Category Archives: World News

Senators reach agreement on $1tn infrastructure package – as it happened

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Andrew Brown Jr, a Black man who was shot by North Carolina deputies in April, died of a gunshot to the head, a state autopsy confirmed.

An independent autopsy commissioned by Brown’s family had found the same. But a North Carolina prosecutor said Brown’s death at the hands of officers “while tragic, was justified”. The prosecutor also would not release body-camera video of the confrontation.

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Iran sends warship on rare Atlantic mission amid Venezuela speculation

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The destroyer Sahand and the intelligence-gathering vessel Makran departed last month

An Iranian destroyer and support vessel are now sailing in the Atlantic Ocean on a rare mission far from the Islamic Republic, Iran’s state TV has reported, amid speculation that the ships could be bound for Venezuela.

The destroyer Sahand and the intelligence-gathering vessel Makran departed last month from Iran’s southern port of Bandar Abbas, said Adm Habibollah Sayyari, Iran’s deputy army chief, on Thursday. He described the mission as the Iranian navy’s longest and most challenging voyage yet, without elaborating.

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G7: taste of laid-back Cornwall on the menu for leaders

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Boris Johnson’s guests are set to enjoy buttered rum, an indoor rainforest and a beach barbecue with local sea shanties

Sea shanties, buttered rum and toasted marshmallows on the beach: away from the tense negotiations at this weekend’s G7 summit, Boris Johnson is hoping to give the assembled leaders a taste of Cornwall at its laid-back best.

Emmanuel Macron hosted the 2019 G7 summit in Biarritz, but Johnson’s team believe the dramatic Cornish scenery can match the glitzy riviera resort – although not necessarily the balmy sunshine of the south of France.

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UK to give 100m Covid vaccine doses to poorer countries within a year

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At least 1bn doses due from G7 but campaigners say package does not address structural problems

The UK will donate 100m surplus coronavirus vaccine doses within the next year to low-income countries as part of at least 1bn doses due from the G7.

The US has promised to buy 500m Pfizer vaccines at a cost of $3bn for distribution to 100 poorer countries, with 200m to be distributed this year, in addition to releasing 80m of its surplus by the end of June.

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Why Joe Biden is so invested in defending Good Friday agreement

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Analysis: Northern Ireland is a rare issue of bipartisan consensus and a pillar of US foreign policy

Joe Biden’s commitment to defending the Good Friday agreement is baked into his political history and identity. But it is also a pillar of US foreign policy, a rare issue of bipartisan consensus in an otherwise hyper-polarised political scene, one of the few stances Biden can take on the world stage without drawing fire from Republicans.

Biden’s emotional attachment to Ireland has been a constant throughout his adult life and has become part of his political identity too. He routinely refers to his mother’s family history and his ties to County Mayo. He quotes Irish poets, and uses the example of British rule in Ireland as a bridge to empathise with persecuted minorities.

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Wife of El Chapo admits helping run Mexican drug cartel in US plea deal

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  • Emma Coronel Aispuro pleads guilty to three counts
  • 31-year-old says she conspired in husband’s 2015 prison break

The wife of the Mexican drug kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán has pleaded guilty to charges in the US and admitted that she helped her husband run his multibillion-dollar criminal empire.

Emma Coronel Aispuro, wearing a green jail uniform, appeared in federal court in Washington on Thursday and pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiring to distribute illegal drugs, conspiring to launder money and conspiring to assist the Sinaloa drug cartel.

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Takeaway food and drink litter dominates ocean plastic, study shows

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Just 10 plastic products make up 75% of all items and scientists say the pollution must be stopped at source

Plastic items from takeaway food and drink dominate the litter in the world’s oceans, according to the most comprehensive study to date.

Single-use bags, plastic bottles, food containers and food wrappers are the four most widespread items polluting the seas, making up almost half of the human-made waste, the researchers found. Just 10 plastic products, also including plastic lids and fishing gear, accounted for three-quarters of the litter, due to their widespread use and extremely slow degradation.

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Navalny backers see cautionary tale in Russian raids on Jehovah’s Witnesses

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Analysis: members of religious group declared extremist in 2017 have faced arrests, surveillance and prison

The decision by a Moscow court to declare Alexei Navalny’s nationwide political organisation as “extremist” adds the group to a list associated with terrorist organisations such as al-Qaida and Islamic State.

But for a guide to how Russia could treat Navalny’s supporters, a better example is the Jehovah’s Witnesses, a non-violent religious group that has felt the full extent of Russia’s law on extremism.

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China’s Uyghurs living in a ‘dystopian hellscape’, says Amnesty report

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Widespread internment, torture and rights abuses have been claimed by former detainees as Beijing continues a policy of denial

Amnesty International has collected new evidence of human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region of China, which it says has become a “dystopian hellscape” for hundreds of thousands of Muslims subjected to mass internment and torture.

The human rights organisation has collected more than 50 new accounts from Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities who claim to have been subjected to mass internment and torture in police stations and camps in the region.

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High risk of autumn Covid surge in Europe despite drop in infections, says WHO

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Organisation urges governments to be cautious as societies open up and Delta variant advances

Covid-19 infections, hospitalisations and deaths are falling fast across Europe, but the risk of a deadly autumn resurgence remains high as societies open up and the more transmissible Delta variant advances, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.

The warning came as new case numbers continued to plunge in most of the continent, falling in some areas to their lowest levels since August, and multiple governments, including France and Germany, relaxed restrictions further.

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G7 security preparations in Cornwall – in pictures

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Ahead of the G7 summit starting on Friday, 5,000 mutual aid officers have arrived in the area from police forces across the UK. They will join 1,500 officers and staff from Devon and Cornwall police being deployed at the event.
More than 100 police dogs will be working at the summit, though no police horses are due to be there

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Nailed it: man, 82, builds bench for wife in 30 minutes after council plea ignored

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Manuel Souto took matters into own hands to provide resting place for wife on daily walks in Spanish town

Whatever the rustic bench that sits on a street in the north-west Spanish town of A Estrada may lack in finish and elegance, it more than makes up for in the devotion that went into its creation.

The pale wooden seat was cobbled together after Manuel Souto, an 82-year-old retired lathe operator, decided to find somewhere for his wife to sit and rest on their daily walks. María Souto, who is 79 and has osteoarthritis, walks with a stick and finds her morning exercise increasingly difficult.

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Ruben Sergeyev, longtime Guardian fixer in Moscow, dies at 65

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Former colleagues remember ‘intelligent, playful, constantly curious’ news assistant and friend

Ruben Sergeyev, a longtime consultant and friend to Guardian correspondents in Moscow from the Gorbachev era through to the Putin years, has died of Covid-19 at the age of 65.

He died on Wednesday after being admitted to hospital in Moscow. Sergeyev worked from 1988 until 2014 as a news assistant, fixer, and all-round explainer of Russia during a time of rapid change. He helped a succession of bureau chiefs including Jonathan Steele, David Hearst, James Meek and Miriam Elder.

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G7 leaders will reportedly call for fresh WHO Covid investigation and Biden declares “the US is back” | First Thing

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Leaked documents suggest renewed inquiry into Covid-19 origins, Biden declares ‘US is back’, and one Republican’s orbit-altering solution for climate change

Good morning

Leaders at the G7 summit – which kicks off in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, England, on Friday – will call for a fresh World Health Organization inquiry into the origins of Covid-19, a leaked draft communique suggests.

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The conflict in the Middle East is sustained by the silencing of Palestinians | Ghada Karmi

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Throughout history, our story has been narrated by others who treat our rights as less deserving of recognition

The silencing of the Palestinian story is nothing new. In 1950s Britain, a few years after Israel was established, even the name Palestine went out of use. When asked as a child where I came from, people would think I’d said Pakistan.

I remember how frustrating it was that no one wanted to hear our story, as if we had invented it. “It’s the land of the Jews,” I was repeatedly told. “The Arabs are only squatters on it.” Israel’s stunning victory in the 1967 war compounded these attitudes, and the Zionist narrative of Israel’s moral right to exist in the Jewish people’s “ancestral land” became supreme. Constantly made to understand we were second-class human beings with no valid right to “someone else’s country” was demoralising and intimidating.

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Covid live: India reports 6,148 deaths after toll revised up; call for ‘complete access’ for pandemic origins analysts

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Indian state of Bihar revises total Covid deaths up by 4,000; Ursula von der Leyen says investigators need full access to find source of pandemic

Ukraine has reiterated that it will not allow foreigners inoculated with the Russian Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik into the country if they do not also provide a negative test for the coronavirus

Reuters report that current border crossing rules require a negative Covid-19 test or documentary proof of receiving a vaccine approved by the World Health Organization.

Bulgaria plans to lift the compulsory wearing of face masks in gyms, hairdressing salons, small shops and offices where all workers are vaccinated as coronavirus infections decrease, a deputy health minister said.

“We have seen a drop in new infections and given the coming summer heat, we plan to take steps to ease the wearing of masks in some indoor spaces,” deputy minister Alexander Zlatanov told reporters.

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Man who slapped Emmanuel Macron to appear at fast-track trial

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Medieval martial arts enthusiast and ultra-rightwinger Damien Tarel claims act was not premeditated

A medieval martial arts enthusiast who slapped the French president, Emmanuel Macron, across the face will appear before a judge in a fast-track trial on Thursday.

Damien Tarel had acknowledged striking Macron while the president was on a visit to a professional training college, but told investigators it was not premeditated, the prosecutor Alex Perrin said in a statement.

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Boris Johnson must respect rule of law and implement Brexit deal, says EU

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Bloc leaders say UK must fully implement post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland

Boris Johnson must respect the “rule of law” by fully implementing the post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland, EU leaders have said ahead of the G7 summit in Cornwall.

Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, said the behaviour of the prime minister was of increasing concern to EU member states. “It’s paramount to implement what we have decided – this is a question of rule of law,” he said.

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