Category Archives: World News

An ultramarathon ends in tragedy: runners describe horror of Gansu race

Posted on by

Twenty-one competitors died in the freezing Chinese mountains, raising major questions about safety in the sport

At the starting line of the Gansu ultramarathon, it was cold but the sun was shining. One competitor struggled to warm up, even after jogging a quick 2km, and noticed some of the elite competitors were wearing shorts and shivering. In nearby towns, the temperature was reportedly already dropping and winds increasing, but the 172 runners didn’t know that.

In a widely shared account of the horror that followed, published online, the anonymous runner described the conditions that led to the death of 21 competitors and the admission of eight others to hospital, and sparked major questions about the safety of the increasingly popular endurance sport in China.

Continue reading...

Russian SolarWinds hackers launch email attack on government agencies

Posted on by

Microsoft says group targeted more than 15o American and foreign organisations using USAid account

The state-backed Russian cyber spies behind the SolarWinds hacking campaign launched a targeted phishing assault on US and foreign government agencies and thinktanks this week using an email marketing account of the US Agency for International Development (USAid), Microsoft has said.

The effort targeted about 3,000 email accounts at more than 150 different organisations, at least a quarter of them involved in international development, humanitarian and human rights work, the Microsoft vice-president Tom Burt wrote in a blog post late on Thursday.

Continue reading...

‘Persecuted, jailed, destroyed’: Belarus seeks to stifle dissent

Posted on by

Journalists and activists targeted in most wide-reaching crackdown since days of Soviet Union

Church bells rang in the city of Byarozawka as hundreds of mourners laid Vitold Ashurak to rest. They draped the white-red-white flag favoured by the Belarusian opposition over his body, as local police kept a wary eye on the funeral.

Sentenced to five years in prison after last year’s mass demonstrations against Alexander Lukashenko, the 50-year-old protest leader survived less than one. When Ashurak’s body was returned to his family, his head was entirely covered in bandages – only his mouth was visible, a family friend said.

Continue reading...

I Am Samuel: the film aiming to ‘change the narrative’ on being gay in Kenya

Posted on by

The young star of Peter Murimi’s intimate documentary is as poor, religious and conservative as his peers – and fearful of a violent backlash, he says

Samuel Asilikwa grew up in rural Kenya. There was a strict template for masculinity, informed by centuries of tradition – and intolerance. In a new documentary about his life, we see his father, a pastor, question Asilikwa about why he is yet to find a wife. We then watch as he relocates to Nairobi in search of work and adventure. He finds community, friendship and intense romance with a man called Alex.

Peter Murimi’s film I Am Samuel, shot verité-style over the course of five years, is at its most powerful contrasting city and countryside. Kenya’s farmland, clay roads, shrubbery and corn fields are evidence of a still, yet cyclical, pattern of life compared with the infinite noise and claustrophobia of Nairobi. But it is also a film about a shifting political landscape, where “carnal knowledge against the order of nature” is punishable by 14 years’ imprisonment.

Continue reading...

‘They fired at everyone’: peril of Pakistani villagers protesting giant luxury estate

Posted on by

Activists were shot and beaten at demonstration to stop property giant Bahria Town building on indigenous land they say was taken with force

Muhammad Anwar was not aware of any danger when he took the day off work to join his friends at a demonstration on a construction site of a powerful real estate company.

When Anwar, 35, reached the west bank of Langeji river, near Karachi, earlier this month, he saw the bulldozers levelling land next to Bahria Town, a luxury gated development.

Continue reading...

‘Protect and invest’: WHO calls for 6m more nurses worldwide

Posted on by

Warnings of brain drain from developing world as Covid adds to numbers of nurses leaving profession

Health ministers around the world are being urged to sign off on plans to create 6m more nursing jobs by 2030, amid warnings that Covid-19 has exacerbated a global shortage and could spark a “brain drain” from the developing world.

Delegates meeting virtually this week at the World Health Assembly, the key decision-making body of the World Health Organization, are expected to adopt a resolution calling on countries to transform the nursing profession through more investment, support and training.

Continue reading...

Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai jailed again as Tiananmen vigil banned

Posted on by

Media figure punished over pro-democracy rally as authorities again cite coronavirus restrictions to prohibit traditional Tiananmen vigil

Jailed Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai has been sentenced to an extra 14 months in prison over his conviction for an unauthorised assembly in 2019, alongside fellow activists who were also jailed for up to 18 months.

The case came as a separate ruling suggested speaking critically in foreign media interviews could breach the national security laws, and just a week before the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Authorities have banned a vigil for the second year in a row, citing pandemic concerns about crowding despite allowing other crowded events in recent days.

Continue reading...

‘One name in a long list’: the pointless death of another West Bank teenager

Posted on by

Obaida Jawabra was weeks from turning 18 when he was shot by an Israeli soldier, after a life shaped by arrests and imprisonment

Route 60, the north-south artery that carves its way through the West Bank, is both the lifeblood of the region and a source of daily fear.

Flanked in parts by 2.5-metre-high (8ft) separation barriers, military checkpoints and watchtowers crewed by Israeli snipers, the 146-mile highway that starts and finishes in Israel but passes Hebron and Bethlehem in the West Bank, has been the scene of many fatal attacks and violent clashes.

Continue reading...

Japan expected to extend emergency Covid measures less than two months ahead of Olympics

Posted on by

Medical officials say case numbers in Tokyo need to be much lower to prevent another surge during the Games

Japan is expected to extend emergency coronavirus measures in Tokyo and several other regions by about three weeks, according to officials, as the country struggles to rein in a fourth wave of infections less than two months before the Olympics.

The state of emergency – the third in the capital since the start of the pandemic – was called in late April and was originally due to end on 11 May, but was extended until the end of this month, as restrictions on businesses failed to make a dent in infections. Media reports said the latest extension could last until 20 June.

Continue reading...

¡Kapow! Batman takes holiday in Benidorm in DC Comics anthology

Posted on by

Caped Crusader battles villains across the globe in Batman: the World – but he’s in Spain to relax

Given his 82 long years of rooftop vigilantism, the dank, lonely surroundings of his home office – not to mention the tickly throat irritation caused by all those growled threats – few would begrudge Batman some sun, a nice paella and a cheeky mid-morning pint. Or five.

Benidorm, fortunately, is only too happy to oblige. The eastern Spanish resort is among the exotic locations that feature in Batman: the World, a new global anthology to be published by DC Comics in September.

Continue reading...

Italy cable car crash: five-year-old survivor to be moved out of intensive care

Posted on by

Eitan Biran, whose parents, younger brother and great-grandparents were killed in the crash, has woken up and spoken to his aunt

The five-year-old boy who survived last weekend’s deadly cable car crash in the Italian mountains that killed his parents and sibling is awake and will soon be moved out of intensive care, hospital officials said on Thursday.

Eitan Biran has been in critical condition since the cabin plunged to the ground on the Mottarone mountain, killing the other 14 people inside, including his parents, younger brother and great-grandparents. Thirteen of the passengers died at the scene, while Eitan and another child were taken to hospital. The other child later died.

Continue reading...

Colombia politician tells protesters hurt by police to ‘stop crying over one eye’

Posted on by

At least 43 protesters have been killed by police and 46 people have suffered eye injuries

After a month of protests in which 46 people have suffered eye injuries from police teargas rounds and rubber bullets, a Colombian politician has prompted outrage by saying that supporters of the anti-poverty demonstrations should “stop crying over one eye”.

“Don’t fool Colombians and don’t fool the international community and stop crying over one eye,” said Paola Holguín, a senator from the ruling Centro Democrático party, to opposition politicians during a virtual floor speech on Wednesday afternoon.

Continue reading...

DRC volcano: thousands flee amid fears of further eruptions – video

Posted on by

Thousands of people have fled the Congolese city of Goma, some picking their way across landscapes scarred with lava, after officials said a second volcanic eruption could happen at any time.

Thirty-one people were killed on Saturday evening when Mount Nyiragongo, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, sent a wall of orange lava downhill towards the city, destroying 17 villages on the way. The lava stopped just 300 metres short of Goma airport, the main hub for aid operations in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo


Continue reading...

Model behind ‘hands off my hijab’ post is named Vogue Scandinavia editor

Posted on by

Rawdah Mohamed’s Instagram image opposing a proposed hijab ban in France went viral in April

Rawdah Mohamed, the Somali-Norwegian model whose protest against a proposed ban on the hijab in France went viral, has been announced as editor of the soon-to-be-launched Vogue Scandinavia.

Mohamed will become the first hijab-wearing editor of colour at a fashion magazine in the west.

Continue reading...

Republicans propose nearly $1tn counteroffer to Biden’s infrastructure plan – live

Posted on by

Democratic Senator Bob Casey signaled this morning that it may be time to move on from negotiating with Republicans and instead pass an infrastructure bill using reconciliation, allowing Democrats to circumvent the Senate filibuster.

Asked whether it was time to focus on setting up a reconciliation pathway for the infrastructure bill, Casey told CNN anchor Jim Sciutto, “I think we’re getting to that point, Jim. It’s an old expression, fish or cut bait.”

Me: “IS IT TIME TO MOVE ON TO RECONCILIATION (on infrastructure)?”@SenBobCasey: “I THINK WE'RE GETTING TO THAT POINT, JIM. IT'S AN OLD EXPRESSION, FISH OR CUT BAIT” pic.twitter.com/T0HLUKygrL

The Guardian’s Sam Levine and Daniel Strauss report:

After six months of aggressive Republican efforts to restrict voting access, Democrats are facing new questions about how they will actually pass voting rights reforms through Congress.

Related: ‘A ticking timebomb’: Democrats’ push for voting rights law faces tortuous path

Continue reading...

Covid live: Germany to offer children aged 12 and over jab by September; Olympic warning over new variants

Posted on by

Germany to make Covid vaccine doses available to children 12 and over by end of August, draft paper shows; Japanese doctors warn of risk if Games go ahead

Here’s some news about lockdown relaxations in Sweden via Reuters.

The nordic country will go ahead and ease some of its COVID-19 restrictions from June 1, as the number of new infections has fallen sharply in recent weeks, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said on Thursday.

“We are beginning to glimpse the beginning of the end,” Lofven told a news conference.

The previously announced easing includes longer opening hours for restaurants and cafes, as well as raising the number of spectators at sports events and visitors at museums and amusement parks.

Reuters reports that Russia has signed an agreement to supply UNICEF, the United Nations’ children’s fund, with enough doses of its Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine to vaccinate 110 million people, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which markets the shot internationally, said on Thursday.

Procurement and delivery of the vaccine is subject to Sputnik V receiving an emergency use listing from the World Health Organisation, a decision which the RDIF said is expected soon.

Continue reading...

Did Covid come from a Wuhan lab? What we know so far

Posted on by

To China’s fury, Joe Biden has ordered a review of rival theories about lab leaks and animal hosts

President Joe Biden has ordered US intelligence agencies to conduct a 90-day review of what is known about the origins of Covid-19 and whether it could have escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan. So what does this mean for the lab leak theory?

Continue reading...

Switzerland walks out of seven-year treaty talks with EU

Posted on by

Swiss say terms unacceptable despite Brussels’ claims they are better than those offered to UK

Switzerland has walked out of talks on a closer trading relationship with the European Union despite being offered better terms than the UK in key areas, EU officials have claimed.

On Wednesday the country’s foreign minister, Ignazio Cassis, pulled the plug on long-running discussions with the EU, saying that Berne’s conditions were “not met”.

Continue reading...

‘Cataclysmic day’ for oil companies sparks climate hope

Posted on by

Court and investor defeats over carbon emissions a historic turning point, say campaigners and lawyers

A “cataclysmic day” for three major oil companies in which investors rebelled over climate fears and a court ordered fossil fuel emissions to be slashed has sparked hope among campaigners, investors, lawyers and academics who said the historic decisions marked a turning point in efforts to tackle the climate crisis.

A Dutch court on Wednesday ordered Shell to cut carbon emissions from its oil and gas by 45% by 2030. A tiny activist investor group simultaneously won two places on ExxonMobil’s board and Chevron’s management was defeated when investors voted in favour of forcing the group to cut its carbon emissions.

Continue reading...

Brazil aerial photos show miners’ devastation of indigenous people’s land

Posted on by

Impact of thousands of wildcat goldminers shown as president Jair Bolsonaro is accused of trying to promote their illegal work

Rare and disturbing aerial photographs have laid bare the devastation being inflicted on Brazil’s largest reserve for indigenous people by thousands of wildcat goldminers whose illegal activities have accelerated under the country’s far-right leader, Jair Bolsonaro.

Activists believe as many as 20,000 garimpeiro prospectors are operating within the Yanomami reserve in northern Brazil using speedboats and light aircraft to penetrate the vast expanse of jungle near the border with Venezuela.

Continue reading...