighters] needed or to buy the necessary equipment. Volunteers plug the gaps.
Continue reading...Learning the ropes: why Germany is building risk into its playgrounds
Lofty climbing towers are part of trend away from total safety and towards teaching children to navigate difficult situations
Towering over a woodland playground on the northernmost outskirts of Berlin, the Triitopia climbing frame is the kind to cause worry in any anxious parent.
Children aged six and upwards wind their way through four stacked steel-wire buckyballs and scramble up dangling rope ladders until they reach a platform about 10 metres above the forest floor. Parents can try to keep up with their young mountaineers as they ascend through the rope spiderweb, but they might get left behind in the tightly woven mesh.
Continue reading...Sprinter Alex Quiñónez, 2019 world bronze medallist, shot dead in Ecuador
- Quiñónez, 32, reportedly killed outside a shopping centre
- Country’s president pledges to ‘act forcefully’ in response
Sprinter Alex Quiñónez has been killed in his home country of Ecuador. The 32-year-old, who finished third in the 200m at the World Athletics Championships in Doha two years ago, was reportedly shot dead outside a shopping centre in the port city of Guayaquil on Friday night, along with another unnamed person.
The Ecuadorian sports ministry announced the news in a statement on its Twitter feed, saying: “Today we lost a great athlete, a person who made us dream, who made us excited. The National Police are at the scene and the authorities are conducting the corresponding investigations. He will forever remain in the hearts of all Ecuadorians.
Continue reading...German police halt armed far-right vigilantes on Polish border
Weapons seized after call from far-right party for members to prevent migrants from entering country
German police say they have stopped more than 50 far-right vigilantes armed with pepper spray, a bayonet, a machete and batons who were trying to patrol the Polish border to stop migrants entering the country.
The vigilantes were following a call by the Third Way, a far-right party with suspected links to neo-Nazi groups, for its members to stop illegal crossings near the town of Guben.
Continue reading...‘We know who we are’: Inuit row raises questions over identity and ancestry
Under Canada’s constitution, Indigenous groups have the right to self-govern – but there are fears that the recognition of NunatuKavut could weaken the authority of Inuit groups
For centuries, Inuit in Canada have thrived in the sprawling territory known as Inuit Nunangat – the homeland – which stretches from a thin sliver of land in the Yukon territory to northern Labrador, a vast domain more than 3.3m sq km (1.2m sq miles) in size.
“Inuit have long understood where our communities are, who belongs to our communities, and have fought over the last 50 years to create modern treaties that identify these specific homelands,” said Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, a group that represents the four main Inuit regions.
Continue reading...Home Office refuses to reveal details of Afghans’ resettlement
Complaints emerge of ‘chaotic’ system as local councils try to find suitable homes for refugees
The Home Office will not say how many of the airlifted Afghans qualify to be rehoused in the UK and has refused to reveal how many families have already moved out of hotels and into homes.
By calling around local authorities and devolved administrations, however, the Guardian has started to build a fractured picture of which areas have stepped up to do their bit.
Continue reading...Risen from the ashes: mural painted using ash marks Brazil’s wildfire tragedy
‘Artivist’ Thiago Mundano used ash from Amazon fires to paint a towering monument to Brazil’s firefighters in São Paulo
Continue reading...Crew on Baldwin film raised prop gun concerns before fatal shooting
Text message warning of ‘super-unsafe’ conditions was later followed by a walkout by camera operators
A picture of chaos and concern on the set of Alec Baldwin’s new western, Rust, has emerged from fresh accounts of the lead-up to the fatal shooting during filming on Thursday.
Only days into the three-week production schedule, new reports suggest that a worker had been so worried about weapon safety he had sent a text message to his manager warning of “super-unsafe” conditions.
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