Category Archives: World News

Wildfires rage in Greece and Italy as EU mounts firefighting operation

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Week of blazes forces evacuations and brings devastating scale of destruction to large areas of southern Europe

The devastating scale of destruction from a week of wildfires in Greece and Italy was being assessed as the EU mounted one of its largest firefighting operations ever and smoke from forest fires in Siberia reached the north pole.

As UN experts on Monday said global warming was advancing faster than feared and that humanity was “unequivocally” to blame, firefighters and local residents battled massive blazes on the island of Evia, east of Athens, for a seventh straight day.

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Bull reportedly rammed to death by car after ring escape in Spain

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Police investigating incident after Campanito the bull forced its way out of ring and injured two people

Police in Spain are investigating after a half-tonne fighting bull pushed its way out of a bullring, injuring two people as it charged through the streets of a small town in central Spain before being reportedly rammed to death by a car.

The incident took place in the early hours of Sunday as many in the village of Brihuega, population 2,400, had gathered in the local bullring to take in a concurso de recortadores, in which participants take turns jumping, twirling and manoeuvring around a bull or heifer in hopes of being deemed the most “courageous” in the ring.

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Bleed With Me review – three’s a crowd in taut bloodsucking horror

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Amelia Moses’ feature debut keeps us guessing as to who is the hunter and who is the prey as a holiday in the woods turns sour

Writer-director Amelia Moses makes her feature debut with this tautly constructed work of psychological horror which, although far from perfect, certainly suggests she’s a talent to watch out for. Like British film-maker Rose Glass’ outstanding horror-adjacent breakthrough Saint Maud, Moses’ story circumnavigates a relationship between two women, one that is charged with an intensity that’s more than platonic but less than erotic, and inflected by an unequal power distribution.

The story takes place in Canada. We largely we see it unfold through the eyes of Rowan (Lee Marshall, excellent), a young office drone who meets the more confident and glamorous Emily (Lauren Beatty) at work when Emily saves her from a sexually predatory co-worker. With the pair having become friends, Emily invites Rowan to come with her for a holiday stay in a secluded, snow-capped cabin in the woods along with Emily’s boyfriend Brendan (Aris Tyros).

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French police question man who reportedly admitted killing priest

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Father Olivier Maire had offered a home to the accused who was awaiting trial for cathedral arson

A man is being questioned by police after he reportedly admitted killing a priest who had offered him a home while awaiting trial for arson.

The suspect walked into a gendarmerie in the Vendée in western France on Monday morning and allegedly told officers he had killed the cleric, the head of a Catholic religious order.

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1,000-year-old remains in Finland may be non-binary iron age leader

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DNA suggests body buried in feminine attire with swords had Klinefelter syndrome, researchers say

Modern analysis of a 1,000-year-old grave in Finland challenges long-held beliefs about gender roles in ancient societies, and may suggest non-binary people were not only accepted but respected members of their communities, researchers have said.

According to a peer-reviewed study in the European Journal of Archaeology, DNA analysis of remains in a late iron age grave at Suontaka Vesitorninmäki in Hattula, southern Finland, may have belonged to a high-status non-binary person.

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Mali conflict: at least 51 people killed in attack by suspected jihadists

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Militants attacked three villages near Niger border in latest in wave of civilian massacres in Sahel region

More than 51 people have been killed in northern Mali by jihadists, who attacked three villages near the border with Niger, killing and torching homes, in the latest mass attack in a region beset by violence.

Militants on motorbikes overwhelmed the villages simultaneously on Sunday evening, entering and killing indiscriminately and burning and ransacking homes, according to security officials.

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France extends Covid health pass after fourth weekend of protests

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Pass sanitaire allows people to visit restaurants, hospitals and take long train trips but backlash continues

An extension to France’s “health pass” covering activities including going to restaurants and cafes, taking long-distance train journeys and visiting hospitals has come into effect after a fourth weekend of protests.

The pass sanitaire, which the government hopes will boost vaccination rates, is shown in the form of a QR code either digitally or on paper and given to those who are fully vaccinated, have a negative Covid-19 test or have had coronavirus and recovered.

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Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya: ‘Belarusians weren’t ready for this level of cruelty’

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Opposition leader speaks to the Guardian a year after anti-Lukashenko protests began, as crackdown continues

A year has passed since Belarusians took to the streets to challenge the authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, over stolen elections, marking the greatest crisis of his 27 years in power and the most harrowing year in the country’s modern history.

In an interview, the opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya issued a message of defiance tinged with pain as she detailed the toll that the last year has taken on the 35,000 jailed, hundreds tortured, and thousands more forced to flee the country or hide from Lukashenko’s crackdown.

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Manila in lockdown as Delta cases soar in Philippines

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Covid death toll hits four-month high amid record case numbers in countries across south-east Asia

The more aggressive Delta variant of Covid-19, detected in the Philippines in mid-July, has spread across much of the country, reaching 13 of 17 regions, health officials have said.

On Sunday, the Philippines reported a sharp rise in daily Covid fatalities, with 287 deaths, the highest daily increase in four months. A further 9,671 new infections were also confirmed.

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‘A great blow to Uganda’: surgeon John Baptist Mukasa dies of Covid

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One of the few neurosurgeons in the country, Mukasa declined lucrative opportunities to work overseas, dedicating himself to training a new generation and going the ‘extra mile’ for patients

Kennedy Owuor first fell over in his hotel room in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, before headaches followed. He initially brushed the symptoms off as a minor problem, but soon he started having difficulties speaking and moving.

A trip in August 2020 to northern Uganda, as part of his duties working for the UN’s food agency, had to be interrupted. He was instead driven for 12 hours to UMC Victoria hospital in Kampala.

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Belarus regime steps up ‘purge’ of activists and media

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Alexander Lukashenko leading ‘vicious operation to eviscerate critical voices’ and civil society, rights groups warn

Aleysa Ivanova wakes up each morning wondering when the knock on her door will come.

“You understand you can be next. Every day I wake up, I think ‘maybe it’ll be tomorrow, maybe today. Maybe they’ll come for me this evening’,” said Ivanova (not her real name).

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Eight-year-old becomes youngest person charged with blasphemy in Pakistan

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Hindu boy faces possible death penalty after being accused of intentionally urinating in a madrassa library

An eight-year-old Hindu boy is being held in protective police custody in east Pakistan after becoming the youngest person ever to be charged with blasphemy in the country.

The boy’s family is in hiding and many of the Hindu community in the conservative district of Rahim Yar Khan, in Punjab, have fled their homes after a Muslim crowd attacked a Hindu temple after the boy’s release on bail last week. Troops were deployed to the area to quell any further unrest.

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Australia Covid live update: Victoria records 11 cases; business urges states to mandate vaccines with Moderna due to arrive next month

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Victoria reports 11 new Covid cases as state expands access to AstraZeneca; Business Council of Australia says vaccinations should be highly targeted. Follow all the day’s news

All things going as normal, we should hear from the NSW authorities around 11am

A women’s and children’s hospital in St Albans has been listed as a tier one exposure site in Melbourne.

The maternity assessment centre at Joan Kirner women’s and children’s hospital on Furlong Road was listed on the Victorian exposure site list late last night. Anyone who attended the centre between 8.15am and 2.45pm on Friday 6 August has been ordered to isolate immediately for 14 days, get tested, and notify the Department of Health. The pathology lab – Dorevitch Pathology – on the ground floor of the same hospital has also been listed as a tier one site.

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UK allows quarantine-free travel from France – as it happened

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This blog is now closed. You can find all of our coverage of the pandemic here.

This blog is closing now but thanks very much for reading. We’ll be back in a few hours with more rolling coverage of the pandemic from all around the world.

In the meantime you can catch up with all our coverage of the pandemic here.

Tunisia launched a Covid-19 vaccination drive for the over-40s, after receiving more than six million doses from abroad to combat surging infections.

The health ministry said 551,008 people had been given jabs in more than 300 centres across the country, in what was billed as an “open day” for vaccinations, AFP reports.

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Rice, rice baby: Japanese parents send relatives rice to hug in lieu of newborns

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Each bag matches birth weight and features baby’s face, so new arrival can be hugged in pandemic

Parents in Japan are sending bags of rice that weigh the same as their newborn babies to relatives who are unable to visit them due to the pandemic.

The bags come in a wide range of designs, with some shaped like a baby wrapped in a blanket so that relatives can feel as though they are hugging the new arrival while looking at a picture of their face, which is attached to the front.

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Major coup for Taliban as fighters take Afghan city of Kunduz

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Insurgent group seizes important political and military hub as pro-government forces retreat

The Taliban have claimed a huge symbolic victory after their fighters seized a large city for the first time in northern Afghanistan as part of a seemingly unstoppable offensive in which they have captured five provincial capitals in just three days.

Armed men swept into Kunduz on Sunday, a strategic city close to the border with Tajikistan and an important political and military hub. By mid-morning they controlled the city centre while pro-government forces retreated to the nearby airport. Residents fled as smoke from the city’s burning market engulfed the sky.

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World’s climate scientists to issue stark warning over global heating threat

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IPCC’s landmark report will be most comprehensive assessment yet as governments prepare for pivotal UN talks in November

The fires, floods and extreme weather seen around the world in recent months are just a foretaste of what can be expected if global heating takes hold, scientists say, as the world’s leading authority on climate change prepares to warn of an imminent and dire risk to the global climate system.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will on Monday publish a landmark report, the most comprehensive assessment yet, less than three months before vital UN talks that will determine the future course of life on Earth.

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Sky glows red over ferry evacuating people from Greek island fire – video

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The sky over the island of Evia turned red and orange as people boarded an evacuation ferry after days of fires in the area.

Dozens of wildfires have burned in Greece after the longest heatwave in 30 years, which sent temperatures soaring to 45C.

The Greek coastguard said three patrol boats, four navy vessels, one ferry and various tourist, fishing and private boats were on standby to carry out more potential evacuations from villages on the island's northern tip.

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Spain bans small boats from stretch of water after orca encounters

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Two-week order on coast between Cape Trafalgar and Barbate is second time authorities have taken action

Spain has ordered small boats to steer clear of a stretch of the country’s southern coast after reports of more than 50 encounters with boisterous orcas, including as many as 25 incidents in which boats had to be towed to shore.

A two-week prohibition bars most vessels of 15 metres or less from sailing near the coast between Cape Trafalgar and the small town of Barbate. It is the second time in 13 months that Spain’s ministry of transport has taken action to address a spate of extraordinary orca encounters that have baffled scientists.

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True Stories: Spaces review – impressive short docs from folk horror to a Lebanese marvel

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This short film collection from the True Story platform ranges across continents to look at how we interact with our environments

Deeply psychogeographical, this collection of documentary shorts from the streaming platform True Story roams among spaces old and new, and across continents. Personal and public memories are intertwined, creating portraits of how human beings interact with their environments, and vice versa.

Paul Heintz’s nocturnal Shānzhài Screens is a meditative study of liminal urban spaces, shot in a Chinese district that specialises in fine-art reproductions. Rectangular frames populate the screen, from flickering apartment windows, hurried video calls, to endless replicas of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers. Authenticity is elusive, and loneliness reigns.

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