Category Archives: World News

‘Forces for good will prevail’: Joy in Taiwan as US sends 2.5m Covid vaccine doses

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The US donation has more than doubled Taiwan’s available vaccine stocks as it battles a rise in coronavirus infections

Taiwan has reacted with an outpouring of thanks to the United States for shipping 2.5m Covid-19 vaccine doses to the island, more than doubling its arsenal as it deals with a rise in domestic infections.

Washington, competing with Beijing to deepen geopolitical clout through “vaccine diplomacy”, initially had promised to donate 750,000 doses but increased that number as President Joe Biden’s administration advances its pledge to send 80m US-made shots around the world.

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He pledged unity. But now PM hopes to tighten grip on war-torn Ethiopia

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Elections this week could give PM even greater power, despite a regional conflict and a ‘man-made’ humanitarian crisis

Tens of millions of Ethiopians are expected to vote on Monday in crucial elections that could provide a launchpad for controversial prime minister Abiy Ahmed to consolidate his increasingly authoritarian rule.

Abiy, who won the Nobel peace prize two years ago after concluding a peace deal with neighbouring Eritrea, will face voters at the ballot box for the first time in Africa’s second most populous nation.

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Uganda Olympic athlete arriving in Tokyo tests positive for coronavirus

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Infection in team that had been fully vaccinated is first Covid-19 case detected among athletes visiting for next month’s Games

A member of Uganda’s Olympic team has tested positive for coronavirus and was barred entry into Japan, in the first detected infection among athletes arriving for the Tokyo Games, due to open in five weeks.

The athletes, who arrived on Saturday night at Tokyo’s Narita airport, were all fully vaccinated with AstraZeneca and had negative PCR tests before boarding, the Asahi newspaper reported, quoting an anonymous cabinet secretariat official.

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Coronavirus live news: Mexico City reshuts schools as it shifts up a tier; US has given more than 317,100,000 jabs

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Mexico City had reduced restrictions only two weeks ago; US says 317,117,797 Covid vaccines have been administered

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will suspend travellers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Namibia from entering the country on national and foreign flights, effective from 23.59 on 21 June, Reuters reports.

Restrictions would also include transit passengers, with the exception of transit flights travelling to the UAE and bound for those countries.

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Death at sea: the fisheries inspectors who never came home

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Eritara Aati Kaierua is one of more than a dozen observers who have died since 2009. A year later his family are still waiting for answers

In his last email to his family, Eritara Aati Kaierua told them he loved them and apologised for not being in touch sooner. “Fish is a little scarce or maybe this location is not fertile, we are now fishing in Papua New Guinea and we are still here,” he wrote to his wife, Tekarara, on 21 February 2020.

“Please try to stay well … and I will try my best to stay healthy from here too,” he wrote.

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Fresh protests in Brazil against Bolsonaro’s handling of Covid pandemic

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Country’s death toll nears 500,000 as opposition to the president grows and vaccination rates remain low

Thousands of Brazilians returned to the streets on Saturday in protest against the response of Jair Bolsonaro’s administration to a pandemic that has killed close on half a million people in the country – the most after the United States.

On the second day of demonstrations in less than a month, the anti-Bolsonaro mobilisation is gaining momentum amid an ascendant curve of Covid-19 infections, while only 11% of 212 million Brazilians have been fully vaccinated, according to local media.

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US marks Juneteenth after recognizing it as federal holiday

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  • George Floyd’s brother Terrence unveils statue in Brooklyn
  • Biden: ‘Great nations don’t ignore their most painful moments’

Days after Juneteenth was made a national holiday, communities across the US are coming together to celebrate 19 June 1865, the day when news of the Emancipation Proclamation reached Galveston, Texas, freeing slaves in the final Confederate state to have abolition.

Related: The martyr who may rise again: Christian right’s faith in Trump not shaken

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Biden threatened with communion ban over position on abortion

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US bishops vote to stop pro-choice Catholics receiving eucharist

Roman Catholic bishops in the US have voted to press ahead with moves that could result in Joe Biden being banned from receiving communion because of his stance on abortion, and that risks increasing tensions in a divided church.

After three days of online debate, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) voted by three to one to draft new guidance on the eucharist. The unexpected strength of support for the move among the bishops was a rebuff to the Vatican, which had signalled its opposition.

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EU founding father Robert Schuman moves a step closer to sainthood

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Pope Francis gives ‘venerable’ status to post-war French statesman and supporter of European unity

Robert Schuman, a French statesman who was an early advocate for the bloc that evolved into the European Union, has moved ahead on the Catholic church’s path toward possible sainthood.

The Vatican said Pope Francis on Saturday approved a decree declaring the “heroic virtues″ of Schuman, a former prime minister and finance minister after the second world war. In 1950, as foreign minister, he developed a plan to promote European economic unity in hopes of furthering peace.

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Hardliner Ebrahim Raisi hailed as Iran’s new president

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Three main rivals congratulate candidate whose election is likely to unlock talks on reviving nuclear deal

Ebrahim Raisi, the hardline head of Iran’s judiciary, has been hailed the country’s new president after his three main rivals congratulated him on his victory and preliminary results showed he had secured 17.8m votes, a huge 14.5m more than his nearest rival.

With 90% of the votes counted, Iranian officials said 28.6 million people had cast their ballots. More than 41 million did so in 2017.

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Poland: thousands turn out for Warsaw Pride march

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Sea of rainbow flags in the capital as campaigners warn against rising tide of homophobia

Thousands marched through central Warsaw on Saturday in an “equality parade”, amid what campaigners say has been a rising tide of homophobia in Poland in recent years.

LGBT rights have become a central part of a wider struggle in the country between liberals, who stress the need for a more tolerant and inclusive society, and religious conservatives, who denounce what they say is an attempt to subvert traditional values in the predominantly Catholic nation.

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Covid jabs for billions of humans will earn their makers billions of dollars

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We look at the drug firms – led by Pfizer and Moderna – that are set to profit most in an unprecedented global vaccination drive

Drugmakers led by US firms Pfizer and Moderna stand to make tens of billions of dollars from their Covid-19 vaccines this year and next, given G7 governments’ pledge to vaccinate the entire world by the end of 2022, but sales are likely to drop sharply thereafter, according to analysts.

Acclaimed for allowing a return to more normal life, Covid vaccines will also substantially benefit some pharmaceutical companies. The global market for the vaccines is worth $70bn (£50bn) this year, says Karen Andersen of Morningstar.

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Ebrahim Raisi hailed as Iran’s new president – video

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The hardline head of the Iranian judiciary, Ebrahim Raisi, has been congratulated by his three main rivals on his victory in the country's presidential election after preliminary results showed he had secured 17.8m votes, a huge 14.5m more than his nearest rival

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The martyr who may rise again: Christian right’s faith in Trump not shaken

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The talk in the carpeted corridors of the Road to Majority conference suggests the ex-president’s big lie has firmly taken root

Young alligators swam in the water or lazed on artificial rocks as a waterfall cascaded nearby. “Alligators are found primarily in freshwater and swamps and marches,” noted a nearby sign. “... Alligators are opportunistic feeders.”

Related: Conservative Christians jeer ‘traitor’ Pence for refusing to overturn election

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Guinea Ebola outbreak declared over by WHO

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Resurgence of virus in west Africa infected 16 people and killed 12 since outbreak in February

An Ebola outbreak in Guinea that started in February, infecting 16 people and killing 12, has been declared over, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.

Health authorities were able to move swiftly to tackle the resurgence of the virus, which causes severe bleeding and organ failure and is spread through contact with body fluids, after lessons learned from previous outbreaks in Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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‘It’s such a relief’: how Europe’s Covid vaccine rollout is catching up with UK

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More supplies and vaccination centres have put France, Italy and Germany back on track in battle against coronavirus

On Friday morning, Leyla Çelik woke up with butterflies in her stomach. For weeks, the 22-year-old student at Berlin’s Freie Universität had tried in vain to get an appointment for her first Covid-19 vaccine shot so she could volunteer as a polling station administrator at federal elections in September. “I’d basically given up hope.”

But last week her university had suddenly got in touch via email, offering her a chance to get a first dose of Moderna vaccine on campus, and within a few days. By 9am on Friday, the anxiety has turned into euphoria: “It’s such a relief,” said the native Berliner, nursing her achey shoulder at Freie’s biology institute, converted into a vaccine delivery point as of this week. “At last I can catch a train or a bus without feeling anxious.”

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‘Don’t betray women of Tigray’: calls grow for international action against rape in war

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Politicians among signatories of two open letters urging investigation into reports of sexual violence in Ethiopian conflict

The former prime minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark, and Zimbabwean author and 2020 Booker prize nominee Tsitsi Dangarembga are among the signatories of two separate letters demanding international action after shocking reports of sexual violence in Tigray.

In one, more than 50 women of African descent call for an immediate ceasefire and express horror at reports that African women and girls are “once again the victims” of violence and rape in war.

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David Miliband charity pushes ‘white supremacy culture’, workers allege

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International Rescue Committee hires law firm to review internal policies as leadership accused of ‘belittling and gaslighting’ staff

The International Rescue Committee reinforces “white supremacy culture”, staff have alleged, with the aid organization subsequently hiring a law firm to review its policies relating to discrimination, harassment and retaliation, the Guardian can reveal.

Headed by former UK foreign secretary David Miliband, the IRC is a major NGO with 20,000 staff and volunteers and a budget of $800m. It delivers aid in more than 40 countries, primarily in Africa, and helps resettle refugees across the US, with operations mainly directed out of New York.

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German police appeal for information after 17th century paintings found in skip

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An art expert believes the paintings are by Dutch artist Samuel van Hoogstraten and Italian Pietro Bellotti

German police have appealed for information from the public after two 17th century paintings were discovered in a skip at a highway rest stop.

Police said a 64-year-old man found the oil paintings at the rest stop near Ohrenbach in central Germany last month. He later handed them in to police in the western city of Cologne.

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