Category Archives: World News

How the west will try to sway the Taliban

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Analysis: The prospect of aid, or the threat of sanctions, may not influence Afghanistan’s new leaders

After some inelegant flip-flopping, the UK and other G7 countries appear to be returning to a familiar combination of carrots and sticks such as humanitarian aid, international recognition and sanctions in an effort to retain a measure of influence over the Taliban.

The threat of sanctions was raised explicitly by the British foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, in the Daily Telegraph, even though Downing Street had earlier cautioned that such threats were unhelpful during the refugee airlift when maximum cooperation from the militants is required. In practice, the entire Taliban leadership is already subject to sanctions.

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Afghanistan live news: UK defence secretary says it is ‘unlikely’ evacuation of Kabul will be extended

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Extension to Kabul evacuation deadline ‘unlikely’ says UK defence secretary; Biden decision expected soon to give Pentagon time to prepare; Taliban warn of ‘consequences’ if deadline extended

Ahead of this afternoon’s emergency G7 meeting, the Guardian’s diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour has this analysis on the concerns each country is likely to bring to the table.

Related: Afghanistan: what does each nation hope to get out of the G7 meeting?

CIA director William Burns held a secret meeting with Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar in Kabul on Monday, according to a report in the Washington Post which cites anonymous US officials.

This is the highest level diplomatic encounter since the Taliban seized control of Kabul, and comes ahead of G7 discussions over whether to recognise the militant group, as well as pressure on the US to extend its withdrawal deadline.

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Mystery over surge in coyote attacks in Vancouver park

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There have been 40 attacks in Stanley Park in the last nine months, four times the total over past 30 years

Coyotes are stalking and biting visitors in a popular Vancouver park in record numbers, in a mysterious surge of attacks that is baffling experts and dividing the city.

In the roughly nine months since December 2020, 40 coyote attacks in Stanley Park have been reported, including one last week where a 69-year-old man was bitten on the leg while walking on a trail. None have so far been fatal.

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Coronavirus live news: Delta variant viral load 300 times greater than original Covid, says study

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Viral load gradually decreased over time and matched levels of other variants after 10 days; Israel sees cases dip in wake of third shots

Greece has announced it will end free testing for unvaccinated people in an attempt to to boost inoculation rates.

Reuters reports that new measures to coax people into getting vaccinated will come into effect on 13 September, also obliging unvaccinated people to test either once or twice a week, depending on their profession.

In related news, the Australian federal government is paying a public relations firm $2.9m to help with its vaccine rollout for five months, including by copying vaccine data from its website and putting it in an email for journalists.

The health department has previously refused to say how much it was paying Cox Inall Change, a public relations company, for the simple task of attaching a pdf copy of its vaccine data to an email to media outlets every day.

Related: Morrison government is paying PR firm $2.9m to promote Covid vaccine rollout

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From 1m trees to a tree graveyard: how Dubai’s conservation plans went awry

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Hundreds of thousands of trees have died after costly real estate projects thwarted attempts to halt desertification

It all began so beautifully, with the ruler of Dubai photographed planting the first tree of his ambitious environmental initiative, as smiling officials applauded around him.

In 2010, the One Million Trees initiative was announced by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai. The aim of the launch was to increase green areas in Dubai through afforestation, while contributing to overall beautification of the city.

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Ukraine denies minister’s claims of hijacked Afghanistan evacuation flight

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Deputy foreign minster Yevhen Yenin said plane was diverted to Iran by armed attackers, which Iran has also denied

A Ukrainian minister has claimed a passenger jet meant to evacuate people fleeing Afghanistan to Ukraine was hijacked at gunpoint and flown instead to Iran, in an unconfirmed incident that was later denied by his own government.

Ukraine’s deputy minister for foreign affairs, Yevhen Yenin, said armed hijackers seized the plane at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai international airport, where a multinational evacuation is under way ahead of a 31 August deadline for foreign militaries to leave the country set by the Taliban.

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Phones of nine Bahraini activists found to have been hacked with NSO spyware

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Researchers say bloggers and members of secular leftwing political group among the victims

The mobile phones of nine Bahraini activists, including two who were granted asylum protection and are now living in London, were hacked between June 2020 and February 2021 using NSO Group spyware, according to new findings by researchers at Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto.

A report due to be released on Tuesday will reveal that the hacked activists, some of whose phones were being monitored by Citizen Lab researchers at the time they were hacked, include three members of Waad, a secular leftwing political group that was suspended in 2017 amid a crackdown on peaceful dissent in Bahrain.

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Uber rival Didi Chuxing suspends plans for UK and Europe launch

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Company won licences for Manchester and Sheffield but faces pressure from Chinese government

Chinese Uber rival Didi Chuxing has reportedly suspended plans to launch in the UK and Europe, as the ride-hailing company faces pressure from authorities in its home market.

The company’s plans to launch in the UK and Europe have been pushed back at least 12 months, and staff working on the launch have been told they face possible redundancy, the Daily Telegraph first reported.

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Philippines’ Duterte agrees to run as vice-president in 2022

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President’s ‘sacrifice’ paves way for leader to stay in power beyond June next year

The Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, has agreed to be the ruling political party’s vice-presidential candidate in next year’s elections, laying the groundwork for the leader to stay in power beyond his term.

The PDP-Laban party made the announcement before a national assembly on 8 September, where it is also expected to endorse Duterte’s aide and incumbent senator, Christopher “Bong” Go, to be its presidential candidate in the 2022 poll.

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‘My crime is I fell in love’: should India rethink tough laws on underage sex?

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Laws intended to tackle child abuse are resulting in young men in consensual relationships being imprisoned. Activists argue a more nuanced approach is needed

Mani*, 21, began dating Noor*, 17, two years ago. They couldn’t see each other during the Covid lockdowns, but when restrictions began to ease, they would meet on the deserted banks of a canal in a small town in Tamil Nadu. The couple hoped to marry one day, but then Noor fell pregnant, and life turned into a nightmare.

Two months ago, Mani was charged with rape under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) law. After 48 days in jail, he was released on bail. If convicted, he faces life imprisonment.

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Haiti needs help, but ‘not from aid workers who never leave their SUVs’

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Beset by earthquakes, poverty and gang violence, the country is desperate for aid. However it must be the right kind, say locals

The death toll is still rising 10 days after a catastrophic earthquake struck southern Haiti on the morning of 14 August, levelling much of Les Cayes and the surrounding region.

More than 2,200 deaths have been recorded so far, while at least 30,000 families have had to abandon their homes. Many were sleeping on the streets when Tropical Storm Grace struck two days later, bringing high winds and pelting rain.

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Does Covid-19 follow a similar seasonal pattern to flu?

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Anticipating the seasonality of coronavirus is a key factor in fighting its spread, say scientists

It is well known that influenza is seasonal, peaking in the winter in temperate regions and during the wet season in tropical locations. So does Covid-19 follow a similar seasonal pattern?

To answer this question scientists compared coronavirus rates between March 2020 and March 2021 from five countries – Canada, Germany, India, Ethiopia and Chile – with daily mean temperature, humidity, ultraviolet radiation and air-drying capacity (a measure of how quickly droplets evaporate).

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Kamala Harris accuses Beijing of ‘coercion’ and ‘intimidation’ in South China Sea

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In major speech delivered in Singapore, US vice president says America stands with its allies in the Indo Pacific in the face of threats from China

US vice president Kamala Harris has delivered a sharp rebuke to China for its incursions in the South China Sea, warning its actions there amount to “coercion” and “intimidation” and affirming that the US will support its allies in the region against Beijing’s advances.

“We know that Beijing continues to coerce, to intimidate and to make claims to the vast majority of the South China Sea,” she said in a major foreign policy speech Tuesday in Singapore in which she laid out the Biden administration’s vision for the Indo-Pacific. “Beijing’s actions continue to undermine the rules-based order and threaten the sovereignty of nations.”

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Toledo’s last swordmakers refuse to give up on their ancient craft

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Famed since Roman times, the Spanish city’s artisans are all but extinct. But a reprieve is at hand from the TV and film industry

Its sturdy presence has threaded through more than 2,000 years of history, fuelled by fans that were said to have ranged from the Carthaginian general Hannibal to Roman legions.

These days, however, the longstanding tradition of swordmaking in the Spanish city of Toledo has dwindled to just two artisan swordmakers – the last living link to a tradition that stretches back millennia.

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New Zealand records another 41 Covid cases as it braces for biggest outbreak of pandemic

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Cluster has grown to 148 people, with experts saying it could grow to 1,000 and take four to six weeks to stamp out

New Zealand is bracing for its biggest coronavirus outbreak yet as cases rise, the locations of interest balloon to more than 400 sites, and the number of close contacts swells to more than 15,700 people.

On Tuesday, the country recorded 41 new positive cases, bringing the total number in its outbreak to 148 – the majority of whom are Samoan, and linked to a sub-cluster who assembled at the Assembly of God church in Mangere, Auckland before the lockdown.

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Climate crisis made deadly German floods ‘up to nine times more likely’

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Study reinforces the hard evidence that carbon emissions are the main cause of worsening extreme weather

The record-shattering rainfall that caused deadly flooding across Germany and Belgium in July was made up to nine times more likely by the climate crisis, according to research.

The study also showed that human-caused global heating has made downpours in the region up to 20% heavier. The work reinforces the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s landmark report this month that there is “unequivocal” evidence that greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are the main cause of worsening extreme weather.

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Giant tortoise filmed attacking and killing baby bird – video

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A Seychelles giant tortoise, a species previously thought to be a strict herbivore, has been filmed chasing and eating a baby bird. Researchers say it was the first documented example of deliberate hunting in the wild by the species.

The video, taken on Fregate Island in July 2020, shows a female giant tortoise slowly stalking a lesser noddy tern chick, snapping at it unsuccessfully before delivering a lethal blow by clamping its jaws directly around its head.

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Biden hails ‘key milestone’ in fight against Covid as FDA approves Pfizer vaccine – live

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Joe Biden had a conversation with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson today, as the US and its allies continue evacuations from Kabul.

“They discussed the ongoing efforts by our diplomatic and military personnel to evacuate their citizens, local staff, and other vulnerable Afghans,” the White House said in a readout of the call.

Joe Biden urged more private businesses to require coronavirus vaccinations for their employees, now that the Food and Drug Administration has granted full approval to the Pfizer vaccine.

“Today, I’m calling on more companies ... in the private sector to step up with vaccine requirements that will reach millions more people,” Biden said.

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US Capitol police clear officer who shot dead 6 January rioter Ashli Babbitt

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Capitol police issue result of investigation into how and why Babbitt was shot as she and others tried to break through door

The police officer who shot dead Ashli Babbitt during the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January acted lawfully and will not face internal discipline, Capitol police said on Monday.

Related: Trump booed after telling supporters to get Covid vaccine

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Iranian government urged to accept western vaccines amid deadly Covid wave

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Vaccine supplies close to exhausted in many areas as country gripped by fifth wave and daily death toll rises

The newly elected Iranian government led by President Ebrahim Raisi is facing demands to broaden its sources of vaccines as the country becomes engulfed by its fifth and most deadly wave of Covid-19.

The supply of vaccines is said to be close to exhausted in Isfahan and Tabriz, as well as provinces including Gilan, Khuzestan and Mazandaran.

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