Category Archives: World News

Prince Andrew ‘stonewalled’ requests to cooperate, court documents say

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Virginia Roberts Giuffre filed lawsuit against Andrew in New York on Monday accusing him of sexually abusing her

Prince Andrew should confront allegations of sexual assault in court for the sake of all Jeffery Epstein’s victims, a US lawyer has said after a lawsuit was filed against the royal.

The lawsuit filed in federal court in New York on Monday by Virginia Roberts Guiffre claims Andrew sexually abused her at Epstein’s mansion in Manhattan and at other locations in 2001, when she was a 17-year-old minor.

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Ethiopian PM urges civilians to join armed forces as war rages

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Abiy Ahmed issues call for all eligible civilians to ‘show your patriotism’ amid fighting with Tigrayan forces

The Ethiopian prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, has issued a call for all eligible civilians to join the armed forces as fighting rages in multiple regions of Africa’s second-most populous nation.

“Now is the right time for all capable Ethiopians who are of age to join the defence forces, special forces and militias and show your patriotism,” Abiy’s office said in a statement released less than two months after he declared a unilateral ceasefire against Tigrayan rebels.

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‘Please pray for me’: female reporter being hunted by the Taliban tells her story

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A young female journalist describes the panic and fear of being forced into hiding as cities across Afghanistan fall

Two days ago I had to flee my home and life in the north of Afghanistan after the Taliban took my city. I am still on the run and there is no safe place for me to go.

Last week I was a news journalist. Today I can’t write under my own name or say where I am from or where I am. My whole life has been obliterated in just a few days.

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Handball chiefs urged to resign over bikini bottoms rule

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Women’s sports associations accuse heads of IHF and EHF of ‘blatant sexism’ after Norwegian team fined

Women’s sports associations across Europe have called for the resignation of the presidents of both the international and European handball federations, accusing them of “blatant sexism” for rules that require female players to wear bikini bottoms.

The Norwegian women’s beach handball team was fined €1,500 (£1,270) for wearing shorts in protest against the rule during a European Beach Handball Championships match against Spain in Varna, Bulgaria, on 19 July.

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Canada: pressure on Catholic church to compensate victims of residential schools abuses

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  • Scale of church’s assets revealed in string of investigations
  • Discovery of unmarked graves prompts fresh reparations calls

The Catholic church in Canada has come under growing pressure to compensate victims of the country’s residential school system after the scale of its assets were revealed in a string of media investigations.

As part of a 2007 agreement, the church agreed to pay C$29m in compensation to survivors, but distributed only a fraction of that figure, citing poor fundraising efforts.

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Why salmonella is a food poisoning killer that won’t go away in the US

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About 1.35m Americans a year fall ill from the bacteria. Why are there still so many infections?

In my kitchen, I treat raw chicken as if it’s crawling with bacteria that could make me and my family sick. I use separate cutting boards for meats and produce; I wash my hands and disinfect everything that comes close to the bird, then cook it to 74C (165F). A little paranoid, but with good reason.

Chickens, turkeys and other fowl commonly harbour salmonella bacteria that are harmless to the birds but not to humans.

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Coronavirus live news: China reports highest cases since January; India reports lowest infections since March

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UK reports 146 daily deaths, highest figure since 12 March; more than three-quarters of adults in UK now fully vaccinated

As Covid cases among children continue to rise in the US due to spread of the Delta variant, experts are urging the federal government to fast-track vaccine approval for those under the age of 12.

New data analysis from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) indicated that children accounted for 15% of new cases reported last week, with a total of almost 94,000 cases. There was a 4% increase in child cases over the past two weeks, the AAP found.

All of this was likely unnecessary if we as adults did what we needed to do and get the vaccine. We could have protected these children.

Related: US urged to fast-track vaccine approval for children under 12 as cases rise

School districts in Florida and Texas are bucking their Republican governors’ bans on requiring masks for children and teachers as coronavirus cases soar in conservative areas with low vaccination rates, Reuters reports.

The Broward County school board in Florida on Tuesday became the latest major district to flout an order by the governor Rick DeSantis outlawing mask requirements in that state. The Dallas Independent School District said late Monday that it would also require masks, despite an order banning such mandates from the governor Greg Abbott.

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Andrew Cuomo: how would an impeachment process work?

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The governor is facing calls for dismissal after a report found he sexually harassed 11 women. But how does impeachment work?

New York governor Andrew Cuomo is on the brink of being impeached by the state legislature and, if he doesn’t resign first, he could lose the job he has held for a decade.

Related: Kathy Hochul: lieutenant governor who could take over for Cuomo

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Concern grows in Kenya after alarming rise in suicide cases

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Mental ill-health and ‘warped’ notions of masculinity among reasons mooted for rise of nearly 50% in a year

There is growing alarm in Kenya over a shocking rise in the number of suicides in the country.

Almost 500 people are reported to have killed themselves in the three months to June this year, more than the whole of 2020, according to the Kenyan police.

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Parents ‘tortured’ by death of baby after magpie swooped in Brisbane park

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Five-month-old Mia suffered critical injuries after her mother fell while trying to avoid the bird

The devastated aunts of a baby who died after her mother tried to protect her from a swooping magpie have described the feelings of torture the parents have been left with.

Mia was in her mother’s arms when a magpie swooped at them at a Brisbane park on Sunday.

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‘Our morgues are full’: Zimbabwe struggles with surge in Covid burials

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Pressure on undertakers leads to widespread delays after record number of coronavirus infections and deaths last month

A group of women sing hymns at the cemetery in Harare as undertakers, dressed in Covid-19 protective gear, gently lower a white casket into the grave.

“This world is not our home,” they sing, as relatives, standing a few metres away, mourn their loss.

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Support for Japan’s PM reaches all-time low over Covid-19, despite Olympics success

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Public support for Yoshihide Suga’s cabinet dipped below 30%, despite widespread support for going ahead with the Games

Public support for the government of Japan’s prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, has slumped to an all-time low, despite evidence that most people support the decision to go ahead with the Tokyo Olympics during the coronavirus pandemic.

Suga had been hoping to bask in the afterglow of the Games, which ended on Sunday, but support for his cabinet has dipped below 30% for the first time since he became prime minister last September, largely over its response to a recent surge in infections.

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More than 200 children remain abducted in Nigeria amid ‘kidnap epidemic’

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Schools in north of country have become prime targets for ‘bandits’ with 1,000 students taken this year

More than 200 schoolchildren remain abducted by armed “bandit” groups in northern Nigeria, among more than 1,000 students taken this year as schools in northern Nigeria have become prime targets.

A startling absence of security and – according to many communities – a reluctance to meaningfully engage armed threats have rapidly turned much of northern Nigeria into a haven for kidnap gangs and a hell for thousands of families. Many of the victims are schoolchildren, with several mass kidnappings this year, mirroring and eclipsing the kidnap of almost 300 Chibok schoolgirls by Boko Haram in 2014.

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China court upholds death sentence against Canadian Robert Schellenberg

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Ruling comes as verdict expected in trial of fellow Canadian Michael Spavor

A Chinese court has upheld a death sentence against Canadian citizen Robert Schellenberg.

Schellenberg has been detained in China since 2014, when he was accused of attempting to smuggle 225kg of methamphetamine to Australia. He has maintained his innocence. In December 2018 he was sentenced to 15 years but after he appealed a retrial was ordered and the Dalian intermediate people’s court instead ordered his execution.

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US says Afghans must defend their country as Taliban takes more ground

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Comments distancing the US from the conflict come as militants capture more cities and violence escalates

The US has said it is up to Afghan security forces to defend the country after Taliban militants captured a sixth provincial capital, along with border towns and trade routes.

Fighting in Afghanistan’s long-running conflict has escalated dramatically since May, when the US-led military coalition began the final stage of a withdrawal set to be completed before the end of the month.

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Study links women’s middle-age height loss with greater risk of death

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Research suggests those with higher loss are more likely to die early, even when exercise is taken into account

Women who experience greater height loss during middle age may be at higher risk of death, research suggests.

Scientists have previously found that shorter people may have an increased risk of heart disease, with researchers saying the two appear to be linked not just by lifestyle but by genes.

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Video captures moment arsonist sets fire to grass in southern Italy – video

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A video has been released by the Italian carabinieri military police showing a hidden camera capturing an arsonist starting a fire in the countryside.

The video released on 6 August showed a person light a match and place it on the grass before running away near Montesarchio, a town 31 miles (49km) from Naples in Italy. The man was arrested.

In Italy, the civil protection authority warned on Monday of more fires to come as temperatures in parts of the country reach 45C.

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Coronavirus live: one Covid death every two minutes in Iran, reports say; anger at PCR test chaos in UK

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Iranian media reports say one person dying of Covid every two minutes as crisis worsens; in the UK one company left test drop boxes overflowing amid requirement for returning travellers to get tested after arriving

Good evening from London. I’m Lucy Campbell, I’ll be bringing you all the latest global developments on the coronavirus pandemic for the next few hours. Please feel free to get in touch with me as I work if you have a story or tips to share! Your thoughts are always welcome.

Email: lucy.campbell@theguardian.com
Twitter: @lucy_campbell_

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Taliban capture sixth provincial capital in northern Afghanistan

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Fighters overrun Aibak without meeting resistance, leaving pro-government forces in region cut off

The Taliban captured another provincial capital on Monday and were pressing on the biggest city in the region, Mazar-i-Sharif, following a stunning weekend offensive in which the insurgents have overrun a series of urban centres across northern Afghanistan.

Armed fighters swept into the city of Aibak without meeting any resistance. The deputy chief of Samangan province confirmed that the local governor had withdrawn his soldiers in order to protect the civilian population. The Taliban were in “full control”, Sefatullah Samangani said.

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German election frontrunners fail to impress with flood response

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Poll ratings of CDU and Green candidates take a hit and could result in complex coalition negotiations

Germany is bracing itself for complex coalition negotiations following September’s national elections, after the leaders of the two strongest parties failed to impress voters with their response to last month’s devastating floods and boosted the confidence of smaller parties.

A two-way coalition between the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of the outgoing chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the German Greens has long looked the most likely outcome when the country votes in seven weeks’ time, with polls showing a consistent governing majority between the two parties.

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