Category Archives: World News

New Zealand’s biggest contribution to the climate struggle is its positive example | Philip McKibbin

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Suggesting that cutting New Zealand’s emissions won’t make any difference on a global scale is an argument that misses the point

Should New Zealand hold itself to its greenhouse gas emissions targets?

“Of course!” you may be thinking – and you wouldn’t be the only one. There is widespread support for climate action in Aotearoa. It led to record demonstrations in 2019, which saw 170,000 people striking, and the government is currently working on a plan in response to a recent report from the Climate Change Commission. Still, some New Zealanders seem to think otherwise, arguing that we are already doing enough.

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UK and US send troops to aid evacuation from Afghanistan as Taliban advance

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Pentagon aims to send in 3,000 soldiers to ‘aid reduction’ of nationals and Afghans with visas

The US and UK have scrambled reinforcements to Kabul to help evacuate their diplomats, soldiers and citizens as well as thousands of Afghans who have worked with them, as the Taliban advance towards the capital.

The Pentagon announced it would send three battalions, about 3,000 soldiers, to Kabul’s international airport within 24 to 48 hours of the announcement on Thursday. The defence department spokesman, John Kirby, said the reinforcements would help the “safe and orderly reduction” of US nationals and Afghans who worked with the Americans and consequently had been granted special immigrant visas.

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US deserves big share of blame for Afghanistan military disaster

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Analysis: White House accused of unfairly pointing finger at Afghan military after decades of mismanaging war effort

As one provincial capital after another has fallen to the Taliban, the message from Washington to the Afghans facing the onslaught has been that their survival is in their own hands.

“They’ve got to fight for themselves, fight for their nation,” Joe Biden said. Jen Psaki, the White House spokeswoman, added: “They have what they need. What they need to determine is whether they have the political will to fight back.”

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Woolly mammoth walked far enough to circle Earth twice, study finds

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Research into life of Kik adds weight to theory that climate change could have contributed to species’ demise

He was huge, hairy and boasted two enormous tusks: researchers say they have discovered a woolly mammoth called Kik who traipsed almost far enough in his life to circle the Earth twice.

Experts say the work not only sheds light on the movements of the giant proboscideans, but adds weight to ideas that climate change or human activity may have contributed to the demise of most of the creatures about 12,000 years ago.

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Russia detains head of hypersonic research facility in treason case

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Alexander Kuranov is suspected of passing secret information to a foreign citizen

Russia has reportedly detained the head of a hypersonic technology research facility on suspicion of treason in the latest high-profile arrest targeting a senior scientist for allegedly selling state secrets.

Alexander Kuranov, 73, the general director of the St Petersburg-based Hypersonic System Research Institute (HSRI), was arrested in Moscow on Thursday. A Moscow court ruled he be held for two months in pre-trial detention.

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Tax on billionaires’ Covid windfall could vaccinate every adult on Earth

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Analysis finds 99% levy on pandemic wealth rise could also pay all unemployed $20,000 – and still leave super-rich $55bn richer

Every adult in the world could get a Covid-19 vaccine if the wealth billionaires collected during the pandemic was taxed 99% once, according to an analysis published on Thursday by several groups that advocate for economic equity.

This one-time tax on the world’s 2,690 billionaires could also cover $20,000 in cash paid to all unemployed workers, according to the analysis by Oxfam, the Fight Inequality Alliance, the Institute for Policy Studies and the Patriotic Millionaires.

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Israel preparing to resume settlement building in West Bank

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Minister says there are plans for 2,000 new housing units for Jewish settlers in Palestinian territories

Israel is preparing to resume settlement building in the occupied West Bank after a hiatus of almost a year, the country’s defence minister has said.

A planning council committee is expected to meet next week to approve 2,000 new housing units for Jewish settlers in the Palestinian territories, Benny Gantz said on Wednesday, as well as about 1,000 units for Palestinians living in the West Bank’s Area C, which is under Israeli military control.

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‘For as long as we can’: reporting as an Afghan woman as the Taliban advance

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A collective of female journalists are battling to make women’s voices heard as the Islamist militants tighten their grip on the country

Despite years of development, investment and progress in the Afghan media industry, 28-year-old Zahra Joya often found she was the only woman in a newsroom. “It was a lonely space, dominated by men who made the decisions about which stories were important, and which were not,” she says.

Joya, who is from the persecuted Hazara community, felt she faced discrimination because of her ethnicity and sex. “There were so few women journalists in Kabul,” she says. “There would hardly be women reporters covering political events or press conferences even though these stories affect us greatly.”

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Pakistan police drop blasphemy charges against eight-year-old

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Hindu boy, accused of urinating in madrassa library, was youngest Pakistani to be charged for the crime

Police in Pakistan have dropped blasphemy charges against an eight-year-old Hindu boy after media and government pressure over his arrest.

The boy, the youngest Pakistani ever to be charged with the crime, was accused of intentionally urinating on a carpet in the library of a madrassa, where religious books were kept, in July.

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Zambia’s democracy at ‘tipping point’ as army deployed on polling day

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Fears grow that military presence and alleged restrictions on opposition campaign could tarnish reputation for fair elections

As Zambia goes to the polls today, fears are growing that political meddling in the process could push its long-treasured democracy towards a “tipping point”.

Zambia has long been considered a model of democracy for its neighbours. But today’s vote has been accompanied by a military deployment, while the run-up to the election has been marred by political violence and restrictions on opposition campaigning, analysts and human rights monitors have said.

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Drone footage shows devastation following floods in Turkey – video

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Heavy rains have triggered severe floods and mudslides in northern Turkey, killing at least one person and leaving others missing or injured. Turkey has been grappling with drought and a rapid succession of natural disasters that scientists believe are becoming more frequent and violent because of the climate crisis. The floods hit the Black Sea coastal provinces of Bartin, Kastamonu, Sinop and Samsun

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‘We are in this nightmare’: Nicaragua continues its brazen crackdown

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Ex-foreign minister among those arrested as Ortega detains political rivals as well as a columnist and ‘election geek’

It has been a fortnight since Georgiana Aguirre-Sacasa last heard from her elderly father: a terse WhatsApp message in which Nicaragua’s former foreign minister said border guards had stopped him leaving the country and seized his passport, and that he was on his way home.

“What????” she replied from her home in Denver, Colorado. “Why????” No answer came.

By then Aguirre-Sacasa believes Nicaraguan police officials on motorcycles had intercepted her father’s vehicle on the highway as he headed back to the capital, Managua. After searching it, they placed the 76-year-old retired diplomat in a pickup truck and spirited him away to an unknown destination.

“We are in this nightmare,” his daughter said this week as she desperately sought news of her father. “Right now, I just need proof of life.”

Francisco Aguirre-Sacasa is the oldest target of a brazen political crackdown being waged by the government of Daniel Ortega ahead of the Central American country’s next presidential election on 7 November. Police have arrested at least 32 people since late May, including important opposition figures who were challenging the revolutionary hero-turned-autocrat as he seeks a a fourth consecutive term.

Related: Nicaragua rounds up president’s critics in sweeping pre-election crackdown

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Coronavirus live news: ‘mix and match’ jabs a good idea, says UK expert; New Zealand details plans to reopen border

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UK adviser says he is in favour of mixing and matching for booster jabs; New Zealand to let in vaccinated travellers from low-risk countries next year

UK chancellor Rishi Sunak says latest figures show that the economy is undergoing a “very strong recovery” but admitted that the shock from the pandemic was “significant”.

It comes after it was this morning announced that the UK economy grew by 4.8% in the second quarter of 2021 and rose by 1% in June as lockdown restrictions were eased (see 7:31).

"It's right that we do these things in a measured way."

Chancellor Rishi Sunak says the Govt was right to be cautious when it came to lifting travel restrictions.

Meanwhile latest figures show that the economy grew by 4.8% in Q2 of 2021. Read more: https://t.co/H8J2sNlFiC pic.twitter.com/j93LcUZD4j

A Vietnamese businessman has been arrested for making and selling hundreds of fraudulent negative Covid-19 test certificates.

Tran Tuan Duong, who runs a printing business in Bac Ninh province, was arrested on Wednesday while selling certificates, reports Reuters.

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Josee, the Tiger and the Fish review – beautiful-looking anime takes a trip to the zoo

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This romantic animation about a paraplegic woman’s relationship with a marine biology student suffers for its sweetness

This gorgeous-looking, swooningly romantic anime feels like it could win over YA audiences: it’s heartfelt, unthreatening and rather lovely. Its representation of disability does feel a bit iffy in places, though: presenting a 24-year-old paraplegic woman, Josee, as fundamentally in need of fixing or rescue. Near the start she meets Tsuneo, a dreamily gorgeous diver and marine biology student, who saves her hurtling out of control down a hill in her wheelchair. She is a helpless victim – and not for the last time in the movie.

When Tsuneo walks Josee back to her apartment, her grandmother hires him as a part-time carer. The job involves spending a couple of hours with Josee every day. The one rule is that he can’t take her outside. At first, Tsuneo can’t stand his petulant and demanding client, who calls him “my servant” and orders him around. But slowly he’s smitten and develops something worryingly like a saviour complex. It turns out that Josee’s overprotective grandmother has kept her confined at home to make sure she is safe. As a result, she is childish and emotionally immature, but a fiercely talented artist.

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Smashed pumpkin: tropical storm batters famous Japan sculpture

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Experts consider possibility of rebuilding Yayoi Kusama work, which was swept into sea off Naoshima

Experts are determining whether it is possible to reconstruct one of Japan’s most recognisable works of modern art after it was badly damaged during a recent tropical storm.

The sculpture, a giant black and yellow polka-dotted pumpkin by the celebrated artist Yayoi Kusama, has stood at the end of a pier on the “art island” of Naoshima in the Seto inland sea since 1994.

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Lesotho’s PM isolating with Covid as cases ‘go unrecorded’

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Medics fear government is failing to gather data as ‘social media conspiracies’ slow vaccination take-up

Lesotho’s prime minister, Moeketsi Majoro, has said he is isolating after testing positive for Covid-19, as doctors warned that the true tally of cases in the country was going unrecorded.

Majoro tweeted that he had taken a travel-related test that came back positive.

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‘I’m scared of being killed’: sex worker activists speak out

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Rights defenders describe threats and abuse while working to protect their communities

A report has found that sex worker activists are among the most at risk human rights defenders in the world. Published on Thursday by Front Line Defenders following a four-year investigation, it found activists face multiple threats and violent attacks. Their visibility within their communities makes them more vulnerable to abuse, the report said.

Here, sex worker activists from Tanzania, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar and El Salvador share their experiences.

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Sex workers fighting for human rights among world’s most ‘at risk activists’

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Exclusive: Front Line Defenders report says rights defenders working in sex industry face ‘targeted attacks’ around the world

Sex worker activists are among the most at risk defenders of human rights in the world, facing multiple threats and violent attacks, an extensive investigation has found.

The research, published today by human rights organisation Front Line Defenders, found that their visibility as sex workers who are advocates for their communities’ rights makes them more vulnerable to the violations routinely suffered by sex workers. In addition, they face unique, targeted abuse for their human rights work.

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New Zealand borders to remain closed until new year – video

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New Zealand, which has stamped out coronavirus, plans to cautiously reopen its borders to international travellers early next year. The prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said the government planned to follow the advice of experts and maintain the elimination strategy. She said borders would not reopen until after New Zealand's vaccine rollout was completed at the end of the year. About 29% of New Zealanders have received one dose of the vaccine and 17% are fully vaccinated

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