Category Archives: World News

Cyber-attack targets world’s largest meat-processing company

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Ransomware attack halts production at JBS, which supplies more than fifth of all beef in US

A cyber-attack on the world’s largest meat-processing company has forced it to halt all US operations while it scrambles to restore functionality.

JBS, which supplies more than a fifth of all beef in America, said all of its US beef plants were pushed offline on Sunday. The ransomware attack on the Brazilian-headquartered company’s networks also disrupted other operations across the US, as well as the company’s businesses in other countries, including Australia, but less severely.

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Macron aims to take pulse of nation on political tour de France

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President begins pre-election meet-the-people exercise with visit to Lot department in south-west

Emmanuel Macron has set off on his six-week political tour de France aimed at “taking the pulse” of the country as it emerges from the coronavirus crisis.

In the run-up to regional elections this month and, more importantly, the presidential battle next year, the French leader will make two regional visits a week until mid-July.

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Ny Nourn: the woman convicted of murder and pardoned – who now fights for other battered women

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Nourn moved from Cambodia to the US as a child, and ended up in an abusive relationship that led to a man’s murder. After years in prison, she is now a powerful voice for those who face incarceration and deportation

When Ny Nourn entered Central California Women’s Facility, the largest women’s prison in the world, there was every reason to believe she would never walk free on American soil again.

She was just 21, and had been sentenced to “life without parole” for her part in a hauntingly brutal murder – a part she was forced into. Even if, at some distant date, a successful appeal commuted that sentence, her conviction made Nourn deportable – so when she had served her time, she was likely to be transported to another prison and ultimately to Cambodia, the country of her parents’ birth, a country she had never set foot in.

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Warning over pilots’ mental health as planes return to skies

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Researchers say industry practice should change to encourage workers to seek help when they need it

Airlines are overlooking the mental health and wellbeing of pilots and other aviation workers in their scramble to get planes flying again, according to researchers.

Many aviation workers experienced anxiety, stress and depression during Covid-19 lockdowns, but they report feeling discouraged from acknowledging problems or seeking help, creating potential safety hazards and health problems.

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Escaped elephants wreak havoc in south-west China – video report

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A herd of 15 elephants have caused destruction in south-west China, including eating fields of corn and smashing up barns, after escaping from Xishuangbanna nature reserve in Yunnan province. On Tuesday, Yunnan authorities said the herd was 12 miles from the provincial capital of Kunming, home to millions of people

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Microwave weapons that could cause Havana Syndrome exist, experts say

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Russia and possibly China have developed technology capable of injuring brain and a US company made a prototype in 2004

Portable microwave weapons capable of causing the mysterious spate of “Havana Syndrome” brain injuries in US diplomats and spies have been developed by several countries in recent years, according to leading American experts in the field.

A US company also made the prototype of such a weapon for the marine corps in 2004. The weapon, codenamed Medusa, was intended to be small enough to fit in a car, and cause a “temporarily incapacitating effect” but “with a low probability of fatality or permanent injury”.

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Hong Kong’s 4 June Tiananmen vigil over the years – in pictures

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For years, Hong Kong has been one of just two cities in China allowed to mark anniversaries of the deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989. This year, however, Hong Kong authorities banned the vigil for the second consecutive year, citing the coronavirus pandemic. Critics say the authorities are using the pandemic as an excuse to silence pro-democracy voices. Last year thousands of people gathered in Victoria Park despite the ban, and weeks later police arrested more than 20 activists who had taken part in the vigil. Organisers have urged people to mark the anniversary in private this year by lighting a candle at home

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Ethiopia’s human rights chief as war rages in Tigray: ‘we get accused by all ethnic groups’

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Former political prisoner Daniel Bekele has made the commission more autonomous but critics claim he is biased on current conflict

There was a time when a report by Ethiopia’s human rights commission was a staid affair, its findings offering window-dressing for hand-wringing donors and legal cover to the government.

Between 2013 and 2017 the commission systematically “whitewashed human rights violations through compromised methodologies, dismissing credible allegations”, according to a 2019 Amnesty International study that accused it of “brazen bias against victims”.

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Escaped elephants leave 500km trail of destruction in China

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Wild herd has wrecked barns and munched its way through fields of crops after absconding from nature reserve in April

A herd of 15 elephants have caused destruction in south-western China, including eating whole fields of corn and smashing up barns, after escaping from a nature reserve in April.

Measures taken to keep migrating #elephants away from residential zones in #Yunnan.
#云南 #野象“旅行团”近日一路北迁，有关部门采取措施全力防范象群迁徙带来的公共安全隐患，确保人象安全。
by 吴歌 via CGTN pic.twitter.com/DDfH26nY2b

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G7 nations committing billions more to fossil fuel than green energy

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In spite of green rhetoric, money has piled into aviation and car industries since start of pandemic, report finds

The nations that make up the G7 have pumped billions of dollars more into fossil fuels than they have into clean energy since the Covid-19 pandemic, despite their promises of a green recovery.

As the UK prepares to host the G7 summit, new analysis reveals that the countries attending committed $189bn to support oil, coal and gas between January 2020 and March 2021. In comparison, the same countries – the UK, US, Canada, Italy, France, Germany and Japan – spent $147bn on clean forms of energy.

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‘Courageous’: Japanese athletes and sponsors voice support for Naomi Osaka

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Messages flood in after tennis player withdraws from French Open saying press conferences worsen her anxiety and depression

Athletes and sponsors in Naomi Osaka’s native Japan have joined much of the tennis world in rallying behind the player after she withdrew from the French Open, citing struggles with anxiety and depression.

The Japanese world No 2 left the grand slam tournament on Monday, days after she had been fined and threatened with expulsion for refusing to attend press conferences, saying she needed to protect her mental wellbeing.

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Israeli opposition parties face midnight deadline to form government

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Yair Lapid’s 28-day mandate to forge majority and end Netanyahu’s time as PM ends on Wednesday

Israeli opposition politicians have until midnight on Wednesday to hash out final negotiations to build a coalition government that would end Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year run as prime minister.

Under the country’s election laws, opposition leader Yair Lapid’s 28-day mandate to forge a majority by allying with rival parties ends on Wednesday. By this time, he should have informed the president he has succeeded.

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Coronavirus live news: India aims for 10m Covid jabs a day by July; WHO approves Chinese Sinovac jab

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So far nearly 45 million people fully vaccinated, 4.7% of India’s adult population; Sinovac is second Chinese vaccine approved as safe by WHO

The Coachella music festival will return to the US in April 2022, organisers have announced.

The 2020 event was scheduled for April of that year before being pushed to October.

New infection control guidance to help keep NHS workers safe from Covid-19 “falls short”, leading nurses in the UK said.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said that the updated official Covid-19 infection prevention and control guidance “focuses too much on aerosol generating procedures as the main risk”. But doctors have welcomed the new guidance as a “step in the right direction”, PA reports. Concerns were raised early on in the pandemic that medics were not able to get access to appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) amid a worldwide shortage.

The guidance, issued jointly by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) as well as public health agencies across the UK’s four nations and NHS England, has been updated to “strengthen existing messaging”, it states.

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‘Scary stuff’: International Space Station robotic arm struck by space junk

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  • ‘Lucky strike’ did not endanger seven astronauts on board
  • Not known what debris struck station or when it occurred

The sudden appearance of a small hole in a robotic arm aboard the international space station (ISS) has brought renewed attention to the danger posed by space junk.

Related: Chinese cargo craft docks with future space station in orbit

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China confirms first human case of H10N3 bird flu strain

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Man, 41, in Jiangsu, diagnosed on 28 May but risk of avian virus spread is low, says state health agency

A 41-year-old man in China’s eastern province of Jiangsu has been confirmed as the first human case of infection with the H10N3 strain of bird flu, although health officials in China said the risk of large-scale spread remained low.

The man, a resident of the city of Zhenjiang, went to hospital on 28 April after developing a fever and other symptoms, China’s national health commission said.

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How the ‘good war’ went bad: elite soldiers from Australia, UK and US face a reckoning

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As coalition troops prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan after 20 years, former soldiers, key officers and the public are asking what went wrong with some special forces

“Whatever we do … ,” one Australian special forces soldier said of his service in Afghanistan, “I can tell you the Brits and the US are far, far worse.

“I’ve watched our young guys stand by and hero worship what they were doing, salivating at how the US were torturing people. You just stand there and roll your eyes and wait for it to end.”

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UK and France to blame for chaos in Libya, says presidential hopeful

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Former interior minister Fathi Bashagha claims ‘lazy’ UK failing in moral responsibility after 2011 Europe-led regime change

The UK has been distracted by Brexit and “lazy” in fulfilling its moral responsibility to pull Libya out of the chaos that enveloped it after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, a leading presidential candidate claimed.

The candidate, Fathi Bashagha, a former interior minister, who narrowly failed to become prime minister of an interim Libyan government in a UN process in February, said the UK had a special duty to come to Libya’s aid given David Cameron’s role in the country’s 2011 regime change.

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Red faces in Rome as street plaque misspells ex-president’s name

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President Sergio Mattarella forced to abandon dedication after officials noticed mistake on stone plaque

The Italian president, Sergio Mattarella, was forced to abandon a ceremony dedicating a road in Rome to one of his predecessors, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, after officials noticed the name on the stone plaque was misspelled.

Instead of “Azeglio”, the street marker said “Azelio”. Mattarella had already turned up to the event on Tuesday, alongside members of Ciampi’s family and the mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi, before the embarrassing mistake was noticed, with the lettering showing up clearly through the translucent cloth covering the plaque.

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‘Shameful’: Bolsonaro denounced for hosting Copa América amid pandemic

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  • Brazil president accused of mishandling Covid outbreak
  • Football tournament moved from Colombia and Argentina

The Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, has sparked outrage after approving plans to hold South America’s answer to the European Championship in his Covid-stricken country despite warnings Brazil is steaming into a potentially calamitous third wave of infections.

The Copa América was originally due to be co-hosted by Colombia and Argentina, but their struggles with deadly street protests and coronavirus put paid to those plans.

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