Category Archives: World News

Greek police recover two stolen paintings by Picasso and Mondrian

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Works by 20th-century masters found nearly a decade after audacious heist at Athens gallery

A Picasso gifted to the Greek people by the artist in honour of their resistance to Nazi rule has been found in a gorge after a builder admitted to stealing the masterpiece and two other artworks in an audacious heist from the National Gallery in Athens nearly a decade ago.

For nine years, Head of a Woman had lain hidden in the home of the self-described art lover alongside Stammer Windmill, a work by the Dutch painter Piet Mondrian, also stolen during the overnight raid on 9 January 2012.

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Interim government of Tigray flees as rebels seize capital

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Spokesperson for Tigray People’s Liberation Front says Mekelle is ‘under our control’

The interim government of Ethiopia’s war-hit Tigray region has fled as rebel fighters advanced into the region’s capital and the national government announced a “unilateral ceasefire”.

Witnesses said federal soldiers and police were also abandoning Mekelle late on Monday, and fireworks and celebratory gunfire could be heard as Tigrayan fighters took the city’s airport and other key positions.

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Mixing Covid vaccines offers strong immune protection – study

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Oxford researchers say having AstraZeneca then Pfizer jabs is almost as potent as two shots of Pfizer

Having different Covid vaccines for first and second shots produces a strong immune response to the virus, according to research that will help improve the resilience of vaccine programmes around the world.

Scientists in Oxford looked at the impact of a mix-and-match approach to vaccinations where people were given either the standard two shots of Oxford/AstraZeneca or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, or a combination of the two.

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UK and Brussels near deal on Covid passports to boost holiday hopes

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Talks progressing on recognition of status certificates, while German calls for caution failing to win support

Hopes have been raised of summer holidays in Europe for fully vaccinated Britons as a deal with Brussels on Covid passports neared completion and Germany failed to convince popular destinations to pull an “emergency brake” on UK visitors.

Restrictions on travel are tightening across the continent for tourists coming from the UK who have not had two jabs, owing to concerns over the highly transmissible Delta variant now dominant in Britain.

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Indonesian Covid deaths add to questions over Sinovac vaccine

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Authorities consider giving other jabs to medics after 10 fully vaccinated doctors die in June

At least 10 out of 26 Indonesian doctors who have died from Covid-19 this month had been fully vaccinated with Sinovac, prompting authorities to consider whether medics should receive alternative doses to boost immunity.

Indonesia, which has relied on the Chinese-made vaccine for its health workers, is struggling with a new surge in coronavirus cases. The latest outbreak, driven by new variants, has overwhelmed hospitals and burial sites in Jakarta and on the island of Java. On Monday the country announced 20,694 new infections.

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Palestinians protest for fifth day in West Bank after death of activist

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Demonstrations continue over treatment of Nizar Banat, a vocal critic of President Mahmoud Abbas

Demonstrations against the Palestinian Authority (PA) have continued across the West Bank after the death in custody of one of President Mahmoud Abbas’s biggest critics.

Several hundred people took to the streets of Ramallah, Hebron and Bethlehem for the fifth consecutive day on Monday to protest against the treatment of Nizar Banat, a social and political activist, who died during an arrest by the authority’s forces in Hebron on 24 June.

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Italian region bans farm work during hottest hours after Malian worker dies

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Camara Fantamadi died after picking tomatoes in scorching sun – critics question if ban will be respected

Authorities in southern Italy have prohibited outdoor farm work during the hottest hours of the day after the death of a Malian farm worker, but a representative of the African community in Puglia says the ban does not go far enough.

Officials in the region have banned farm work between 12.30pm and 4pm during the hottest days after Camara Fantamadi, a 27-year-old man from Mali, died after picking tomatoes under the scorching sun last Thursday.

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Canada: two more Catholic churches on First Nations reserves destroyed by fire

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  • Investigators treating fires in British Columbia as suspicious
  • Anger over church’s historical role in forced assimilation

Two more Catholic churches on First Nations reserves in western Canada have been destroyed by fires that investigators are once again treating as suspicious.

Over the weekend, crews in southern British Columbia responded to early morning blazes at St Ann’s Church on Upper Similkameen Indian Band land, and the Chopaka Church on the lands of the Lower Similkameen Indian Band. Both churches, built from wood and more than 100 years old, were burned to the ground.

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Turks and Caicos: 20 people found dead, including two children, on boat

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Officials say investigators ruled out foul play but were still trying to determine what happened

Authorities in Turks and Caicos are investigating after a boat was found drifting about a mile off Grand Turk island with 20 dead people on board, including two children.

Officials said investigators had ruled out foul play but were still trying to determine what happened. The identities and origin of the dead were also under investigation.

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New Michael Wolff book reports Trump’s confusion during Capitol attack

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Mark Meadows reportedly said ‘We can’t organize that’ after Trump told supporters he’d march, according to Landslide

Donald Trump told supporters he would march on the Capitol with them on 6 January – then abandoned them after a tense exchange with his chief of staff, according to the first excerpt from Landslide, Michael Wolff’s third Trump White House exposé.

Related: Top US general got into shouting match with Trump over race protests – report

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Five key takeaways from France’s regional elections

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Analysis: record low turnout makes it difficult to draw clear lessons but both Macron and Le Pen did badly

France’s regional elections produced a humiliating defeat for Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement National (RN), stinging failure for Emmanuel Macron and thumping wins for incumbents from the country’s traditional centre-right and centre-left parties.

A record low turnout of less than 35% makes it hard, however, to draw clear lessons for next year’s presidential elections, in which Macron and Le Pen remain clear frontrunners – although the race has certainly got a lot more interesting.

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Coronavirus live news: Portugal to quarantine unvaccinated British visitors; Taiwan tightens border rules

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British travellers to Portugal face 14-day quarantine; Taiwan imposes new quarantine rules; South Africa re-introduces curfew, alcohol ban; all of Italy mask free and low risk from Monday

Greece wants more young people vaccinated and it trying to encourage them by offering €150 for them to take the first dose, Reuters reports.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told ministers on Monday morning it is “a gift out of gratitude” - being offered on prepaid cards to spend during the summer and on cultural events.

Italy dropped the obligation to wear a face mask outdoors from Monday as the whole country entered the lowest-risk ‘white zone’ category of coronavirus restrictions.

However, people will still need to wear a face mask if in a crowded area or when inside shops, restaurants and other indoor premises, and when using public transport.

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Catalonia: threat to impose massive fines on ex-minister prompts outcry

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Dozens of Nobel laureates sign open letter condemning treatment of economist Andreu Mas-Colell

Threats of massive fines against the economist and former Catalan finance minister Andreu Mas-Colell for his alleged role in Catalonia’s failed independence bid in 2017 have prompted international condemnation.

Mas-Colell, 76, who served as finance minister from 2010-16, is among 40 officials, including the former Catalan presidents Artur Mas and Carles Puigdemont, accused by a tribunal of illegally using €4.8m of public money between 2011 and 2017 to further the cause of independence.

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UN calls for end of ‘impunity’ for police violence against black people

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Report launched in aftermath of George Floyd murder cites example of 2018 death of Kevin Clarke in UK

A UN report that analysed racial justice in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd has called on member states including the UK to end the “impunity” enjoyed by police officers who violate the human rights of black people.

The UN human rights office analysis of 190 deaths across the world led to the report’s damning conclusion that law enforcement officers are rarely held accountable for killing black people due in part to deficient investigations and an unwillingness to acknowledge the impact of structural racism.

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Vaccine inequality: how rich countries cut Covid deaths as poorer fall behind

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Developed countries are seeing the benefits of quickly vaccinating their populations, but concerns remain about the unequal share of global vaccine supplies

New analysis by the Guardian has confirmed that a speedy Covid vaccination campaign pays off when it comes to escaping the worst of the pandemic.

As the chart below shows, countries such as Israel, the UK and the US have all seen deaths decline as vaccination coverage extended to the most vulnerable in their societies.

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Damaging ‘fly-shooting’ fishing in Channel sparks concerns

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Small-scale fishers say mostly EU fleet is devastating catches with method that nets entire shoals of fish

The UK has been accused of allowing a fleet of mainly EU “fly-shooting” fishing boats “unfettered access” to the Channel, without a proper assessment of the impact on fish populations, the seabed or the livelihoods of small-scale fishers.

Organisations representing small-scale fishers on both sides of the Channel have warned that the fleet is having a “devastating” effect on their catches. They are calling for a review of the vessels’ UK licences until an impact assessment has been carried out.

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India’s Covid gender gap: women left behind in vaccination drive

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Misinformation and access issues combined with patriarchal social norms fuelling disparity in distribution across most states

Deep-rooted structural inequalities and patriarchal values are to blame for India’s worrying Covid vaccine gender gap, campaigners and academics have warned.

As of 25 June, of the 309m Covid vaccine doses delivered since January 2021, 143m were administered to women compared with nearly 167m to men, according to CoWin, India’s national statistics site – a ratio of 856 doses given to women for every 1,000 given to men. The difference is not accounted for by India’s gender imbalance of 924 women to 1,000 men.

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‘It opened my eyes’: Lesotho ski resort goes off-piste to keep workers

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The pandemic has hit tourism but retraining and a range of initiatives have enabled staff to stay and even hit the slopes

Masiane Nthina made her way nervously from the kit room to the slopes. Shuffling with skis on her feet for the first time is not easy.

Nthina, an intern at the Lesotho Tourism Development Corporation, lives close to Afriski Mountain Resort, but had never visited it. She had always viewed the resort as the preserve of the elite and thought that on her meagre wages she could not afford to go.

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