Category Archives: World News

‘It’s getting out of hand’: genocide denial outlawed in Bosnia

Posted on by

Move by international body set up to implement post-war peace deal follows attempts to downplay 1995 Srebrenica massacre

The top international official in Bosnia has outlawed denial of genocide in the Balkan country to counter attempts by Bosnia’s Serbs to deny the scope of the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica, Europe’s only post-second world war genocide.

Valentin Inzko, the outgoing head of Bosnia’s Office of the High Representative, or OHR, introduced the changes to the country’s criminal code on Friday, bringing in prison sentences of up to five years for genocide denial and for the glorification of war criminals, including naming of streets or public institutions after them.

Continue reading...

Unesco urged not to give heritage status to Thai park amid claims of Indigenous abuses

Posted on by

UN human rights experts decry arrests and evictions of ethnic Karen from Kaeng Krachan national park

UN human rights experts have urged Unesco not to grant World Heritage Site status to a national park in Thailand, where they said Indigenous people are being arrested and evicted from their traditional lands.

The UN experts said in a statement: “This is an important precedent-setting case, and may influence policies on how Indigenous peoples’ rights are respected in protected areas across Asia.

Continue reading...

All that glitters: why lab-made gems might not be an ethical alternative

Posted on by

Switching to synthetic gems may have environmental upsides but it could harm the very communities consumers worry about

Diamonds have long been in the debt of marketing genius. Until the 1940s they were not a popular choice for engagement rings. Then, in 1947, a stroke of brilliance: De Beers’ “A Diamond is Forever” campaign. The slogan was a hit. The market transformed. Today diamond engagement rings are ubiquitous, winking from the windows of upmarket jewellers.

Earlier this year came another glittering moment in diamond PR. Pandora, the world’s largest jewellery retailer, announced it would be switching entirely to lab-made diamonds. It generated positive headlines around the world, dubbed an “ethical stand against mined diamonds”.

Continue reading...

Firefighters escape Tamarack wildfire by driving through flames – video

Posted on by

A group of firefighters had a close escape when fast-moving flames engulfed them as they battled the Tamarack wildfire in Nebraska. After driving straight through the inferno, the crew emerged unscathed. Poor humidity and wind conditions have caused the Tamarack fire to grow up to 58,417 acres, prompting local authorities to issue an evacuation order.

This video was provided without sound. 

Continue reading...

Ghana: anti-gay bill proposing 10-year prison sentences sparks outrage

Posted on by

Bill could mean 10 years in prison for LGBTQ+ people and those who support their rights

Draft anti-gay legislation submitted to Ghana’s parliament could propose up to 10 years in jail for LGBTQ+ people as well as groups and individuals who advocate for their rights, express sympathy or offer social or medical support, in one of the most draconian and sweeping anti-gay laws proposed around the world.

Support for intersex people would also be criminalised and the government could direct intersex people to receive “gender realignment” surgery, said the draft legislation.

Continue reading...

Stonehenge may be next UK site to lose world heritage status

Posted on by

Britain is eroding global reputation for conserving its historic assets, culture bodies are warning

The UK is eroding its global reputation for conserving its “unparalleled” historic assets, culture bodies have warned, with Stonehenge expected to be next in line to lose its coveted World Heritage status after Liverpool.

Related: Unesco strips Liverpool of its world heritage status

Continue reading...

India monsoons: at least 112 dead in Maharashtra state

Posted on by

Torrential rains cause landslides as military personnel assist with rescue operations in coastal regions

At least 112 people have died in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, authorities have said, after torrential monsoon rains caused landslides and flooded low-lying areas, cutting off hundreds of villages.

Parts of India’s west coast received up to 594mm (23 inches) of rainfall over 24 hours, forcing authorities to evacuate people from vulnerable areas as they released water from dams that were threatening to overflow.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus live: Indonesia reports record daily deaths; Philippines bans children from going out

Posted on by

Latest updates: Indonesia’s daily death toll reaches 1,566; Philippines bans children aged 5-17 leaving the house until end of July

“Of course, the pandemic has exacerbated our pre-existing condition of extremely rich people,” Stephen Colbert said last night, citing a Bloomberg report on super-yacht charters, which are up over 340%.

“This is disgusting. At a time of dire need, the ultra-rich shouldn’t be blowing their money on boats. That’s money that could be used to launch giant penises into space,” Colbert joked, referring to Jeff Bezos’s phallic-shaped rocket, which traveled to space earlier this week.

Related: Stephen Colbert: ‘The pandemic has exacerbated our pre-existing condition of extremely rich people’

South Africa’s Covid-19 vaccination campaign is regaining momentum after being disrupted earlier this month by a week of riots sparked by the imprisonment of former president Jacob Zuma, the country’s acting health minister has said.

The Associated Press reports that at least 120 pharmacies, including 71 that were vaccination sites, were damaged and closed during the unrest in the KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces, according to acting health minister Mamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane. More than 47,000 vaccine doses were destroyed when the sites were ransacked, she said.

Continue reading...

By holding the Tokyo Olympics, Japan’s government is gambling with people’s lives | Kosuke Takahashi

Posted on by

As Covid cases rise, vaccination lags and costs soar, most Japanese people are extremely cynical about the Games

The Olympic Games begins in Tokyo on Friday, just as Covid-19 blights the city for the fourth time – and a year after the Games were originally scheduled to begin.

Despite the latest alarming spike in coronavirus infections and hospitalisations across the city’s metropolitan area, Japan’s prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, has reiterated his resolve to go ahead with the Games, declaring at a session of the International Olympic Committee held on 20 July that “the Games can be held successfully, with the efforts and wisdom of the people”.

Continue reading...

Hitting global climate target could create 8m energy jobs, study says

Posted on by

Researchers suggest net increase would mostly occur in renewables sector, with decline in fossil fuels

If some politicians are to be believed, taking sweeping action to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement would be calamitous for energy sector jobs. But a study suggests that honouring the global climate target would, in fact, increase net jobs by about 8 million by 2050.

The study – in which researchers created a global dataset of the footprint of energy jobs in 50 countries including major fossil fuel-producing economies – found that currently an estimated 18 million people work in the energy industries, which is likely to increase to 26 million if climate targets are met.

Continue reading...

Rwandans have long been used to Pegasus-style surveillance | Michela Wrong

Posted on by

Information-gathering always was a speciality of President Paul Kagame. Modern technology has simply extended his remit

It was a silver BlackBerry, surprisingly heavy in the hand, belonging to a businessman who had flown from Kigali to South Africa to visit the exiled former Rwandan intelligence chief Patrick Karegeya. The businessman, Apollo Kiririsi Gafaranga, boasted that he had bought it in Qatar.

“It cost me $10,000,” a friend of Karegeya’s remembers the businessman telling them. “It’s a model you can only buy in the Middle East, a phone you can’t be tracked on.” Karegeya picked it up, weighed it, and put it back down on the counter where it was charging. “You’ve been robbed,” the ex spy chief joked.

Continue reading...

‘We need a lot of help’: Germans sift through debris after devastating floods

Posted on by

Trucks, diggers and volunteers try to clear mud and ruined belongings from wrecked homes and businesses

A brown line one and a half metres high on the kitchen wall marks where the waters reached when Christian Ulrich’s house was inundated. The electrician stands amid the mud-splattered walls and his voice breaks as he recalls how he had barely enough time after the warning came to reach the cellar to get food and water and send his mother up the stairs. He had just managed to let in the neighbours who had banged on the door for help, when there was an “almighty crash – like an explosion” as a huge wave of water rolled in from the back and front of the house, so strong it pushed out the front door and many of the windows.

Continue reading...

Omagh bombing could have been prevented, says high court judge

Posted on by

‘Real prospect’ 1998 attack by dissident republicans could have been thwarted, says Mr Justice Horner

Security forces had a “real prospect” of preventing the 1998 Omagh bombing – the deadliest atrocity of the Northern Ireland Troubles – a Belfast high court has ruled.

Mr Justice Horner recommended on Friday that the British and Irish governments each undertake human rights compliant investigations into the bombing, which killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins, and injured 220 people.

Continue reading...

Budapest Pride march is a protest against anti-gay laws, say organisers

Posted on by

Hungary’s LGBT community expects high turnout for march on Saturday marking end of Pride month

Saturday’s Pride march in Budapest will be “a celebration, but also a protest”, organisers have said, as Hungary’s LGBT community prepares to rally in defiance of an escalating anti-gay campaign by the country’s government.

Johanna Majercsik, one of the organisers of Pride month in Budapest, which culminates with the march, said she expected to see many more in attendance than the roughly 20,000 marchers who attended the last Pride march in the city, two years ago.

Continue reading...

Iran accused of using unlawful force in water protest crackdown

Posted on by

Amnesty says security forces used live ammunition on protesters while officials blame ‘opportunists’

Iran is using unlawful and excessive force in a crackdown against protests over water shortages in its oil-rich but arid southwestern Khuzestan province, according to international rights groups.

Amnesty International said it had confirmed the deaths of at least eight protesters and bystanders, including a teenage boy, after the authorities used live ammunition to quell the protests.

Continue reading...

President Moïse’s killing leaves Haiti less stable but as elitist as ever | Natalie Meade

Posted on by

Any reform after the assassination of Jovenel Moïse will depend on the US re-evaluating its interests in the country

The assassination of Jovenel Moïse, Haiti’s president, marks another point in the years-long power struggle that pitted his loyalists against activists and working-class families, exhausted by years of social strife and gang violence. On Saturday, his wife Martine Moïse, injured in the attack, returned home to the Caribbean state to face speculation about her own political career. Meanwhile, the authorities still search for the motive for her husband’s killing.

At least 20 people have now been arrested in connection with the murder, including Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a Haitian-American self-proclaimed pastor who lives in South Florida, and who allegedly issued the order for the assassination. According to reporting by the Washington Post, Sanon had ambitions to become president of his homeland. He had vowed to transform the country into a “free and open society” with an ambitious $83bn redevelopment plan for Haiti. His defenders say, however, a plot to kill Moïse was never part of the masterplan.

Continue reading...

Ancient Roman road and dock discovered in Venice lagoon

Posted on by

Find could prove there were human settlements in area centuries before city was founded

The discovery of the remains of a Roman road and dock submerged in the Venice lagoon could prove there were permanent human settlements in the area centuries before Venice was founded, researchers say.

Scuba divers discovered what appeared to be paving stones beneath the lagoon in the 1980s, but only after more recent research were the relics confirmed to have formed part of a road system.

Continue reading...

Chinese leader Xi Jinping makes first visit to Tibet as president

Posted on by

Visit comes as China tightens control over region’s Buddhist culture and invests heavily in infrastructure

The Chinese leader has made his first visit to Tibet as president as authorities tighten controls over the Himalayan region’s traditional Buddhist culture, accompanied by an accelerated drive for economic development and modernised infrastructure.

State media reported on Friday that Xi Jinping had visited sites in the capital, Lhasa, including the Drepung monastery, Barkhor Street and the public square at the base of the Potala Palace that was home to the Dalai Lamas, Tibet’s traditional spiritual and temporal leaders.

Continue reading...

Jacinda Ardern announces Australian travel bubble suspension as Covid outbreak worsens – video

Posted on by

New Zealand will suspend its quarantine-free travel bubble with Australia for two months, as the country grapples with a number of serious outbreaks of Covid-19. Travel with the states of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia had already been paused but will now expand to the entire country. At a press briefing on Friday, the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said because of the Delta variant there was 'greater risk now … than when we opened the travel bubble'. While Ardern said she remained committed to the travel bubble, Ardern added 'Covid has changed and so must we'

Continue reading...